Standing at 6ft tall and 8ft wide, this custom fabricated wine rack can hold up to 352 bottles (that's approximately 900 lbs of wine!). The design of the rack is intended to provide a "floating" visual effect with each bottle suspended by two horizontal pegs.

Within this Instructable, I will walk through each and every step of the process for building your own custom steel wine rack in any size necessary (with plenty of photos along the way!).

I built this rack in my personal shop with the help of my home built CNC plasma system. If you don't have access to a CNC plasma, you can still accomplish this build with more basic tools you may have at your disposal.

Equipment required:

A welding machine
A metal cutting chop saw
A handheld grinder
A drill / drill press

Step 1: Planning Your Build

First, you'll need to determine exactly how large of a wine rack you need. This is typically driven by the available space where you plan to place the rack and/or the amount of wine that you need to store.

If you are limited on space yet need to maximize wine bottle capacity, you can play with the spacing between bottles. A good CAD design software (such as Fusion 360) is imperative when planning out a build such as this. You will want to have every detail of the design mapped out in the CAD software before beginning fabrication. Attached is a screenshot of my wine rack CAD model.

Other key aspects to consider in the design stage:

Weight - can your area handle the total estimated weight of the rack and all bottles? A typical wine bottle weighs around 2.65 lbs.
Stability - will you need to secure your rack to the surface / wall to ensure it cannot be tipped over? You can also increase the depth of your rack for added stability. This aspect is especially important if you will have kids in close proximity. Due to space limitations, I kept my rack at a 20in overall depth.
Access - do you need a protective guard over the rack to prevent unintentional contact with the bottles? I added a sliding screen door assembly to the front of my rack.
Appearance - there are numerous wine rack designs out there. I opted for a design that provides a visual floating effect when viewing the rack head on. Through the use of 3/8in diameter steel rods, each bottle is suspended horizontally with the cork facing the user. The rear structure of the rack is designed with 3.25in diameter holes that are positioned between the bottles to provide a perspective that each bottle is suspended in air.

Once you've fully worked out all design aspects using your CAD software, you're ready to move on with material procurement.

Step 2: Procuring Materials

I prefer to have ALL materials and components present before starting the fabrication on any project. This allows you to have the full picture and avoid as many unexpected challenges as possible throughout the build.

The overall dimensions of my rack were approximately 8ft wide, 6ft tall, and 20in deep. Below is a list of the materials involved:

1.5in 11ga square tube - for the main frame
1in 11ga square tube - for rear panel bracing and front sliding doors
16ga sheet metal - for the rear panel
3/8in diameter solid round rod - for the wine bottle support pegs
3/4 #9 flat expanded metal - for the sides and front doors
1.5 x .25in aluminum flat bar - for the rolling door mechanism
1in x 3/8in bore roller bearings - for the rolling door mechanism
11ga plate - for the door lock mechanism

Attached is a diagram showing the various components of the rack.

Step 3: Proving the Design

Before beginning full scale fabrication, I wanted to ensure the design would function as intended and yield the desired appearance. To confirm this, I built a small scale section as a test. This confirmed that the pegs could handle the weight of a bottle without deflecting, that the bottles would sit securely, and that there was adequate spacing for easy retrieval / placement of bottles. Attached are some photos of the small scale test rack.

I used my home built CNC plasma system to cut out the rear panels. If you don't have access to a CNC cutting system, you could cut the rear panel using a mix of drill bits and holes saws. However, this would take you quite some time for a larger size rack. It is recommended to find a local shop that can cut the rear panels for you.

Step 4: Commencing Fabrication - Main Frame

Now that I've confirmed the design works and achieves the desired appearance, I began full scale fabrication.

With a detailed design worked up in your CAD system, the rest of the process is simply a matter of fabricating each part. I like to follow a methodical process for this stage starting with your base structure followed by all bracing and auxiliary components. I began with the main frame and rear panel as follows:

Cut and assemble all parts for the main frame from 1.5in sq tube
CNC cut the rear panels from 16ga sheet metal
Assemble the rear panel structure from 16ga sheet metal and 1in sq tube

This is a critical stage in the build. Accurate fit up between parts will ensure the rest of the build progresses smoothly. Be sure to use framing squares, clamps, and straight edges to maintain precision of all joints.

Welding Machine - I used a 120volt 140amp flux core MIG welder for this project.

The rear panel structure is composed of dual layers of 16ga sheet with 1in square tube sandwiched in the middle. This design provided increased rigidity for the horizontal steel pegs.

Step 5: Fabrication Continued - Horizontal Pegs

After establishing a solid and true main frame and rear panel structure, I could now move on to the horizonal pegs that will support the actual wine bottles.

I mass produced all 704 pegs using my chop saw and some gracious support from a couple friends! I cleaned up the burrs on both ends of each peg using a bench grinder. Each peg is 8.25 inches long.

Installation of the pegs is another critical stage. With each weld, the materials will want to warp and deform. To counteract this and ensure an even and level row of pegs, I used 2x3in rectangular tube as a straight edge guide (see attached photos). This was the most tedious portion of the build compromising 1,408 welds (2 welds per peg)! Some attention to detail and patience yielded a uniform final product.

Step 6: Fabrication Continued - Rolling Doors

I opted to include a couple rolling doors on the front of this rack to prevent people from accidentally striking the wine bottles. These doors also utilize a custom built rolling system and lock mechanism.

Doors - the doors are built from 1in square tube and expanded metal
Rolling system - the track is built from 1.5in wide and 1/4in thick aluminum flat bar. The rollers are made from standard bearings (available at your local hardware store), 3/8in diameter bolts, and washers to retain the bearings atop the track. I added a trim plate to conceal all rolling hardware.
Lock mechanism - the lock is custom designed and flips outward to allow both doors to move freely. When the lock plate is flipped inward, it prevents both rolling doors from sliding and can be secured with a padlock.

See attached photos for details of each component!

Step 7: The Finished Product

This is by far the largest piece of furniture I've built and one of the most tedious. The entire rack is coated in a satin clear finish to prevent corrosion. The gap between the two rear panels was also coated prior to sandwiching the panels together. The rack has been fully loaded with bottles and works flawlessly!

This design can be scaled to any size required. For large sizes such as this, the use of a CNC cutting system is highly beneficial. For smaller size racks, one could get by through the use of drill bits, holes saws, and some sweat equity.

Thanks for checking out my build and feel free to ask questions in the comments below!

Introduction: 352 Bottle Steel Wine Rack