Making a socket holder

[l_bilyk]

So the commercially available socket holders that I like are too damn expensive, and have spots for sockets I dont own.

As an alternative, i was thinking of taking a piece of pine and drilling some holes, and inserting 1/4, 3/8. and 1/2 inch dowels for pins.

OR I could get a piece of aluminum and thread in some steel pegs. Or maybe just rivet one of those pre-made strips to an aluminum plate.

Thoughts?

 

[4lug39]

What is expensive? Buy the sockets you need to fill in your set. The first set I bought at Sears on sale for 2 for 20 bucks and I have had them for about 4 or 5 years with no problems. The second one I bought off E-bay for about 12 dollars shipped to my door. They are usually 25 to 30 bucks off the tool truck. The holder has a magnetic bottom so none of your sockets fall out and it sticks to trunk of my '54 with no problem. I don't drive it like a sports car but it stays put.

 

[eschoendorff]

I think you're onto something. If you made your own socket holders, you could customize then to whatever specs you wanted. I like the pine with dowels idea. It's simple, cheap, and if it works out, you can always invest a little more into some aluminum for your next set.

Who knows... you might even be able to sell your creations....

 

[imported_banzaitoyota]

Unless you have you own mill already, the pin holder made w/AL idea will be either very time consuming or expensive to farm out (Nothing wrong with "piddling around in the shop though)

The recessed one could very easily be fabbed up out of a chunk of Poly or UHMW Poly, plus it could be made to size and dyed a different color. (My personnel choice)

 

[rdnkjeeper]

What I did was get an old sign, riveted those socket holders (with the clips) to it. That way I have all my sockets where I want them.

 

[dink]

Personally i like the idea of taking long pieces of wood say 1 inch thick and drilling holes about a 1/2 down for the sizes of each socket

 

[Fast Orange]

If you plan on leaving the rack in your box and just removing the sockets you need,the wood with dowel pegs works great.I made several of these years ago,and still use them now.It takes some time to lay them out and make them,but they're cheap and fit your stuff perfectly.
Since then,Matco came out with a plastic rail with slide on socket holders that works quite well.It's simular to the stamped rails with spring clips that don't last very long,but instead of the stupid spring clips,the socket holders resemble the drive square of a ratchet,complete with spring loaded retention ball.I've set up several of these for the sets I use the most and I like them a lot.
I'm sure that these are probably made for Matco by some one else,and are available other than through Matco.

George

 

[nvmygtz]

I like the Hansen type over the old style clip type.

The sockets are much easier to remove/replace & the socket size on the post is much easier to read than the socket that would normally be on the bottom of your box.

Now if you have other socket such as Torx they also make a tray similar to the magnetic one that 4Lug39 posted.
I know your trying to keep cost down but a nice clip type that I have seen is the Ernst system. www.ernstmfg.com
There wrench holders are my next buy.

 

[l_bilyk]

What is expensive? Buy the sockets you need to fill in your set. The first set I bought at Sears on sale for 2 for 20 bucks and I have had them for about 4 or 5 years with no problems. The second one I bought off E-bay for about 12 dollars shipped to my door. They are usually 25 to 30 bucks off the tool truck. The holder has a magnetic bottom so none of your sockets fall out and it sticks to trunk of my '54 with no problem. I don't drive it like a sports car but it stays put.

I like the hansen trays, but they just don't fit my sockets. For example, I have several 3/8 drive sockets that are larger than 1". Worse yet, their 1/2 drive trays only fit about half of the 1/2 drive sockets I own. I like the style, but I need something bigger. And more bling bling - polished or plated to match my tools.

 

[mleichtle]

I made mine out of MDF. I drew it out in cad, taped it to a chunk of MDF cut to fit the drawer, then used a plethera of drill bits to make all the holes, (Dad is a retired machinest so he's got a scmorgesborg of drill bits) and a router to cut recesses for the handles and stuff. It was time consuming, but I'm happy with the out come.

 

[filthy_shovel]

l_bilyk, since you are in Canada, why not go to canadian tire and get this:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortme...<>ast_id=1408474396670271&bmUID=1130867929676