[PhilBa]

I love fresh pasta. Nothing better than fresh linguine, lasagna, fettuccine and such. My original drying rack was terrible - wobbly, a pain to set up and just plain looked ugly. So, I went looking to buy a better rack. Strangely, there really wasn't anything that was much better than what I had so I designed my own.

My criteria were:

• Must hold and dry a large amount of pasta - triple batch
• Must be fast and easy to set up
• Must store in a very small amount of space
• Must look good

After playing around with a fair number of ideas, I came up with the folding design you see here. It took several iterations to get the proportions right and the stops in the correct positions. Surprisingly complex for such a simple concept.

Made with Walnut, Maple and Cherry. Dowels are of some mongrel Home Depot softwood. 1/4" SS bolts and locknuts. Mortises routed with a template. Tenons cut on TS with the "repetitive cut" technique. Finish is hand wiped oil based polyurethane. No finish on the dowels. Along the way I learned that you can't make half-round dados with a straight bit - I settled for square dados. I suppose a round nose bit would have worked but the square dados don't look bad. Overall, I'm happy with the way it turned out and my Son in Law liked it so much we made one together for him.

note: I don't know why one of the photos isrotated 90 degrees. It looked fine on the PC. Also, it looks like there is some white debris in several of the photos. I think it's just the light because it isn't visible on the rack.

 

[DaninVan]

Great rack!
Nice write up as well, Phil

 

[PhilBa]

Great rack!

Why thank you, blush, blush.

 

[DesertRatTom]

That is a nice rack. I also love pasta, and this would make it easy to produce. Storage of the folded rack would be easy, a couple of twist lock pieces glued to the underside of the pantry drawers would hold it out of the way nicely. Four chunks of wood the thickness of the rack, plus a same size piece attached at the center of the block, so you hold the rick in place and twist the lock so it grabs the rack. It's done.

AMA recently announced that the Mediterranian diet is the best for overall health. Olive oit, tomatos, a little meat, fresh made pasta. Yum.

 

[sreilly]

My early childhood memories from New Jersey are of a neighbor that had fresh pasta all over the house, on chairs and sofa with clean sheets. She certainly could have used this rack, maybe a few of them. Well done and a great presentation. I haven't tried to make pasta but may someday soon. I'll print this out as a reference.

 

[MEBCWD]

Great Rack. One of my aunts made homemade noddles all the time and fixed large batches of chicken and noddles. I'd like a big bowl of some right now.

 

[Bstrom]

Wow! Love the design and practicality of this item. I’m hoping to put one together myself and look for a worthy home cook to give one to...thanks for the inspiration!

 

[PhilBa]

Wow! Love the design and practicality of this item. I’m hoping to put one together myself and look for a worthy home cook to give one to...thanks for the inspiration!

What a great way to get some good meals! Thanks for the kind words.

 

[JFPNCM]

Well done and the detailed write up is appreciated.

 

[TenGees]

Interesting the way the wedges hold the arms in position.

 

[dman2]

Very nice! This will be my next project! I was mulling over a few designs, as we make pasta all the time, and the plastic one we've had for years is on it's last leg. This is much better than what I was about to make. Did you have any neat ways to store the dowels?
I like what I think DesertRatTom's storage solution is, although I'm not sure what 'plus a same size piece attached at the center of the block' means. We are short on space, but we do have space under a pantry shelf. I can see making two 'C' type holders under a shelf this could slide into. Thanks for these great ideas!

 

[PhilBa]

Very nice! This will be my next project! I was mulling over a few designs, as we make pasta all the time, and the plastic one we've had for years is on it's last leg. This is much better than what I was about to make. Did you have any neat ways to store the dowels?
I like what I think DesertRatTom's storage solution is, although I'm not sure what 'plus a same size piece attached at the center of the block' means. We are short on space, but we do have space under a pantry shelf. I can see making two 'C' type holders under a shelf this could slide into. Thanks for these great ideas!

Good question. I just use a rubber band on the dowels and put the bundle on the shelf where I store the rack. ShopBro says a 1" PVC pipe would keep them together but his SWMBO says "over my dead body". The bundle of dowels comes to a shade more than 3/4" D so any tube with a 7/8" ID or larger would work.