A cantilever rack already in your yard seems the cheapest way to get cable reels off the floor. The arms are there, the uprights are there, the base plates are already bolted down. The problem is that a cantilever arm is designed to carry long goods resting on top of it, while a cable reel must be held on a spindle or on rollers, and that load must travel through a bracket to the upright and to the floor. Those are different load paths.
The conversion kit we quote for this type of conversion is deliberately small: support tubes of Ø60 mm, a support bracket protruding 500 mm, and a stated working range for reels up to Ø1,000 mm. These figures come from one documented conversion file and apply only when the existing rack connection has been verified. They are reference figures for a conversation, not an approval to drill into any arbitrary frame you happen to have.
What the conversion accessory set actually contains
The conversion hardware is a support tube plus a bracket that protrudes from the existing structure and carries the reel. In the documented file, the tube is Ø60 mm, the bracket protrudes 500 mm from the rack face, and the reference quantity was quoted as 20 or 100 units at approximately 32 kg per set. That is the physical scope on the accessory side of the job. Everything that determines whether the conversion is safe falls outside that scope, in the condition and geometry of the rack you already have.
The 500 mm protrusion is the figure that most often surprises buyers, because it is measured outward from the existing rack face. If your aisle was planned based on the old rack footprint, the usable aisle shrinks by that protrusion on both sides of a row. With a double-sided arrangement, the reel positions are on both faces, so the aisle calculation must be redone before anything is ordered.
Pre-checks that must be completed before any cutting and drilling
Treat this as a measurement checklist rather than a formality. Each item can stop the project on its own.
Verbindingsgeometrie
Record the upright profile, the hole pattern and pitch, the plate thickness at the connection point, and whether a through-bolt can be fitted at exactly the height the reel requires. In the documented conversion, the connection dimensions were still to be confirmed at the quotation stage, which is the normal situation: the accessory is fixed, the connection is not, until someone measures it. A rack with a proprietary or unknown hole pattern, or one whose original drawings are gone, cannot be confirmed from a photo.
Krachtspad en bestaande capaciteit
The reel load must reach the upright and the base. The original arm capacity says nothing about this, because the reel does not rest on the arm the way the rack was designed. Check what the rack was originally calculated for, how many levels are loaded today, and whether the base plate anchoring and the floor plate are still adequate for the new load pattern. If the rack is already loaded to its original design limit, the conversion adds load rather than replacing it.
Stabiliteit en zwaartepunt
The change from long goods on arms to reels on protruding brackets changes the overturning moment, especially with double-sided rows and with racks that rely on base plates alone. Check the condition of the base plates, the condition of the anchors, and whether the row is tied to anything.
Toestand van de staanders
Look for bent or twisted flanges, cracked welds, forklift impact damage, elongated or oval holes, and corrosion with measurable material loss. Any of these makes the upright unverifiable as a support for a new bracket.
Reel size, support height and forklift access
The support height is not continuous. The dedicated cable reel upright profile in this product family has mounting holes at 100 mm spacing, so the reel support position is fixed in 100 mm steps around the actual drum diameter. An existing cantilever upright has its own pitch, and that pitch determines which reel diameters can be supported at a reasonable height. If the available positions put a small reel too high or a large reel down to the floor, the conversion is not the right route.
Forklift access is the second half of the same problem. A reel must be brought in, positioned on the support and lifted out again without the forks touching the bracket or the upright. Check the approach direction, the fork spread and the clearance for removal against the actual aisle, not against the drawing. Where operators also need to pull cable from a reel while it stays in place, the support must be a roller-bearing type rather than a static cradle; that is a different accessory from a plain support tube and must be specified as such.
Which existing racks must not be converted
Some racks fail the pre-check before any calculation is done. Do not convert:
- Racks whose upright hole pattern and connection details cannot be measured or confirmed, or where no original documentation exists and the frame has been modified since.
- Racks showing deformation, cracked weld seams, impact damage or corrosion with material loss on the uprights or base plates.
- Light, rolled cantilever frames sold for light long goods; their uprights were never dimensioned for a protruding reel bracket carrying a reel of several hundred kilograms or more.
- Free-standing rows without adequate base plate anchoring, or rows standing on a floor plate whose condition and load-bearing capacity are unknown.
- Rows already carrying their original design load, where the reel positions would be added on top of that load.
- Rows where the 500 mm bracket overhang does not fit the existing aisle, or where the aisle cannot be re-laid out without blocking an escape route or a forklift turning circle.
Where the reference data are no longer valid
The Ø1,000 mm reel limit, the 500 mm bracket overhang and the Ø60 mm tube belong to one documented retrofit configuration. They are not a general classification for cantilever racks. If your reels are larger than the reference envelope, or heavier than the reel list behind that record, or if you need multi-level runs, the answer may be a purpose-built cable reel rack with main and auxiliary frames rather than a conversion.
Be careful with the frame family itself: in this product family, the auxiliary frames are not independent units. They rely on the main frame upright for support, so a number of accessories may not simply be multiplied across a row of frames that were never designed as a set.
Finally, finish and location matter. Outdoor sites need a corrosion control specification agreed before work execution, and the installation's service limits, including forklift entry and lifting practice, periodic inspection of brackets and weld seams, and protection against standing water, belong in the handover document and not in a verbal briefing.
What a verified retrofit package must contain
- Measured upright profile, hole spacing and connection detail, taken on site at the rack.
- Reel list with diameter, width and weight per reel, plus the cable type and whether the reel stays in place during pay-off.
- Bracket overhang and load-height positions confirmed against the actual aisle and the actual reel diameters.
- Roller bearing support explicitly specified when the cable is pulled off the reel in place.
- Base anchorage, floor condition and stability rechecked for the new load pattern.
- Finish and corrosion control specification agreed for the actual storage location, indoors or outdoors.
Veelgestelde vragen
Can any cantilever rack be converted into a cable reel rack?
No. The conversion depends on a verifiable connection between the existing upright and the reel support bracket, and on the rack having sufficient residual structural capacity and stability for the new force path. Where the hole pattern is unknown, the uprights are damaged, or the frame was ever dimensioned only for light long goods, the honest answer is a purpose-built rack instead.
What should I measure first?
Start with the upright: profile, hole pattern and hole spacing, plate thickness at the connection point, and the height range where a support can actually be bolted on. Without those numbers, the accessory set cannot be matched to your frame, and the Ø1,000 mm and 500 mm reference figures cannot be confirmed as applicable.
Does a retrofit give reel rotation for cable pay-off?
Only if a roller bearing support is specified. An ordinary support tube holds the reel in place; it does not by itself provide controlled rotation for paying cable off a reel that stays in the rack. State clearly at quotation stage whether the reel is stored and removed as a whole, or whether the cable is pulled off it on site.
Do I lose aisle width?
Yes, by the bracket overhang on each loaded side. In the documented configuration that overhang is 500 mm, so a row loaded on both sides takes up 1,000 mm more of the aisle than the bare rack did. Recheck the aisle, the forklift turning path and the escape route before committing.
Volgende stap
Send photos of the existing rack, the measured hole pattern of the uprights and the connection detail, and your reel list with diameters and weights. We will tell you whether the frame can be verified for conversion to reel support, which of the two answers applies, or whether the location needs a purpose-built cable reel rack. If the retrofit route is confirmed, the accessory set and the bracket overhang can be quoted against your own frame instead of against a reference drawing.
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