How do you organize small hardware (nuts & bolts etc...) ?

[y20dth]

I've started trowing away al the used nuts, bolts, clips, washers, screws, etc... that I find everywhere because I cannot seem to get them organized.

I want to avoid trowing it away, so..... how do you guys organize your small hardware?
Sorting by diameter? Also by length? Thread standard?

Visual aids (pics) are very much appreciated !

 

[Jack Olsen]

I've been in the same situation for years. I'm trying to turn it around.

It still makes me crazy when the thing to hold/store something costs more than the thing it's holding or storing.

Cheap HF bins and a thread gauge.

 

[kbs2244]

The HF bins are pretty cheap.
But before HF came around I started useing the flat oil jugs with a side cut out as bins.
Magic marker on the bottom to say what is in it.
A set of shelves 3 inchs high built into an old kitchen cabinet and I am done.

I also use the bigger anti-freeze jugs with a side cut out for bigger stuff.

 

[LoneGunman]

You've done it again Jack, Great idea making use of that unused space to store your hardware.

I have a steel cabinet with four drawers, single pieces of hardware goes in there, nuts in one bolts in another and washers in another. It's not very organized but it works for me. Boxes of hardware gets stored in the drawers beneath my work bench.

I've been in the same situation for years. I'm trying to turn it around.

It still makes me crazy when the thing to hold/store something costs more than the thing it's holding or storing.

Cheap HF bins and a thread gauge.

 

[hoopty388]

that thread gauge is awesome ive been looking for something like that. could you tell me where to get one

 

[A29]

cheap bins on a shelf is all I've come up with.

 

[lilredex]

Here's what works for me. I look for any wasted space and then make something to fit.

 

[dlc]

that thread gauge is awesome ive been looking for something like that. could you tell me where to get one

buy thread detective here


.

 

[mdbeck1]

I picked up an old desk years ago. The top was shot so I cut it off and kept the drawer side. I cut off old oil cans (the plastic rectangular kind) so that they would fit in the drawers. Then sort by size and thread. Keep bolts, nuts, and washers in the same container. If that isn't big enough expand the size by one container.

About a year ago I built a rolling cabinet of nothing but drawers but I still use the oil cans to separate the different sizes.

Then I came across the one in my shop now. It's got to be from WWII. Drawers everywhere. Just sort by size and thread and use a cheap labeller to mark the drawer. Sorry I'm at work and don't have pics. Maybe this evening.

 

[Jack Olsen]

The nice thing about bins (whether they're purpose-built or re-purposed food containers) is that you can pick one up and move it to where you're working. For a long time I used a system where I had to either carry every screw I owned or pull out the exact number I thought I'd need. I like having the bins a lot better.

This thread has information on where to buy the gauge checker:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57875

Or look up 'Thread Detective' on Amazon or 'Thread Identifier' on Grainger's site.

 

[jmh21586]

I use the four plastic parts bins on the ouside of the cabinet for smaller nuts and bolts and things.

The top left cabinet holds hardware like cabinet hinges, door pulls, zip ties, and stuff like picture hanging hardware. Misc stuff.

The bottom left one is fairly empty. Mostly cotter pins divided into two drawers. Big and small. Also have misc parts in there like parts for my hanging furnace, etc. Stuff that comes as extra pieces with things I buy. Extra grommets, seals etc.

The top right cabinet is all screws. Mostly wood screws and sheet metal screws. They are sorted mostly by size. A lot of one kind get their own bins. Misc ones get thrown into a bin of mixed screws. That bin is full.
There are a lot of different kinds, sizes of screws out there.

The bottom right cabinet is all nut, bolt and washers. I had all my nuts in one bucket at one time. A few weeks ago I went through every one of them. They are all broke down into thread size. Ended up with about 10 drawers full. Most drawers divided in two. Also most of my washers are in this bin. Machine bolts and other misc bolts.

In the main bainet with the blue bins I have mostly misc stuff like wire nuts, staples, longer wood screws, nails and just a lot of misc hardware.
Concrete anchors, eye bolts and larger bolts that wouldn't fit into one of the four smaller cabinets shown above.

