Some organizing of my box

98TJ · May 31, 2011

Over the years I've accumulated a few tools and have always wanted to organize them so I could keep them neat. My problem was that I would "lose" a tool, buy a replacement, then find the lost tool.

I've recently decided to organize everything so I spend less time looking for the right tool. I figured the sockets and ratchets would be a good place to start.

I have several Hansen socket holders and have been picking up magnetic holders from Lowe's to store all the extras. These are old pics of the socket drawer. It's much neater now. Inch on the left, Metric on the right.

I made this for the ratchets that I use. The spare ratchets are on the left with the extensions. I put the adapters with the ratchets.

Still messin' around.

Working on the file sets. Small precision files are done. Bigger stuff is next.

I found this place by looking for an acceptable way to organize my wrenches. For now I have them in the Craftsman drawer divider system foam units and a couple of Craftsman holders. All of the ratcheting wrenches are in the foam holders, as are line wrenches and stubby Gearwrenches. Non-ratcheting is in the Craftsman plastic holders that were stacked two high on the right.

Mike14k · May 31, 2011

I like the aluminum tool holder..... nice job.

jaysonb · May 31, 2011

Welcome to the board, and very nice job!!

jabberwoki · May 31, 2011

****** nice job mate i think you have a career!

rsieracki · May 31, 2011

not sure where your from but if its Chicago ill give you my address and let you loose in my garage

... my boxes will keep you quite busy for a while

Krokodil · May 31, 2011

Very nice job!

Cryptic1911 · May 31, 2011

what did you use to make the slots? I'm guessing a drill press, then cut the straight areas with a bandsaw?

98TJ · May 31, 2011

Thanks, guys.

rsieracki said:
not sure where your from but if its Chicago ill give you my address and let you loose in my garage ... my boxes will keep you quite busy for a while

Had to fix that in my profile. I'm in Clarksville, TN.

Cryptic, you nailed it. I did exactly that with the L-shaped extrusion, but the C-channel I used for the mini file set needed two different size slots. For that I drilled all the way through the channel with the smaller of the two sizes and then flipped the channel and drilled the larger opening for the opposite side. I cut the slots to width for the small side, but also cut the same narrow slots in the large side. When I was done with the band saw I used the Dremel and a cutoff wheel to make the larger openings the proper size.

Rectangular openings like those I made in the holder in the ratchet drawer were just a series of cuts on the band saw.

domain · May 31, 2011

I am really liking your ideas! Love the aluminum ones. Is your toolbox a craftsman 40'' With a FULL width drawer?

98TJ · May 31, 2011

domain said:
I am really liking your ideas! Love the aluminum ones. Is your toolbox a craftsman 40'' With a FULL width drawer?

Yeah, I've had the upper and lower for years and picked up the intermediate drawer a few weeks back. That full width drawer is the intermediate drawer.

Here's a shot of the whole box from my thread in the garage gallery.

domain · May 31, 2011

At the full width drawer on you bottom roller!

richtersrodz · May 31, 2011

Wow.. Those look great! I wish I had the time to sit down and do that with mine.

mikeceli · May 31, 2011

richtersrodz said:
Wow.. Those look great! I wish I had the time to sit down and do that with mine.

Ditto!

redcorvetteman3 · May 31, 2011

I have been using a small pizza oven to heat up the wrench's and then melt the foam. gotta be carefull but works great. They can easily melt through the foam. I left the wrench cool on the concrete for a few and the foam peels right off. If you dip it in water to cool its a B^&ch to remove. I want to try alittle pam next time

muddyjoe15 · May 31, 2011

Amazing work on the storage in the box. Wish my garage was as neat as yours!

98TJ · May 31, 2011

domain said:
At the full width drawer on you bottom roller!

Man, I just realized you were talking about the full width in the roller. :lol:

Yeah, that's full width and holds all of the sockets. The full width intermediate drawer (the one I thought you were talking about) is...well...full width. :lol_hitti

muddyjoe15 said:
Amazing work on the storage in the box. Wish my garage was as neat as yours!

Thanks on the box, but the garage is still a cluttered mess in my eyes. I'm doing what I can to make the space more open on the side where nothing is parked but with two vehicles, 15 bicycles, three benches, tool chest, compressor, cart, bike stand, welder, and all the other ****...it's tough.

redcorvetteman3 said:
I have been using a small pizza oven to heat up the wrench's and then melt the foam. gotta be carefull but works great. They can easily melt through the foam. I left the wrench cool on the concrete for a few and the foam peels right off. If you dip it in water to cool its a B^&ch to remove. I want to try alittle pam next time

I bought some of the Craftsman 1/2" foam to cut for pliers and such but it's so humid that the adhesive paper wants to peel instead of sticking to the foam. Frustrated me to the point that I decided not to mess with it for now.

