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My latest venture is this hardware storage unit that I built from angle iron & sheetmetal. It features (8) 24 compartment storage boxes from Harbor Freight giving me 192 compartments in all and is finished off in Sail blue from Rustoleum. A top will be added as soon as I decide on what I want. 11 gauge steel sheet, diamond plate, wood? Decisions, decisions... :)
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Good one bobs409! I like it. Never had as much problem with the trays as the unit itself, you've cured that. Personally I've take. To mounting my storage units on the bottom of cabinets and shelves as I don't have bench space to spare.
Yep, horizontal surfaces are at a premium. Space [vertical] is comparatively free, just invest ways to capture it.
My cataloging system for bins and totes is plain numerical; 1, 2, 3,....as far a needed. When re-organization is called for, contents are switched and the table of contents edited. Bin 1 is always Bin 1. I think fasteners and hardware are up to 166#'s so far. Inserts and toolholder hardware is just 67#.
Thanks to excel type programs. Changes are not daunting. Of course not everything is itemized yet. Starting out, I guess at how many spaces to skip.
Top? I'd opt for something that could be recessed, a tray. Come time to sort or handle, containment beats chasing dowel pins or springs rolling around.Quote:
Originally Posted by bobs409
Your cookie tins are ideal; if loss of baked goods isn't threatened...
TM51 just like everything else that has to do with storage once an item has been cataloged the bin indexed and the drawer has been put in place there needs to be a handy quick reference sheet hanging near the bin or rack of bins
Looking for a specific item simply flip through the sheets while scrolling down the index numbers. AH-HA,There it is J bolt 1/4 20 tpi 2.5" long 1/2" 90° J .062" cotter hole section 132 drawer 3 bin B 3 quantity 14 (make entry on white board of qty removed for inventory update). Now if I can just teach my wife how to write down the descriptions of every piece of hardware as she helps to sort things for their proper places. my job of inventory master would be easy.
But right now it is more like HONEY where did you put that bolt with the red paint on it you found the other day.I can't seam to find it anywhere
That's a good suggestion! I am envisioning 2 cookie pans for a top now. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Toolmaker51
Oh certainly, have to remember the Honey title. Nothing good happens otherwise.
When the Ms. first explored my work table drawers, the first question was "Why so many hammers"?
Later, on hardware trips, pointing out a display, she'd ask "Got one of those"? Yep 2 through 32 ounce, or what ever the particulars were.
Now it's, "There isn't a lime colored one"?
Far as the list goes, I print out a clipboard copy. No one sorts but I. Self appointed master and go-fer. Chauvinistic, yes. Orderly? Of course.
The collection was seeded by friend, worked industrial hardware warehouse. Broken boxes and spills were swept, not sorted. I got four, full 5 gallon buckets. Two with smaller fasteners so dense, the handles would barely lift the bucket. Took months, item by item. Huge variety, not so many of each. Great for fix-it jobs or figuring out thread engagement etc. For specifics there are 3 dusty oldtime True Value around. Love that incredible variety. For quantities I rely on distributors like Fastenmost. Decidedly foremost is https://www.mcmaster.com/#. Soon, time comes to reorganize the building's entire inventory, their print catalog will be the precedence of order.
Any body want a plane ticket and 3-4 weeks housed in historical home?
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Cookie trays are a good idea but they should be fitted out as sorting trays.Quote:
Originally Posted by bobs409
After dumping a handful of whatever in the tray and finding what you want, you need an easy way to put the remaining parts back in their assigned bin. Lots of ways to do it. If it were my problem I would think about a wooden insert for the tray that acts as a horizontal "funnel" leading to a hole the shape of one of the bins. Put the insert in place before dumping the parts in; then, when done, tilt tray to allow parts to slide into funnel and drop through hole back into their bin.
One problem I've had with the partitioned storage boxes that have the partitions fixed in place is the difficulty of dumping out the contents of just one compartment. I went so far as to make a thin plywood mask with a hole the size of the individual bin. With this in place over the target bin I could sort of dump out just that one. There were other problems with this scheme - I won't bore you with a description - so ultimately I switched to the HF boxes that have little removable bins.
Anyway, you may want to give some thought to how you are going to access and replace the contents of an individual bin.
