Getting my nuts and bolts organized

[NUTTSGT]

Mine are individually labelled.

I'm guessing you mean nuts ?

 

[Grant Gunderson]

@Grant Gunderson dude, I thought that was your set up when I first saw the post. . . . I thought EPIC.

Haha. According to all of my neighbors I’m better stocked then that….. and actually I maybe when it comes to some obscure odd ball sizes. It’s funny I’m not all that old, but working on all sorts of random stuff from cameras, to cars to machine tools and of course bikes since I was a kid has resulted In a lot of hardware and tools being acquired. I figure in another 40+ years when I’m pushing up flowers my son is either going to love it or curse it when he has to deal with all of it.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I tried to look ahead in case my hardware cabinets ever need to be moved. I built tray type angle iron base dollies with steel swivel wheels that will not flat spot for each of them to sit in. Each base can handle 1200 lbs.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Just an FYI for you guys who would like to find some Stanley Vidmar or Lista cabinets.
I have been following Bidspotter.com for several years. You can do a search for auctions of whatever kind of industrial stuff you would like to buy.
You can set it to search by distance, Even have it send you emails when an auction with your search term gets listed.
I found my Monarch lathe there 4 years ago (90 miles away) and the Vidmar cabinets I bought this summer (15 miles away)
Anyway, I have gotten a pile of emails for auctions with Vidmars and Listas lately. All over the country. Never seen so many.
So maybe look into it. And NO I do not have any skin in this game. Just trying to give back to a great bunch of guys here.

 

[LopezBart]

Luckily we have Hardware Sales here in Bellingham.

Hardware Sales is a treasure indeed.

 

[LopezBart]

The best deal I've found for smaller storage bins is HF's stacking bins @$15 for 20 count; the bins are 5 in. x 4 in. x 3 in. A drawer made from 1x4 nominal sides and a plywood bottom on heavy duty full extension slides makes for a reasonable DIY solution, and can be sized as needed.

These bins work well for nuts, washers, and shorter bolts and lay them out in a regular patterns so I can avoid labeling the individual bins. If I had a similar setup for metric I would need labels since my eyeballs seems to be Imperial in calibration.

 

[MelvinManiac]

Amazing...but I guarantee I constantly still wouldn't find the exact bolt/washer/nut, etc I was looking for and have to buy it online LOL

 

[OccupantRJ]

My son is the engineer for a company with multiple small facilities in US and Canada and works from home unless traveling to locations. Yesterday he contacted me and wanted to use my shop to build a relatively small prototype process device that he had in mind. He came by with a couple of materials and got at it. While building it he jokingly asked if I happened to have any 1/8”x 3/8”steel solid rivets. I told him to go into the stock room and look in the first cabinet to the left in a drawer at knee height. In a couple minutes he came out shaking his head unbelievingly and holding a small container of rivets. I then told him the rivets had been purchased at a yard sale about 40 years ago and I had been saving them for that job. Son is 42.

 

[junkyardwarrior]

My DIY Homeowner solution:





I still need to integrate the small boxes into slides...

Pretty much what I did with a sheet of plywood, a couple 1x2's for "drawer" holders. Only thing I did really different was to put labels on the boxes. 5/16, 6mm, etc.


Nice thing about doing this is that you just take the box out of the cabinet and carry it to the job. Less walking back and forth for the fastener you want.

 

[john.m.knutson]

My local True Value just converted/rebranded as Ace, and as part of the store remodel they got all new hardware bins. They were selling off some of the old ones for $10 per bin so I grabbed 8. I always liked that the box can lift out of the tray.

 

[fourjeepin]

My local True Value just converted/rebranded as Ace, and as part of the store remodel they got all new hardware bins. They were selling off some of the old ones for $10 per bin so I grabbed 8. I always liked that the box can lift out of the tray.

Nice! I did similarly but from a Home Depot that was relocating. I thought I got a great deal at $20 per bin then the guy told me all the hardware came with the bins. I ripped open the little colored baggies until my fingers were raw and had to start cutting them open.

