Steelbook Wall Display Project - No more seeing spines!

[JJ]

I used to be one of them. I used to scoff at steelbook collectors - post denigrating remarks on forums about "you people" and your quirky obsessions with glorified packaging, until about 3 years ago when BB had a Warner SB sale and I looked upon them with new eyes. At that point, whenever a cool steelbook was released in the US, I had to have it.

Now, dozens of months later, I realized when looking at my movie storage room (really, just a glorified 6'x4' storage closet that only stores movies, here's a quickie bad-phone-cam panorama view:

[Show spoiler]

- "Wow, Steelbooks are awesome! But I hate just looking at their spine! The whole point is to look at their awesome cases!" - like I'm sure many of you have, thus why you display them on little stands. By now, I had collected around 40 or so, and I took them out and realized I needed a better way to display them.



So I started scheming and browsing online, and I saw that folks had used shelves with the one-movie stands, some leaned them on the wall, some used magnet strips directly on the wall - but I wanted something both functional and aesthetically pleasing, since I actually watch the blurays inside these cases - and needed a way to easily remove them from the wall with my fingers.

After further scheming and browsing, I settled on using magnets like others had done. What with all the metal in these steelbooks, I couldn't imagine a better way to mount them. After a trip to home depot, I settled on using a product meant for a similar ease-of-use.

Magnetic tool bars! You use them in your tool shed or garage to temporarily hold your tools while you work.



I compared their readily available dimensions, anywhere from 12" to 24", and decided to buy a pair of 17"s (which fit 3 steelbooks) and five 24"s (which fit 4 steelbooks).

They arrived looking far more utilitarian than I desired, so I removed any paint and tape they had on them (1) down to their bare magnetic surfaces (2) and wrapped them in black velvet tape (3) - the black velvet tape being thick enough to also prevent any scratches or dings on the bars from placing the steelbooks on them:



After this, I tested it with how it held 4 steelbooks up - if it kept them even, didnt let them fall, if it was a secure bond, and it worked beautifully!



So I proceeded to install them to my wall. I removed my old Blockbuster Watchmen poster (you may also remember these from when they went out of business)



and gather up the few tools I'd need...things we should all have at home (stud finder, masking tape, level, screwdriver, tape measure) for the install.



As the magnetic tool bars are relatively heavy, you want to ensure that you anchor them properly. You can use drywall anchors, you can screw them directly to your wood or metal studs behind the drywall, etc, but ENSURE you use a support. Don't just screw into bare drywall or have them hang like a picture frame. You'll damage your STEHLBERKS

I used simple metal drywall anchors after I ensure there were no studs in my desired locations:



I hung a 17 and 24 first, nice and level, to see how it would look.







Golden! I mounted the rest evenly spaced apart so the movies would approximately line up to the rack alongside them:



Grabbed ~20 of my favorite steelbooks to mount, and done!



Now they're always available for easy display, and I can reach out and grab them whenever I want, like so (video):

https://twitter.com/Hozay__/status/6...944187393?s=09

I do recommend putting something on the magnetic bars, like I did with the velvet tape, since they are heavy duty magnets. Wont dent or scratch your steelies with something on em. They will without it.

Not very expensive, either - each 24" bar cost me ~$16 or so online, and the 17s are at your local Home Depot for about $15.

Now go forth and cover your wall in amazing steelbooks!

I'll put some DSLR pics up in my Home Theater gallery later, just crappy phone pics for now.

[BuckNaked2k]

I love my spines. Rock out with your spines out!

[Whirlygig]

Display some wide-open, show off dat inner artwork!

[Thwip]

Looks great man, I've been considering displaying some SteelBooks in a similar fashion. Not intended disrespectfully, but why did you end up going with the magnetic tool bar? It seems like a costly initiative and perhaps overkill. I was looking at using magnetic tape; SteelBooks don't weigh that much (links below).

Thoughts?

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/1-2-...ic-tape/957206

http://www.staples.ca/en/Staples-1-i...1#desc_content

[Troll2fan]

Nicely done!!

[KazzPetrelli]

That's awesome JJ! Well done!