Marv,
I keep several inexpensive heavy duty tweezers next my storage bins and partitioned boxes so I can easily extract a single screw or nut. The tweezers also work well for sorting through the bin or partitioned boxes. The tweezers with rubber tips are especially useful.
Paul
I bet you guys, I have 75 or MORE of those organizers, NOT from Harbor Freight but from a craft store (I'm a model builder) and store a LOT of detail parts in organizers much like these here.... I'd LOVE to be able to "french" mount a case to hold the most common ones, or currently used cases in the end of one of my work benches.... -As I currently have these cases in a 3 drawer plastic cabinet that rolls around on wheels in my small shop, that I'd like to be able to free up the rolling cabinet, and have the cases stored elsewhere or simply place at the end of the bench, and have the main supply of organizers else where and just have out the ones I'm currently using....
Thought about making this from Melamine, and cutting in slots to accept .100" thick plexiglass to hold the organizers, and then "french" in this small cabinet to the end of one of my benches......
As do I, Paul. Surgical forceps (fancy name for largish tweezers) are at each of my workstations. With my Neanderthalic fingers, they are essential for any manipulation of small parts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Jones
That said, I can't afford the spatial luxury of having only one type of item in each storage compartment. A bin of small springs may contain many sizes and, inevitably, the smaller ones sink to the bottom, necessitating dumping the bin to get to them.
In addition to forceps, stamp tweezers...
https://www.amazon.com/BinaryABC-Sta...stamp+tweezers
with their spadelike tips dipped in liquid insulation to make them slightly sticky are essential small work tools.
A pair of plastic or plastic-tipped tweezers...
https://www.amazon.com/PLASTIC-NON-M...ipped+tweezers
are great for handling coin-style batteries and small parts that have become magnetized, not to mention playing about in electronic what-fors.
Marv,
I take my forceps, and when I need to soften the gripping jaws of them to not "mar" things I'm picking up, I use a short section of heat shrink tubing on both jaws, and then once done, and the tubing is shot, more and leave to use normally, and then just do it again, when the time arises to need the soft jaws with no marring effect.
I use a telescoping magnet tool I have. Won't work on stainless or similar but most things are steel so they are easy to remove quickly.Quote:
Originally Posted by mklotz
Does anyone else here have a soft spot for tip out bins? Sometimes you will see them at electronics suppliers, medical facilities, etc. - occasionally in sliding racks. These guys:
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...tipoutbin2.jpg
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...tipoutbin3.jpg
Catalog of a large supplier is here: http://www.quantumstorage.com/media/...ry/086-091.pdf
Nice combination of enclosure, viewability, and accessibility. Downside is that they're far too expensive for significant home shop parts storage. There are some online examples of 3D printed bins, but I know there's an issue with transparent filaments turning translucent during the printing process.
I like those "tilt-out" bins.... I have a few of them, and in one type I have 4 or 5 sections that interlock! NOT all being used as I'm still setting up my work bench in the basement thats going to have them, BUT I have others in where I do model work in-use! SO yeah I have a little soft spot for them! (They work WELL!)
Oh certainly, have to remember the Honey title. Nothing good happens otherwise.
When the Ms. first explored my work table drawers, the first question was "Why so many hammers"?
Later, on hardware trips, pointing out a display, she'd ask "Got one of those"? Yep 2 through 32 ounce, or what ever the particulars were.
Now it's, "There isn't a lime colored one"?
Far as the list goes, I print out a clipboard copy. No one sorts but I. Self appointed master and go-fer. Chauvinistic, yes. Orderly? Of course.
The collection was seeded by friend, worked industrial hardware warehouse. Broken boxes and spills were swept, not sorted. I got four, full 5 gallon buckets. Two with smaller fasteners so dense, the handles would barely lift the bucket. Took months, item by item. Huge variety, not so many of each. Great for fix-it jobs or figuring out thread engagement etc. For specifics there are 3 dusty oldtime True Value around. Love that incredible variety. For quantities I rely on distributors like Fastenmost. Decidedly foremost is https://www.3dprintmanual.com/arduino-3d-printers/ . Soon, time comes to reorganize the building's entire inventory, their print catalog will be the precedence of order.
Any body want a plane ticket and 3-4 weeks housed in historical home?