For me it became obvious that every screw, nut, bolt of every size couldn't have its own bin. Look at the hardware isles in most hardware stores. I just don't have that much storage space. So in some bins all the screws might be the same diameter or thread, but different lengths. If somethings can't have their own bins they are grouped with similar items.

I'm to the point where I have it squared away enough that I know roughly where to look when I need something.

 

[Jeff]

Originally I bought some Akro-Mils plastic drawer cabinets. Well, they didn't last long. Too much weight and the seams started coming apart. Now I'm using the Akro-Mils steel frame cabinets. Very stout and handle all the weight I can throw at them. I chose the 28 and 20 drawer units. ENCO had the best pricing, plus I found a coupon for free shipping.

http://www.akro-mils.com/industrial/coupon_display.asp?id=96

 

[jmh21586]

Wish mine were metal.

 

[Brad54]

I've got a smaller metal cabinet with a couple dozen plastic bins on racks, as have been shown already.
The beauty of having a door on your nut/bolt bin cabinet is that it keeps shop dust and stuff out of the bins. Not a big deal, until you realize that 10 years has gone by since you last took the feather duster to your nut and bolt storage.

I realized this when I was a kid and went through the fastener storage at a guy's shop, and my hands were absolutely filthy after digging through the bolts.

For small fasteners, o-rings, clips, etc. I use baby food jars in a Lazy Susan deal. The wife was going to sell it at the garage sale... "Oh no you don't! i have a use for that! And stop throwing away all those jars!"

I also have a traditional metal nut/bolt unit with the cubbys in it... I will make doors for it before loading everything.

-Brad

 

[spartyon8]

I have those bins from HF as well. I am starting to use the Clorox Wipes cylindrical containters that I used to throw out from my classroom. I rip off the label and write the contents on the lid.

 

[69supercj]

I've started using the small 11.5 oz. plastic Folgers coffee cans. They're about 6 inches or so tall and 4 inches around. However seeing all these multi-colored bins got me to thinking about using them and color coding your system. Put nuts in blue bins, bolts in red and so on. Might make it a little easier and quicker to find the right container even if they have written lables on them. Sort of a quick refrence.

 

[oldwino]

my method is pretty simple. Toss everything into a gallon jar. When you need something spend 20 minutes looking for it and say " 'd hell with it" and a trip to ACE for replacement. Also, buy extra because if you needed it now, you'll probably need it again. Repeat...Toss everything into a gallon jar...

 

[JFoshee]

I too looked at all the expensive "ways to hold bots and nuts" out there, even bid on some on ebay. One day I asked at work if someone new somebody who might have a used bolt bin for sale. Buddy says "No, but I've got something you could probably use for one"

Best part was the price. It was in his scrap iron pile. I got it for free. I took it home and put some red paint on it, mounted it to the wall, and love it. The hardest part was going through my 5 gallon bucket of nuts and bolts and sorting it all out. I felt bad for not paying for it that I bought the guy a case of beer.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I keep my used stuff in a 5 gallon bucket under the bench. The new stuff, I keep in a parts bin. It'll work for now, till I get a new floor and can do something more permenant under the work bench.

 

[KCarGuy]

Not only do I have several plastic parts orginizers with the small, medium and large pull out clear drawers, but i also bought alot of plastic "Plano" parts bins and keep them in a Simple wooden storage organizer that I whipped together.
Screwed that on the wall and its easy to grab a Wood screw, Sheetmetal screw, Fine Threaded Bolts or anything else in a handy Tote.
Works great.
I do want a bunch of those open bins, love the cabinet idea!

 

[Az Scooter]

I keep mine in my old craftsmen tool chest and cabinet, this is one of the older ones with the locking bars that go over the front. I put in the plastic Lista containers, and my wife spent a couple of nights while I was out in my corner of the world sorting bolts. At the time I had probably 5 5 gallon buckets of bolts and stuff. I like it, and like how it sorted. I do wish I did not have a bigger drawer in the middle of the upper chest, but, it is what it is.