I think when I do the screwdrivers I'll make another aluminum holder. They seem to have a good wow factor when folks see them.

I'm still not 100% happy with the wrench drawer. My ratcheting and non-ratcheting wrenches are stacked on each other and that bothers me. It's more of a mental thing than anything, but it bothers me anyway. Maybe I'll get used to it.

onemore · May 31, 2011

Looks great. Hey did you make that stool?

Layspeed · Jun 1, 2011

Excellent skills my friend. That must be an older Craftsman box back when they had nice stuff. I really like the custom aluminum tool holders. And I think you should do something about wrenches being stacked on each other. I hate that too! lol

sscustom · Jun 1, 2011

****** awsome work mate love those wooden ratchet holders there sweet and look easy to make, love how you covered them

sam

NJHandyGuy · Jun 1, 2011

That is awesome

98TJ · Jun 1, 2011

Thanks, guys.

onemore said:
Looks great. Hey did you make that stool?

Yeah, that was a college art project. Wife calls it "Cause and Effect"

Layspeed said:
Excellent skills my friend. That must be an older Craftsman box back when they had nice stuff. I really like the custom aluminum tool holders. And I think you should do something about wrenches being stacked on each other. I hate that too! lol

I've had this for gosh...7 years or so. When we picked up the intermediate drawer a few weeks back my wife thought the paint wouldn't match. :lol:

Luckily I've taken care of the roller and top chest so that wasn't a concern.

sscustom said:
****** awsome work mate love those wooden ratchet holders there sweet and look easy to make, love how you covered them

sam

The ratchet holders are very easy to make. I did have to Dremel a recessed area for the torque wrench to lay flat. Otherwise it wouldn't allow the drawer to close.

Here's more of the box. Still have plenty of work ahead of me.

Welding drawer. Has consumables, excess shrink tubing, and some exhaust wrap for a project thrown in there.

Fasteners and razor blades. Also have a stubborn screw remover thrown in there.

Shrink tubing and tape drawer.

Screwdrivers and pick set.

Hammer drawer

Some of the air tools. Working on where these will go.

Wrenches and pliers. Got this far on this drawer this morning.

T-handle Torx and Allen (Inch and Metric)

Clamps

Various measuring ****.

Router

Some bike tools

Electrical stuff

The finished ratchet drawer. Finally added the 3/8" finger ratchet

Sockets

There's also an empty drawer in the roller. I'm still sorting out what should go where.

Case IH · Jun 1, 2011

Your shop must be in a pretty bad area if you have a gun in your socket drawer :lol_hitti

98TJ · Jun 1, 2011

Case IH said:
Your shop must be in a pretty bad area if you have a gun in your socket drawer

Yeah...that.

I live in a nice neighborhood but I also subscribe to the idea of being prepared. Last year I had a neighbor that was being physically and mentally abusive to his girlfriend that was living with him. I was in the garage with the door up playing darts. She came over and said "I'm scared and he's got a gun."

He saw her in front of the garage talking to me and got in my face. Both of them had been drinking so that didn't help things. I ended up talking to him and getting him under control. Crazy night. That "He put a gun in my face" thing happened twice.

Was glad to see them move.

98TJ · Jun 7, 2011

I'm still messin' around getting tool trays made. Finally finished this one for the big file set.

Still have a few ideas bouncing around to make the most of the space I have.

On Edge · Jun 8, 2011

Keep the pictures coming. Man you are inspiring! I think that I'm going to have to make some of the aluminum holders. I wish my toolbox was as organized as yours. That is something that is on my to do list. Thanks for sharing!

98TJ · Jun 15, 2011

Haven't made much progress.

I got rid of some extra sockets and the impacts have found their way in.

charle10 · Jun 15, 2011

You've got some cool looking old bikes. Nice work on your box and aluminum holders.

One question though. Yours isn't the only box i've seen it on, but why put all your sockets in 1 drawer, and your ratchets in another? To get a socket and ratchet you have to open and close 2 drawers. I know efficiency isn't a big deal in a home garage, but I was wondering if you thought there was a benefit to setting it up that way? I've always laid mine out, 1/4" in a small drawer, 3/8" in another drawer, and impact and 1/2" in another drawer.

98TJ · Jul 3, 2011

charle10 said:
You've got some cool looking old bikes. Nice work on your box and aluminum holders.