I would have been happy with just one of these bins, but got 16 of the style shown, plus 16 of the open style that they keep boxes of bulk hardware in. I didn’t have room for all of it so I kept 6 and sold the rest.

 

[Jazz1]

Its a rare occasion i cant source what i need from my small collection of nuts and bolts SAE and Metric
Im mostly working on autos
Got this small cabinet 30 years ago from BIL

 

[Jacko264]

Hi all I have lot and lots of nuts and bolts in different sizes and threads + tools.
when you think you are getting to old and all the things are in your paradise garage
would you start To thin things out or leave it to family to sort it out .
Graham

 

[jpaw]

I'm jealous of the dedication to organization in this thread.
I have 1 drawer of semi organized hardware and two 5 gallon buckets of automotive hardware from my years as an auto tech.
Those buckets of bolts saved many jobs, was the difference of finishing a job or ordering a bolt/nut and moving on to the next job. With the amount of onetime use fasteners used today one could have quite the collection of lightly used fasteners for free.

 

[nodoor]

Check out soj’s cabinet for small parts thread from a decade ago. I have had one in play for several years works great and dust free.
What Steveo is to the workbench soj is to hardware storage, GJ legends.

 

[Craig Balzer]

I have two 16 drawer Lists full of hardware.


I used to keep multiple sizes in each drawer, but that quickly became too little space, so each size gets it own drawer now.

I then use as Schaller bins to organize each drawer.

@Grant Gunderson

Where did you source the red plastic clips / labels that are on each Schiller bin as shown in your third photo?

Craig

 

[NHtoolguy]

I remember seeing Gerber baby food jars with the lids screwed to the undersides of shelves for fastener storage. In the 1960's, with little money and a growing family, a father had a practical workshop storage solution using these empty jars. Not as many fancy options in those days.

 

[LopezBart]

I remember seeing Gerber baby food jars with the lids screwed to the undersides of shelves for fastener storage. In the 1960's, with little money and a growing family, a father had a practical workshop storage solution using these empty jars. Not as many fancy options in those days.

I remember reading Popular Science/Mechanics and that was a popular hint...

 

[M.Brane]

My dad did a similar thing with peanut butter jars.

 

[rharman]

I remember seeing Gerber baby food jars with the lids screwed to the undersides of shelves for fastener storage. In the 1960's, with little money and a growing family, a father had a practical workshop storage solution using these empty jars. Not as many fancy options in those days.

I remember my grandfather had that in his shop 60 years or more ago. Well, he had it way before that - that's just when I remember it. Several different size jars as I recall.

 

[pcmeiners]

Have a 13 drawer Vidmar cabinet dedicated to nut/bolt hardware, $4k worth of SAE metric and SS, great having most sizes at one's finger tips. The nearest hardware is 9 miles away, it is not so much the cost savings so much as the amount of time lost and the aggravation of having to stop working on a project to buy $.98 worth of hardware. Since it is a trip total of 18 miles, very close to a gallon of gas and at least an hour of time. Have both Shaller and Akrobins my preference is the smallest Akrobins, wish they made even smaller bins. Of the most important items in my garage Vidmar cabinets and Akro bins are top of the list.
As note as to the Vidmar drawers they work out great for medications, sewing items, spices and other household items.

 

[cannuck]

I am severely space limited and could never accept the huge amount wasted with round container space inches apart to allow for unscrewing. I have to keep Gr5 coarse up to 1/2" (plus a row of larger) and Gr8 UNF same range - in 72 bin open cabinets as I need some sizes in the hundreds - plus decent range of 8.8, a bit of 10.9 and 12.9 plus a selection of metric and inch stainless that live in two tiers of 2x4x7 open bins with adjustable dividers over about 30' of my workbenches. Stuff under 1/4" and 6mm goes into flat pack boxes I can stack on top of 72 bin cabinets. I have started bringing back from storage to one of my 2x4x8' shelving units, but have not yet found open shelf bins 24 deep with transverse dividers I can shear from sheet stock. Can't afford to waste a single cubic inch of storage space and want/need great flexibility and access. It is serious business that only a much larger shop can help with.