7 Things to Check If Your Old Shelving Components Will Connect to Falcon Longspan

We sometimes get requests from customers, who have an old set of longspan shelves and wish to add new units or components. Their question is whether their existing components are compatible with and can connect to Falcon's current range of longspan shelving?

The short answer is possibly, but you need to do your homework to make sure.

Here are the 5 things to check to see if your legacy shelving is compatible with our current range.

1. Is Your Existing Shelving From Falcon?

If you bought our Falcon Shelving units from 2019 onwards, we have always used the same manufacturer and the same design, so you can confidently buy new components to add to your shelving.

2. Overall Dimensions

Falcon Shelving units come in widths of 1, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5m, depths of 0.5 and 0.6m and heights of 2.0, 2.4 and 2.7 metres.

3. What Shape Are the Grooves/ Holes on the Uprights

If your shelving is from another supplier, then the first thing to check is the shape of the grooves or holes on the vertical uprights. Falcon's uprights have "butterfly-shaped" grooves (see image below), but longspan shelves can come with hexagonal, horseshoe etc holes.

4. What Shape Are the Ends on The Cross-beams

The next thing to check is the shape fo the end pieces of the horizontal beams. They can be either "L-shaped" or "T-shaped" (see images below).

L-shaped End	T-shaped End

 The ends of the beams you already have need to match those you intend to purchase.

5. What is the Load Rating of Your Existing Shelving?

Longspan shelving is rated as to the Uniformly Distributed Load (UDL) that each tier of shelving can safely carry. For instance Falcon has ranges of shelving that are rated to 120, 150, 200 and 300Kg per level. You need to match your load rating with that of the shelving you intend to purchase.

6. The Size and Location of the Grooves on The Uprights 

One of the key factors in checking the compatibility of different longspand shelving components is the size and shape of the butterfly grooves and the position of the teeth on the cross-beams. It's important to measure the various dimensions closely in order to determine whether the new and legacy components will fit together (see images below).

Pay particular attention to:

• The distance of the butterfly grooves from the edge of the upright, as this will be crucial to marrying the cross-beam to the upright.
• The vertical distance between the butterfly grooves

7.  The position of the Top and Bottom Butterfly Grooves

Falcon's top butterfly grooves are positioned so that the top shelf is flush with the top of the shelving unit so as to maximise storgage capacity (see image below).

Similarly you should check the position of the bottom grooves to make sure the shelf positions will line up.

It takes a little homework, but it's worth it to make sure the new components you are thinking of buying will integrate with your existing shelving system.

If you are unsure about the compatibility of your shelving, you can always get in touch with us and we'll be happy to help.