[MifuneFan]

Dynomite work JJ, looks great.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by Thwip

Looks great man, I've been considering displaying some SteelBooks in a similar fashion. Not intended disrespectfully, but why did you end up going with the magnetic tool bar? It seems like a costly initiative and perhaps overkill. I was looking at using magnetic tape; SteelBooks don't weigh that much (links below).

Thoughts?

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/1-2-...ic-tape/957206

http://www.staples.ca/en/Staples-1-i...1#desc_content

I never considered it because it didn't give me the "depth" I needed for ease of "removal" and "drop off" so to speak, it would have the steelbook hitting the wall unless I covered up the whole damn wall in the stuff, which given my aesthetic, didn't seem like a clean solution.

Plus I saw no positive reviews of magnetic tape anywhere that didn't involve a ton of the stuff being used. Steelbooks might not weigh a lot, but they still weigh 6-7 oz or so each, and if there's any failure of the adhesive on the wall side, hello dents from crashing.

Have you seen that done anywhere cleanly and effectively?

[Badas]

I did the same thing. Magnets rock. My wife told me to it and I thought it was brilliant.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by Badas

I did the same thing. Magnets rock. My wife told me to it and I thought it was brilliant.

!!!!!

No way! Your wife rocks, Dono.

PS - I'm jealous of your Oblivion steel.

[JakeRStock]

If you are lucky enough to live by a harbor freight store then you can go pick these up for only $5 or order online. They also usually have sales so you might even be able to pick them up cheaper. They are only 18 inches but who's counting.

http://www.harborfreight.com/18-in-m...der-60433.html

[RodChester]

This is a great looking idea. And with those strips from Harbor Freight being so cheap I think I may do the same thing. Now I just need to find some wall space to do it.

I wonder if I'd be able to fit four across on the 18" strips and how that would look?

[DarkEco910]

Originally Posted by JakeRStock

If you are lucky enough to live by a harbor freight store then you can go pick these up for only $5 or order online. They also usually have sales so you might even be able to pick them up cheaper. They are only 18 inches but who's counting.

http://www.harborfreight.com/18-in-m...der-60433.html

I've been considering going to HF to buy some of these to do this method for displaying my franchises and, of course, my Terrget steelberks. I have decided to wait until I get a house rather than doing it in my current apartment.

[KazzPetrelli]

Originally Posted by mertz523

I've been considering going to HF to buy some of these to do this method for displaying my franchises and, of course, my Terrget steelberks. I have decided to wait until I get a house rather than doing it in my current apartment.

The real question here is, when are you going to get a house Mertz since you were too busy with collecting Terrget Steelberks!

[the new scum]

Ikea has some pretty nice looking magnetic knife holders under 15 bucks. They probably aren't the cheapest you'll find but they look better than most.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by RodChester

This is a great looking idea. And with those strips from Harbor Freight being so cheap I think I may do the same thing. Now I just need to find some wall space to do it.

I wonder if I'd be able to fit four across on the 18" strips and how that would look?

Four fitting on a 18" strip means they're all side-to-side with no space between them, and the ones on the edge hang precariously. I couldn't get 4 to fit safely on a 17", the end ones wouldn't stay straight.

Originally Posted by the new scum

Ikea has some pretty nice looking magnetic knife holders under 15 bucks. They probably aren't the cheapest you'll find but they look better than most.

I just looked those up - at 15" wide, they'll barely hold three up, and it'll be tight! But they have a great finish.

[filmmusic]

That's great!
Although i would never use magnets in the fear that something might happen and the steelbooks fall (i know it's silly ), and I'm not sure yet if that magnetic force doesn't affect the discs inside the steelbook.

[VanDammage80]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

That's great!
Although i would never use magnets in the fear that something might happen and the steelbooks fall (i know it's silly ), and I'm not sure yet if that magnetic force doesn't affect the discs inside the steelbook.

Looks great. This is my concern as well.

[Bruisermoore]

This is pretty cool, unfortunately the majority of the steelbooks I would like to display are in full slips. Is the magnet strong enough to hold a slipped steelbook?

[Jude72]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

That's great!
Although i would never use magnets in the fear that something might happen and the steelbooks fall (i know it's silly ), and I'm not sure yet if that magnetic force doesn't affect the discs inside the steelbook.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...8160843AAFaUp0