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!

[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.

[TheGeneral]

Wow that's a pretty awesome idea!!! And it looks great! Nice job

[goldie1970]

My compliments to the chef, JJ,

I love seeing what people do with their toys!

[morningtoke]

That's cool man. Little projects like that are the best, and keep you entertained. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[blueskeeper11]

Wow! Cool project! I'm just starting my L-shaped, glass doors Billy bookcase project too for my steel books so they don't get dusty. Yes I'm also tired of viewing them in just their spines. The front covers must be seen! You have a neat project going on here.

[stevo4264]

Wow I've been inspired now to do something with my steel's, at the moment they are unseen, time to change that I think

[nycomet]

JJ: once again you have given me a stiffie with another "pure genious" project.

I went nuts over your digital movie poster display and this magnetic steelbook concept is brilliant.

I actually love the fact that the velvet-covered magnetic bars can be seen between the steelbooks. I did find it a little odd that you are using two shorter magnetic bars... I would want them to all be the same (wider) bars. I am sure you have a reason for using the short ones.

Another fantastic solution! Keep up the excellent work JJ.

[Dazzler17]

Thanks so much for posting your display, went out last week and bought myself some tool holders and the result is above. I don't have enough room to display my whole collection but I'm chuffed with it regardless.

[DioramaMaker]

Two questions about this idea:

1) Has anyone thought about the possibility of acidity in the velvet material or from the adhesive backing damaging the steels over time? I would almost be inclined to use a cotton wrapping around the bar that is stitched in the back to eliminate any risk.

2) Any thought as to if the magnet pulling across a small diameter will warp the steel over time? I'm no physicist, but it certainly crossed my mind.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by DioramaMaker

Two questions about this idea:

1) Has anyone thought about the possibility of acidity in the velvet material or from the adhesive backing damaging the steels over time? I would almost be inclined to use a cotton wrapping around the bar that is stitched in the back to eliminate any risk.

2) Any thought as to if the magnet pulling across a small diameter will warp the steel over time? I'm no physicist, but it certainly crossed my mind.

I've had em up for a year now, and no damage to anything yet, not the steelbooks or the discs themselves. And no, #2 is just silly, lol. I just checked them since I was adding even more bars yesterday. I keep getting stilberks.





(ignore the string/weight on the second picture, thats how i made a bootleg 60" level to line them all up lol)

[JustThatPenguin]

Originally Posted by JJ

I've had em up for a year now, and no damage to anything yet, not the steelbooks or the discs themselves. And no, #2 is just silly, lol. I just checked them since I was adding even more bars yesterday. I keep getting stilberks.

[Show spoiler]

(ignore the string/weight on the second picture, thats how i made a bootleg 60" level to line them all up lol)

That is gorgeous!! I love the way that looks, so clean and organized. I was going to do something similar to that with movie posters. I think I'll go with steels instead.

[Dlions]

Love it JJ

What distance did you go with between bars ?

Thanks

[JJ]

Originally Posted by Dlions

Love it JJ

What distance did you go with between bars ?

Thanks

Like an inch or so? Thanks!!