 

[tylerae40]

I keep my nails and bolts etc that are the same in marked metal biscuit tins, and the rest in old toolboxes and random containers. I scored some large map draws for free from the old man, so i'm going to chuck some of the collections of bits into the drawers, so they're eaiser to find and sort through. hope to one day make up a set of metal slide drawers with metal boxes 6"x6"x12"deep to put nut bolts and bits in.

 

[enrgeezone]

This was a cabinet I found at a local surplus buy out co. made by Akro in Ohio it is a well built machine mounted on a turntable all the bins are seperate and you can change the drawer size from side to side....comes apart in minutes and includes hundreds of dividers and labels... I paid 750 for the unit and it was worth every penny.....takes a while to load and tag but I'll die with it!.....

 

[gilbo]

in my quest to find the perfect size, cabinet for small hardware (nuts and bolts,etc..) , i stumbled upon this pair, too bad , i don't live in orange county,ca. it would b one heck of a road trip from TX. So 4u folks that do live near orange county, here's the link

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/fuo/1669053205.html

 

[rowbow41]

Those index file cabinets are great. I cut plastic qt. oil containers in half and store nut, bolts, washers and all kinds of things. Cut the bottom ends off of 1 gal. oil or anti-freeze jugs. I took the slide clamps out & tossed them. Cut thin masonite strips to fit in the bottoms of drawers. You will find all kind of things to store in them.

 

[mdbeck1]

in my quest to find the perfect size, cabinet for small hardware (nuts and bolts,etc..) , i stumbled upon this pair, too bad , i don't live in orange county,ca. it would b one heck of a road trip from TX. So 4u folks that do live near orange county, here's the link

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/fuo/1669053205.html

I understand that you want to use them for parts storage but they are the PERFECT size to store CD cases as well. I've got two of them at the office for that.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I like those and I am driving out to Orange County in a couple hours too...BUT...

...they (& the neat cabinet in the pictures above) are just too big for my little 20x20 garage. They'd only encourage me to keep more "stuff" than I already do.

I bought eight clear plastic Plano boxes from Fry's Electronics. They're about 12"x18" and I grouped all my like fasteners and small hardware together. Then I labeled them, "Wood Screws" "Machine Bolts, Nuts & Washers", "Picture Hangers and Cabinet Hardware", etc. This REALLY is better than the assortment of coffee cans, etc. I usedto have.

Having seen a few guys with the Werth metal boxes in the sheet metal surround, I would like to make something similar for my plastic boxes out of wood. I'd look for the Werth cabinets, but I know they're too rich for my blood. I'll take pix and post later.

 

[Major Ramifications]

my method is pretty simple. Toss everything into a gallon jar. When you need something spend 20 minutes looking for it and say " 'd hell with it" and a trip to ACE for replacement. Also, buy extra because if you needed it now, you'll probably need it again. Repeat...Toss everything into a gallon jar...

That's pretty much how I've done it since I was a teenager. Except I have many smaller jars. It takes longer for me to find what I need and to put the rest of the stuff back into the jar than it would to go to Ace and back. Also, I can never quite get them all back in for some reason.
I certainly would not reccommend this "system" to anyone. The only time it helps is when I need something NOW and Ace is closed. But then I usually don't have it anyway.

 

[knucklehead]

i built a room in my shop that is 7' deep, 24' wide & 13' tall. i made 94 steel shelves 18" deep, 12" apart. i can store hundreds of small plastic trays on them that i scored when an electronics business was throwing them out (i got a few thousand of them, for free!). i keep lots of my various power tools in plastic cases & all types of paints, oil, cleaning stuff, etc. in there.

 

[mdbeck1]

This is what I used for a lot of years to sort out my nuts and bolts. It's an old desk that the top died. I cut part off and mounted it on a mobile base. The drawers are about 12 inches deep. I used (still use) old oil cans cut off to sort the nuts and bolts, nails, .... It's out in the wood shop.

A friend in Scouts gave me this unit to just get it out of their yard (they were going through a divorce). I moved most of the nuts & bolts into it. It also let me sort a LOT of other "stuff". It's in the Garage.