One question though. Yours isn't the only box i've seen it on, but why put all your sockets in 1 drawer, and your ratchets in another? To get a socket and ratchet you have to open and close 2 drawers. I know efficiency isn't a big deal in a home garage, but I was wondering if you thought there was a benefit to setting it up that way? I've always laid mine out, 1/4" in a small drawer, 3/8" in another drawer, and impact and 1/2" in another drawer.

Thanks.

I see it as wasted space. I don't need/want to populate three drawers that most likely wouldn't be filled (wasted space) with sockets when I can put them all - organized - in one drawer.

tmoneyr007 · Jul 3, 2011

98TJ said:
Wrenches and pliers. Got this far on this drawer this morning.

Can you explain the technique to get these so precise?

Thanks, Love the work so far!

Sokoloff · Jul 3, 2011

And any recommendation on where to buy aluminum sheet stock for the project would also be appreciated!

98TJ · Jul 3, 2011

tmoneyr007 said:
Can you explain the technique to get these so precise?

Thanks, Love the work so far!

It's simple. The 1/2" foam comes with a sticky sheet of paper. Stick the paper to the foam, place the tools on the paper, trace with a pen/pencil, and cut with a sharp blade.

I bought some of those sheets because I thought they would be good to organize things (and they are) but I'm not getting enough pliers in the drawer to suit me and I've recently picked up quite a few pair of Knipex instead of having a mis-matched bunch. That drawer was a trial run to see if it was something I'd want to buy more of.

So...undecided for now if I'm going to continue with that idea or scrap it in favor of something else. I like knowing exactly what's missing by giving the drawer a quick glance, but I really wish I could pack more in the drawer. Arrrgh.

Sokoloff said:
And any recommendation on where to buy aluminum sheet stock for the project would also be appreciated!

Just basic stuff from Lowe's or Home Depot.

jeffmoss26 · Jul 3, 2011

Wow, awesome work! Those holders are sweet. Where did you get the labels for the drawers, or did you make them?

-Jeff

98TJ · Jul 3, 2011

I made the labels in Photoshop and printed them on magnetic sheet.

Years ago I bought some from here but they didn't suit my needs so I scanned one, removed the text in Photoshop, made a "blank", and added my own text.

illmatyk · Jul 3, 2011

Very nice work! :rocker:

littletoes · Jul 3, 2011

Love the aluminum holders you've made, they look great. Looks like you took your time laying it out, to keep everything square.

Wondering if you could measure your add-on full length drawer. I have a 41" upper/lower box, and am in desperate need for more room, but I'm not sure if a Craftsman would work with what I have.

98TJ · Jul 3, 2011

littletoes said:
Love the aluminum holders you've made, they look great. Looks like you took your time laying it out, to keep everything square.

Wondering if you could measure your add-on full length drawer. I have a 41" upper/lower box, and am in desperate need for more room, but I'm not sure if a Craftsman would work with what I have.

Yeah, I took my time. The aluminum holders are easy, really. I just lay the pieces on the aluminum and use a pencil to mark tool locations left to right. Then, in the case of needing to mark hole centers, I'll put the tool in place and trace it's diameter. Odd as it may seem, I don't use measurement devices for layout, just the tools and a pencil.

I'm out of town so I can't measure the intermediate drawer, but it's a 40in model: http://www.mysears.com/Craftsman-1-...40-in-Wide-Ball-Bearing-Black--738152-reviews

littletoes · Jul 4, 2011

Love the Handgun Idea. Looks to be a S & W, M & P. Excellent Choice. Well made, shoots very well. As long as you keep the drawer locked when not home!
I don't imagine too many bad guys would expect to have one there, but I don't think I'd want my "little baby" to get banged around in a tool drawer! It can be a bit uncomfortable packing while working on the rig! And a good sized wrench or hammer ain't a bad deterrent to bad guys either!

tinbender 66 · Jul 4, 2011

Some great ideas there!! Consider some of them stolen.

98TJ · Jul 9, 2011

Thanks to info found here on the forum I picked up a Rubbermaid dish drain and made a Knipex holder. :thumbup:

Pardon the mess on the bench, the kids were doing S'mores tonight and using the bench for their assembly line.

I like how this allows more tools to be stored than the 1/2" foam with cutouts. I'll probably keep the drawer with cutouts and the larger pliers that won't fit on edge (or, for that matter - at an angle) in the shallow drawers. Then, when someone wants to borrow my needle-nose they can get the stuff from the foam drawer. :lol_hitti

sscustom · Jul 9, 2011

sweet rack heres how i made mine

Some organizing of my box

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