Vinyl roll storage on the cheap...

In the last few weeks I have been quite busy making signs with my Cricut machine.  While I am glad to be able to do something to bring in a little extra money, I am not too happy having my living room look like a sign shop.  We live in a two bedroom apartment with a living room / dining room / kitchen / laundry room all rolled into one.  One of the two bedrooms belongs to my son, so all of my art supplies get carted out to the kitchen table when I need them, but for the most part they live in my bedroom.

The vinyl that I use comes in 24" wide 30 foot rolls wrapped around a 3" core.  It is supposed to be supported by the cardboard core during storage so as to not activate the adhesives.  When I only had 4 colors, it was ok to stack them under the desk - but I have reached a point where that is no longer possible.  So, I went down to the hardware store, and ended up with a decent little storage rack.  I have limited tools - I only used a dremel and hack saw, so I used PVC pipe - easy to cut and cheap in case I messed up.  If you have a drill press and band saw this could be made from wood for a prettier and more durable rack.



To make this exact rack, you will need the following supplies (cost me $11 at lowes) and half an hour:

• one ten foot length of 1" pvc pipe


• two 1 1/4" pvc pipe "L" joint corner connectors


• six 30" lengths of 5/8" dowel rod


• six 24" wide 30' long rolls of vinyl

I got halfway to the register before I realized that a 10' section of PVC just wouldn't fit in my car.  The guy at lowes cut it into two four foot pieces with a two foot section leftover.  The "L" joints add enough extra length that it worked out perfectly - and it was free to have it cut.  You can obviously bring it home to cut yourself.



I measured the height of my rolls to make sure that I was leaving adequate space between each one.  On the right side, I drilled a hoe in one side of the PVC pipe.  I left the other side solid to help keep the dowel in place.

On the left side I cut out a hole all the way through the pipe, and then connected them with a channel to allow easy removal of the dowel.  The lip that is created keeps the dowel in place.   I connected the two foot section with the joints, added my rolls of vinyl, and leaned the rack against the wall.  That's it.  Not too pretty, but it does the job, and is tucked neatly away behind my bedroom door instead of on top of my freezer  :0)