I also built another rolling bin in the wood shop. I put all of the drywall screws, nails, hinges,... in it. This picture shows it under the shelf for the motorized miter box.

 

[gilbo]

A friend in Scouts gave me this unit to just get it out of their yard (they were going through a divorce). I moved most of the nuts & bolts into it. It also let me sort a LOT of other "stuff". It's in the Garage.

that is a sweet rack

now if i could only find one of those

 

[Kent Skinner]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#small-parts-drawers/=6jczgu

I have a dozen compartmentalized drawers that fit into 4 cabinets. Each drawer is metal, and can be easily removed from the cabinet, and the lid latches closed. If I am working on 12v electrical, I can just grab that drawer and take it where I need to work (but they live on the back of the bench). Because they can't spill when latched, you can throw them in the truck and take them to where ever you want to work.

Not cheap, but great stuff.

For wood screws, I use parachute bags.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004T833/?tag=atomicindus08-20

One bag for sheetrock screws, sorted by size. One for deck and galvanized screws, sorted by size.

I don't recycle that much hardware to be honest. Good hardware isn't that expensive. When I need something, I buy a box of 100 from McMaster and put it in the bins.

 

[Born_Annoyed]

Some not being used draws in my 2 HF roller's. Yellow bins are from the HF storage boxes and the clear ones are from sears. Workes pretty well and can be removed for more tool storage. I saved the boxes they came in.

 

[mdbeck1]

Yellow bins are from the HF storage boxes... ... I saved the boxes they came in.

I save the yellow bins as well for small parts (screws,...) storage (mainly in the garage). I bought the yellow bins for storing my socket sets in my truck tool box.

 

[sams]

I went a bit over the top with my garage:

This was affordable for me because the 20mm (3/4") angle cost me $2(AUD) a meter and the containers $5 AUD each. It holds 39 of 24 compartment containers which works out to 936 compartments however I have removed the dividers between many compartments for more room. The great thing is that in terms of floor space it has a tiny footprint for a bulk amount of storage, I love it. Also the space at the bottom is where my jack slides in.

I need to buy many more fasteners now which as I am sure we all know is where the money is.

 

[dlc]

I went a bit over the top with my garage:

Very nice! I'm going to steal your idea

 

[sams]

be my guest, one condition though, when your done post a pic here!

 

[e-tek]

My nuts and bolts storage isn't very special.....

Anyone wanna see how I organize my socks and undies?

 

[dirttracker18]

I went a bit over the top with my garage:

Sams

Wow, that is incredibly simple and effective. Not to mention a great use of space. I have 12 foot walls in my garage so up is always a better alternative. Thanks for the idea. I hope to start something like that this summer.

 

[sams]

thanks for the kind words. With 12 foot walls it's some serious storage you can have. I didn't mention it but that flat section of board on the right hand side is an actual step, I plan on putting a handle on the top right hand side for me to hold on top while I pull myself up on that step to reach the top containers, hard to explain easy to show.

A bit of a tip for you guys if your going to do this, this is how I did it:

I made a block of wood that's the right height that I wanted ie: a little more than one container.

I made a frame and made absolute sure it was parallel.

- Tack weld one piece on the end, put a magnetic spirit level on, adjusted and put a second weld on.

- Now the important part, if the spacer is used for the whole thing it could end up leaning more and more over with each one. So I cut a piece of steel to go inbetween the width of the angles that had my magnetic level on top, I put this between the first piece and use it to line up the second on the other side, clamp into position with a locking clamp or something.

- tack weld the end and once again put the level on it and make adjustments to weld up fully.

- Use block of wood to space the next one.


Now some other tips: a pipe over the angle iron sections can be used to make some final smaller adjustments, just slide it over and start bending. Welding from the sides helps it to not warp/move the wrong way.

It all takes time but it's worth it. Anyway here is an earlier pic:

this was when I was going to store my jack stands in place but decided later to put them elsewhere and go for a lot more containers. The jack however sits in the same position. You guys might also be amused I did everything in this older picture with just an Arc/stick welder, took some time..