PeteFree.comEdsal E-Rack Bulk Storage Shelving — Product Review
© 2011 Peter Free
07 June 2011
American made, but to sloppy Chinese product standards
Tolerances on these Edsal shelving components appear to be variable, which makes assembly as hit and miss as my experiences with most Chinese-manufactured products.
The 3-shelf kit unit is six feet wide and two feet deep. Edsal claims that each shelf can support 2,000 pounds.
After assembling mine, I would not dare loading it anywhere close to that figure. It is certainly sturdy enough for heavy home use, but I doubt that it has the substance to compete with warehouse-intended shelving.
Shelving components — end frames, beams, cross ties, and wire decking
Edsal’s components are designed to fit together so that the buyer can assemble the unit with virtually as many shelves as desired. Lowe’s sells both 3-shelf kits and bulk components.
Welded end frame provide the basic structure. Beams with projecting tabs at each end fit into triangular holes on the end frames. Together the end frames and beams establish the basic shelving unit. A mallet is the only tool necessary to assemble this part of the structure.
“Tie bars” slide into the beams’ 3-sided channels at the mid-points. These tie bars secure to the beams with two screw-headed bolts and nuts (but no washers). Drop-in wire decking completes the assembly.
Questionable manufacturing consistency?
The Edsal E-rack design is at-first-glance clever, but manufacturing consistency is not so good.
For example, one has to struggle to get both tabs on each of the beam ends to slide into all four of the end frame holes. Slight differences in the distance these tabs are from the beam ultimately cause noticeable differences in how far down the beam slides in the end frames’ receiving holes. That discrepancy makes for slight variations in the width each beam provides the unit.
A nut and bolt design would have been far superior.
One can get assembly more or less correct by beating with a mallet. However, even a soft wooden or rubber mallet does enough damage to the cosmetics that it is unlikely that the retailer will happily accept a return on the product.
Worse, of the four wire decking pieces that I received, only two fit into the beam channels as they were designed to do.
I was able to beat the third into place, but the fourth was very obviously too wide to fit.
It is unlikely that this resulted from incorrect assembly. But it is possible that I could have fixed it by disassembling the whole unit and widening the opening between the beam tabs and beam surface. That process could easily result in different fit problems afterward.
Comparatively inexpensive, but at the price of mediocrity
The Edsal E-rack shelving unit is quite rigid. It is far superior to plastic and light-duty wire units. However, its less than excellent design implementation, combined with sloppy manufacturing, is typical of the sub-mediocre products that characterize our era.
At its sub-$170 price, I might buy another one. But only if I couldn’t find a better executed version from a more motivated manufacturer.