Safco Products Wire Cubes, Black (5279BL)

I bought these wire cubes to use for an art display at a convention, after a recommendation from other artists. Safco had one of the best prices on Amazon, for a product that turned out excellent for my purposes. I like the shelf connectors, as they hold the shelves in place without being impossible to remove, unlike other sets I've seen. The corner connectors are also fairly easy to snap together, though they require some pressure and aren't always the easiest to remove again. They're a little hard on the hands as well.

The biggest drawback to this set, for my purposes, is that there aren't quite enough corner connectors for much beyond the standard fouror five-cube arrangement, and Safco does not appear to easily supply additional corner connectors. None are available on Amazon, and despite Safco's website mentioning alternate vendors for the connectors, there are none within an hour's drive from my home. The nearest ones, also, only supply to retailers and other large business entities, not individuals. Some connectors from other sets may fit, but the wire squares may be too large or small to work with most.

For a basic storage unit, this is a great buy. For fancier, larger arrangements, more connectors are needed.

I already had some sturdy wire cube shelves and wanted to add on to them. They are apparently only a seasonal item in stores like Costco and Staples and I couldn't wait 'til next year. I was hoping these Safco cubes were a match and they are indeed. So I am happy. My original shelves were put together, oh, must be at least 5 years ago or more. They are still going strong under heavy continuous use. Now that that the new cubes are attached, I cannot tell the old from the new. There are other wire cubes for less money but they also look cheaper, especially when next to my good ones.

Note: The corner connectors are different than on my original set but that doesn't matter to me...I don't use them. I've always considered the connectors to be awkward and difficult. I get more flexibility in configuring my shelves by using black electrical ties instead. The ties are easy and I use them liberally, so the shelves are very sturdy. Since the ties and the shelves are black, they are nearly invisible once I snip off their "tails". Certainly less visible than the connectors that come with it. (The tail snipping goes very fast and easy if you use your cat's toenail clippers...much better than regular scissors.)

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I just ordered a set of these but have also bought them in the past. They're great for storage cubes as were intended, but the plastic covered wire panels also have some other great uses. We've used them as barriers to keep small pets from getting into a room that's off limits. Instead of using the little corner units that come with them to hold them together, we use plastic electrical ties Gardner Bender 46-330UVB Electrical 30-Inch Heavy Duty Black UV Resistant Cable Ties, 25-Pack which are much sturdier. You can connect several of these panels together in a single row to make a flexible "fence". It worked great for our mini dachshunds when they were young and we wanted to keep them in the family room where we could see them. I have friends who used them to keep other small dogs in or out of an area. You can stack them two high for this purpose as well. We used them outdoors between the house and patio wall to keep the dachshunds from wandering.

We've also used them at the top of our balcony next to the stairs to keep a young kitten from wandering and falling off the landing. I posted some photos of this on the main product page. We just fasten a row of them with the electrical ties and fasten them to the rail posts the same way. Kittens can climb over them, but it keeps them from wandering and falling or getting chased by other cats and falling accidentally.

I've also stacked and connected them with the electrical ties and used them to hold up large tomato plants. They make a great cage and you can make it as large as you want.

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I bought these to make a C&C guinea pig cage, a use for which they aren't intended but still work very well. My guinea pigs have not escaped and for those in the know, this brand has exactly the right number and size of holes per grids and it offers ample opportunity to expand and rearrange their cage.

The reason I gave four stars and not five is that there was no mention in the packaging I got of the force required to lock them together. I still haven't managed to lock them in, and so the cage snaps apart very easily. For the most part this isn't a problem, as the pigs are contained by a plastic box inside the grids, but it would be a terrible problem for someone building a second storey or just using them for their intended purpose as shelves. Because they make a clicking sound when they go into the connectors, and seem to budge no further, it's entirely reasonable that people would assume that they were locked in. They look like they're in, they sound like they're in, but they're not. I would have assumed they were defective too if not for the multitude of reviews online that mention the extreme force.

All in all a very useful product with some information/assembly problems.

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I had recently gotten a set of similar cubes from Bed bath & Beyond and was looking for another set. The BB&B set was about $10 cheaper and I was very satisfied with them. These on the other hand are worthless. The panels do not fit securely into the attachments (if you can get them in at all), and the unit disintegrated after I put in several light weight fleece blankets. I had to reassemble the panels using zip ties. Don't bother buying these.

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