I designed and built these plate racks around 2006/2007 out of mild steel and rebar and other metal scraps lying around after a big construction project finished. The design goals were:

1. Plate racks break down for transport in the back of a pickup truck (F150)
2. Upper and lower plates can be easily swapped out if a plate gets damaged
3. The lower plates just hang. No reset required.
4. The upper plates are a manual reset (pull rope).

If I had to guess, I have less than $150 in materials in each one. I built ~30 of them and sold them all. The pics show the overall design, plate removal system (remove one 1/2" bolt and the plate can be remove/swapped) and the other design details.

The steel plate I used is ordinary mild steel plate commonly used to cover large holes/construction on roads. These plates are usually 10'x20' (or smaller) and I got mine free or very cheap from a local scrap yard. The rebar was all free. I just hunted construction sites for leftover rebar and they gave it to me. The bolts and other metal parts I got from construction sites from their dumpsters. I had a lot of free time in those days.

The design you see is the 3rd or 4th iteration. The first was horrible. It took a few tries to get it the way I wanted. Pictured is the final design.

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants to build these.

Plate Rack:



https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/FIREARMS/PROJECTS/SteelTargets/05012007007.jpg

Upper and Lower Plate removal detail:




https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/FIREARMS/PROJECTS/SteelTargets/05012007%20013.jpg

Front View:

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/FIREARMS/PROJECTS/SteelTargets/05012007%20009.jpg

Manual Reset Detail (Left Side):

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/FIREARMS/PROJECTS/SteelTargets/05012007%20002.jpg

This is awesome, Tfb! Very impressive execution. I love seeing stuff like that. Thanks for sharing!