Cantilever Racking
Storage system for long and bulky items such as pipes, profiles, wooden boards, metal sheets and mouldings.
The product
Cantilever racking system: ideal solution for storing and handling very long items
Cantilever racks are designed to accommodate long and bulky loads, such as metal profiles, plastic pipes and timber. The system offers direct access to stored goods, making it easier to manage light loads manually and heavy loads using equipment.
Mecalux’s cantilever racking is made up of bases, columns and cantilever arms. These strong, versatile and robust structures adapt to different types of warehouses and products with special sizes. Moreover, the system is available in a mobile cantilever racking configuration for improved space utilisation.
Advantages of cantilever racks
- Wide variety of loads: the system’s different components and accessories make it easily adaptable to a broad range of long and bulky loads of various weights and dimensions.
- Direct access and excellent visibility: the racks enable immediate visual identification of stored goods as well as direct access to them.
- Easy assembly: the system is made up of modular elements for simple assembly. Furthermore, it can be adapted to future needs by adding modules.
- Space optimisation: the racks can be installed on mobile bases to configure a mobile cantilever racking system. This setup compacts the racking units while maintaining direct access to each product.
- Suitable for outdoor use: several roofing options are available to protect both the goods and the structure from adverse weather conditions in outdoor facilities.
- Safety: the system incorporates elements such as vertical bracing and stops, giving the installation great stability and resistance.
The cantilever racks are the only ones that can store our 4-to-7-metre-long profiles
Cantilever racking system applications
For companies that store pipes, profiles and other types of long and unwieldy loads
The cantilever racking system creates versatile structures that perfectly adapt to store a wide variety of goods with special dimensions. Therefore, cantilever racks are essential in multiple logistics and production centres.
Warehouses with extra-long products
Cantilever racking ensures the optimal storage of long loads such as pipes, profiles and mouldings.
Inventory of non-palletisable products
Industrial cantilever racks comprise the ideal solution for loads with dimensions that make them difficult to palletise, such as wooden boards and metal sheets.
Storage of bulky, non-uniform loads
Cantilever racks adapt to the storage of unwieldy merchandise of different weights and sizes.
Cantilever storage rack configurations
Highly versatile solution compatible with diverse storage needs
The cantilever racking system’s various configurations meet the requirements of multiple warehouses. Options run the gamut from single- and double-sided rack units to covered structures for outdoor use and mobile systems for high-density storage.
Single-sided cantilever racks
Racking with access from one side. This variant is typically installed along a wall to maximise available space.
Double-sided cantilever racks
Racking units that allow for storage on both sides of the structure. These types of cantilever racks are used in the intermediate aisles of a block of racking.
Mobile cantilever racks
Cantilever racking installed on motorised mobile bases. This configuration increases storage capacity without expanding the surface area used. The bases slide along rails embedded in the floor.
Cantilever rack with roof
Outdoor cantilever racking units equipped with roofing to preserve stored goods from the elements (sunlight, rain, etc.).
Clad-rack warehouse with cantilever racks
Cantilever metal racks can be used to build clad-rack warehouses. In this case, they support the loads stored in addition to the building structure.
Testimonials
The Mecalux storage solutions have enabled us to better organise our products based on their dimensions. The cantilever racks can be adapted to different heights and types of merchandise.
Read more
We’re thrilled with the mobile cantilever racking from Mecalux. They tailored it to the sizes of our aluminium profiles, and, as a result, we’ve increased our capacity by 48%.
Read more
The arms are fixed to the cantilever uprights and can be adjusted to suit our logistics needs.
Read more
Case studies
The perfect solution for storing extra-long profiles
Gaviota, a manufacturer of blinds and awnings, has equipped its warehouse with cantilever, pallet and drive-in racks. Goods are classified based on various criteria; thus, for example, extra-long profiles are stored on cantilever racks. Read more
Giménez Ganga expands its storage capacity by 48%
Giménez Ganga, a leading manufacturer of contemporary solar protection solutions and ceiling coverings, has modernised its logistics centre in Sax, Spain. The company has installed mobile cantilever racking to optimise its warehouse space without losing direct access to the goods. Read more
Bracchi optimises the organisation of its new warehouse in Germany
Bracchi reinforces and consolidates its position in the European market with a new 30,000 m² distribution centre in Germany for one of its main clients. It is sectored into three zones for safety reasons and is characterised by very efficient organisation of the goods and all internal operations. Mecalux has provided conventional and cantilever ... Read more
Aluminium profile warehouse of Aluprof with cantilever racks and pallet racks
Aluprof has installed cantilever racks and pallet racking in its finished product warehouse in Poland. The two solutions, set aside to house aluminium profiles and different volume pallets, offer direct access to the goods, streamlining the tasks done to store materials and pick customer orders. Read more
Cantilever rack components
The main components of Mecalux’s cantilever racking are manufactured from hot-rolled profiles. This provides them with great strength for loads and resistance against deformations due to impacts.
