Fastener Organization - Suggestions Needed

[Gordon Clark]

I'm working on organizing my garage and part of that includes all my screws. I have a ton of Paulin screws. I just bought a new plastic cabinet from Crappy Tire with the little drawers in it.

I have two problems with this type of organization. First, labeling is worse than tedious. I have been writing out "6x3/4 - wood - round head" on Avery labels and sticking them on the front of the drawers. Some of the drawers have three compartments because the screws are so small - 6x1/2, 6x5/8, 6x3/4, in one drawer, in which case I put three labels on the front.

Second, the dividers don't lock in place, and they easily get lifted from being lightly handled, and then two sizes are mixed. This *****.

Anyone know of ready-made labels I can buy? Is there a better product than what Crappy Tire sells?

A lot of you guys probably have all your screws in jars with the lids screwed to a stationary piece of wood. I'm not sure that is practical for me. Or maybe I haven't seen it done well.

I think Paulin could make a lot of money selling a product that solves this problem.

 

[Scout Driver]

Mac's hardware (upper midwest chain) has hardware racks with labels. They also sell separate labels. We use these racks on the farm and really like them.
Since you are already using Avery labels, go to their website and download a template that matches your labels. This will enable you to have uniformly printed labels right from your printer.
Hope this helps you.

By the way, I see that you are new to the forum. Welcome to the Garage Journal.

Scott

 

[Gordon Clark]

Thank you, Scott. I'll google that.

 

[mdbeck1]

I picked up an inexpensive labeller from WalMart. The tape is expensive but it works fairly well.

 

[lilredex]

A few of my solutions....... never had much use for those things with all the useless drawers in them. Love that H. Paulin stuff........you got a "back door" connection for that?

Welcome aboard and don't forget to join us at the Canadian board (click on "community" above to find us there). BTW where are you??

 

[Jack Olsen]

You can also get sheets of adhesive labels and make your own with your printer.

 

[spongerich]

I've got a bunch of those little plastic organizer bins.

I've been thinking of taking a bolt/screw/nut/etc from each drawer and attaching it to the front with my glue gun.

 

[Call me the Breeze]

I got a couple of old office card file cabinets that are each 19"wide x 29" deep x 52" tall. each unit has 22 drawers that are 7 1/2" wide by 27" long x 3 1/2" deep. they have heavy duty ball bearing side guides, and can hold alot of weight. I cut up old plastic oil cans Same as lilredex's picture above, as well as the gallon oil jugs and antifreeze jugs for larger stuff or qty's. Whats great about those old oil cans is that they are large enough to get parts out of ( I have big hands ) vs those tiny plastic drawers, and of course these are a free container after every oil change. With those 44 drawers I have more fastner storage than I have fastners. They were gonna throw the cabinets away at work.

 

[Falcon67]

Cigar box (they still have those don't then?) - part of the fun is digging around for a proper fastener.

 

[Carman]

I had the same problem with Vidmar/Lista drawers and the dividers lifting up, I just resorted to using clear packing tape front/back of the divider that way screws wouldn't migrate. I also put pics on the divider in case so it's more obvious to the guys 'borrowing' parts from the drawers
Pics were more for fittings than screws

 

[OccupantRJ]

A few of my solutions....... never had much use for those things with all the useless drawers in them. Love that H. Paulin stuff........you got a "back door" connection for that?

Welcome aboard and don't forget to join us at the Canadian board (click on "community" above to find us there. BTW where are you??

I see that I am not the only pack rat on here.

(That's a good thing.)

 

[ChristopherLutz]

Great question. I honestly think "the best" idea might be the one that works for you and the types of projects you normally take on. What I mean by that is....if you have lots and lots of large lag bolts vs. scores of small brad nails.

Personally, I wrestled with a few different ideas until I finally settled on "Bass Pro Shop" tackle boxes. These have very flexible dividers and are only about $3 dollars each.

I wanted to create organization that gave me flexibility AND was pretty easy to use. If you put me in a car crusher, you might get a thimble full of patience.

Anyway, I've included a picture below - the bench is messy - look about 2/3 of the way up on the shelves. You'll see the tackle boxes stacked with blue masking tape labels.

I organized by: nails, wood screws, machine screws, bolts, etc.

Good Luck

 

[SL6RAM]

I've had good luck gluing the dividers into place so hardware doesn't mix together. Something like hot melt keeps it in place but still allows you to remove if you had to.
just an idea
Joe

 

[Auzivision]

Old library car catalog files if you can still find them cheap. Add some dividers and you'll be all set.