The best IMHO stock racks I've ever seen or used were cantilever free standing. I've looked on-line for an example, but came up empty. Therefore I'll try to describe them. Just remember I'm relying on memory.
Before the arms are welded on they look like an obelisk which about 2' sq on the bottom and about 1' sq at the top and around 7 or 8 ft tall made from 1 ½ X 1 ½ X ¼ angle iron. Each side also had 2 wide reinforcement straps at the bottom, about one third of the way up, about two thirds of the way up, and at the top. All four sides of the obelisk/core were identical at this stage.
Support arms were added starting at one foot from the floor and at one foot spacing up the rack. The bottom arm was 4' long centered on the rack with each arm decreasing in length as they went up. The bottom third was made from 1 ½ X 1 ½ X ¼ angle, the middle third 1 ¼ X 1 ¼ X 3/16 angle, and the top 1/3[sup]rd[/sup] from 1 X 1 X 1/8[sup]th[/sup] angle. The arms were on opposite sides which allowed for the storage of shorter material. Each arm was cut, bent and welded about 6 from each end to create a 30 degree upward bend to help keep the material on the rack.
They were used in pairs set probably 8 or more feet apart, probably more. They sure held a bunch of material starting with the largest at the bottom. However they also took up a lot of real estate. They were 4' wide and one needed 18 of space on each side to allow for access. So if one had 20' material you would need an area 7 ft wide X 20 ft long dedicated to material storage.
I'll probably end up making a rack similar to Pixman's as I do not have the room to dedicate that much space to material storage. However if one had a lot of material and the space for it these racks worked very well.
Before the arms are welded on they look like an obelisk which about 2' sq on the bottom and about 1' sq at the top and around 7 or 8 ft tall made from 1 ½ X 1 ½ X ¼ angle iron. Each side also had 2 wide reinforcement straps at the bottom, about one third of the way up, about two thirds of the way up, and at the top. All four sides of the obelisk/core were identical at this stage.
Support arms were added starting at one foot from the floor and at one foot spacing up the rack. The bottom arm was 4' long centered on the rack with each arm decreasing in length as they went up. The bottom third was made from 1 ½ X 1 ½ X ¼ angle, the middle third 1 ¼ X 1 ¼ X 3/16 angle, and the top 1/3[sup]rd[/sup] from 1 X 1 X 1/8[sup]th[/sup] angle. The arms were on opposite sides which allowed for the storage of shorter material. Each arm was cut, bent and welded about 6 from each end to create a 30 degree upward bend to help keep the material on the rack.
They were used in pairs set probably 8 or more feet apart, probably more. They sure held a bunch of material starting with the largest at the bottom. However they also took up a lot of real estate. They were 4' wide and one needed 18 of space on each side to allow for access. So if one had 20' material you would need an area 7 ft wide X 20 ft long dedicated to material storage.
I'll probably end up making a rack similar to Pixman's as I do not have the room to dedicate that much space to material storage. However if one had a lot of material and the space for it these racks worked very well.