The basic components of the cantilever storage system include columns, bases, bracing (to stiffen the structure and ensure its stability) and the cantilever arms that bear the loads.
Cantilever racks incorporate a series of tried-and-tested components that strengthen the structural assembly’s sturdiness and reliability. This ensures the physical integrity of operators and safeguards the stored merchandise.
Columns
Vertical profiles with slots for installing cantilever arms and points for attaching crossbars and bracing.
Bases
Horizontal profiles that give the structure excellent stability. They are bolted to the columns by means of a fixing plate.
Cantilever arms
Slightly inclined horizontal profiles that support the goods stored. They are bolted to the columns.
Bracing and column cross-braces
Longitudinal stiffening elements that link all the columns together and reinforce the robustness and stability of the structural assembly.
Portal ties
Horizontal profiles that join the racking at the top for structures requiring greater stability.
Lateral guides for forklifts
Rails installed in the aisles to safely delineate the circulation of side loading forklifts, which are commonly used with cantilever systems.
Signalling plates
Signs that specify the storage system’s technical characteristics. They are placed in visible areas, such as on the ends of the structure.
Cantilever racking accessories
Accessories to enhance the cantilever system’s versatility
Arm stops
Round tubes inserted into the outer end of the arms to prevent goods from falling, especially loose loads.
Continuous shelving
Panels placed on cantilever rack arms to form a run of gap-free shelving, accommodating boxes, packages and even pallets of various dimensions.
Roofing for outdoor use
Material that covers cantilever steel racks when installed outdoors. It protects the structure and the goods from weather conditions (rain, sun, etc.).
Catalogues
FAQs
Cantilever racking solutions are storage systems specially designed to accommodate long-length and bulky items. These robust, sturdy structures are made up of columns, bases and a set of cantilever arms that support the loads. Cantilever racks can be used to house various types of tubes, pipes, wooden boards and sheet metal. They can even store more unwieldy merchandise such as plane and car parts.
In engineering, a cantilever is defined as a structure consisting of a rigid horizontal member supported at only one end. This describes the design of cantilever racks.
Cantilever racks are structures designed for storing and handling a wide range of long or odd-sized loads. These include metal pipes and profiles, plastic tubes, wooden boards and sheet metal.
Yes. Cantilever pallet racking is created by placing a run of continuous shelving (metal or wood) on the cantilever arms. This creates a surface suitable for supporting pallets of multiple dimensions as well as boxes and containers of various sizes.
The maximum weight supported by Mecalux cantilever racking varies depending on the configuration chosen (light duty cantilever racks, heavy duty cantilever racks, etc.). Extra heavy duty cantilever racks, for instance, are highly robust structures capable of bearing more than 2,500 kg per arm.
Cantilever racks can stand over 6 m tall.
The length of cantilever rack arms can vary between 400 and 2,000 mm. Normally, the arms are longer than the width of the unit loads. However, the width of the goods can exceed the length of the arms, especially when storing wooden boards or sheet metal.
To calculate the distribution of arms and columns in a cantilever system, it is necessary to consider the dimensions, weight and rigidity of the goods, the type of handling equipment used, tolerances, etc. Every unit load must be supported by at least two arms. Goods may overhang the sides of both arms by a maximum of 50% of the horizontal distance between two adjacent arms. This ensures stable support and uniform load distribution.
Goods are typically stored and retrieved using forklifts, especially side loaders. These machines are specifically designed to handle long or odd-sized loads, transporting and lifting them laterally. When depositing loads, it is essential to ensure that they are correctly centred to avoid any collisions between the forks and the cantilever arms. Larger handling equipment (e.g., overhead cranes) is employed in cases where the weight of the loads requires it.
Yes. Assembling them on mobile bases allows for the configuration of mobile cantilever racking, a high-density storage system that maximises available space.
Mobile cantilever racking can be set up in any type of facility. To assemble them, it is simply necessary to embed rails into the floor for the bases to move along.
Up to 16 mobile bases can be installed consecutively. To expand the storage system, a fixed cantilever rack must be set up at one end; from there, a further set of 16 bases can be incorporated.
Ask an expert