What's the best way to store my audio cassette storage cases?

July 17, 2009 12:35 PM

I have several thousand audio cassettes. They're all stored nicely in 100-slot Napa Valley wooden cases, but the problem is storing those cases. Help me come up with a creative way to store 20-30 of these beasts in a way that maximizes space but also keeps each case accessible.

For those unfamiliar with the individual wooden storage units, see this (if that link stops working, this ebay search should bring up a bunch of images).

I'm having a tough time thinking of a way to store these that uses primarily vertical space but also keeps them accessible. Stacking 10 of these makes it awfully difficult to get to the one on the bottom. I'm almost thinking of a lunch-tray type unit where I could slide the cases in and out easily. But does such a thing exist?

Definitely looking for creative ideas here, as I've been stumped by this for several years.

(Note that these are being stored in my basement, so the solution doesn't necessarily have to be elegant or visually attractive.)

posted by laze to media & arts (9 comments total)

Maybe do what some of the big libraries do, and set them up as moving shelves. That is, put rails in the ceiling and rollers on the tops of the units that allow them to hang from the rails. Then store them all squished together, but with enough space on the rails to open up a wide gap between any two shelves.

You might be able to DIY with parts from the local hardware store.
posted by zippy at 12:38 PM on July 17 [1 favorite has favorites]

In the above I meant "moving bookcases" rather than shelves. Here the tape libraries would be hanging vertically, oriented like bookshelves.
posted by zippy at 12:42 PM on July 17

(looks like my original link on "see this" didn't show up -- here's the link I meant to post)

Zippy -- I like the idea. I'm not terribly handy, so it would be a challenge, but could be a good solution.
posted by laze at 12:42 PM on July 17

I was almost roommates with a guy once (long story) who had a fantastic set-up with those things (and similar stuff for CDs and LPs). What he had done was essentially attached two sets of slides, one to make a drawer for the shelf (so it would pull out), and another to the back of the shelf, so that it would pivot and slide. He was then able to store all of the tapes in these shelves, with the first axis of motion being in the z direction, and then pivot the shelves themselves in the x direction. The tracks themselves extended a bit further than the drawers, so he was able to rotate. He was able to do all the housing and build the shelves with plywood and equipment from track lighting they sold at hardware stores, and his goal was to get telescoping slides so that he could get the drawers out further, then push the slides in flush.

I'm sorry, I'm doing a bad job of explaining this, I think. If I can clarify, ask, but hopefully someone else has more of a carpentry background and can give you actual terminology.
posted by klangklangston at 1:09 PM on July 17

French Cleats.
posted by EnsignLunchmeat at 2:38 PM on July 17

If you want to use vertical space, why not just screw them all to the wall: one big wall o' tapes. Just be sure you're screwing into studs and not drywall. It's the basement, right?

Turning them into drawers is the probably the next easiest solution. You say you're not really handy, so here's the challenge: finding some shelves of just the right dimensions.

First, go to your local hardware of bigbox building supply store and check out the drawer slides. Find some that fit your racks, and see how much width they take up (be sure to account for left and right slides). Then see if you can find a bookshelf as deep as the racks are high and with an internal width equal to your racks plus the width of the drawer slides. Measure how deep the racks are (remember the cassettes stick up above the rack) and figure on about half an inch between each drawer.

Then it's a matter of carefully measuring and mounting the drawer slides evenly on both sides of the shelf.

From looking at Lee Valley's website, it looks like what you want is "full extension slides."

Just to dress things up a bit, you might even want card frame pulls so you can label each drawer.
posted by fogovonslack at 2:49 PM on July 17

The time-consuming ultimate solution is to digitize them into MP3's. Then store them all on your computer.
posted by musofire at 3:24 PM on July 17

I faced a similar storage problem with MrR's dvd/cd collection. We had the stuff in cases, but accessing the cases was a problem. We wound up going to the local big box home improvement store and buying open stock particleboard shelving units (shelves and uprights sold separately). Deep out from the wall, but narrow shelves so that only one 16" wide case would fit per shelf with a few inches clearance at the top, and just slid the cases onto the shelves. There's no need to use drawer slides, as the case is rigid enough to hold its shape as you slide it off the shelf, and skipping the drawer slides cuts the expense and flddliness by a lot. If you don't actually live in your basement (or if the style fits), you could use wire or steel shelving units.
posted by jlkr at 3:37 PM on July 17

Some good ideas here!

I had the thought a few minutes ago that something like this might work if it could support the weight.

musofire -- I'm doing just that over at normalbias.org (originally mentioned on mefi projects, but I suspect it's a "rest of my life" type of project and not one I can expect to finish... ever.
posted by laze at 4:40 PM on July 17