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Massive Plomb Tool Board Build

r_olson_06

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Feb 12, 2012
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To add some content I wanted to post my process of building a new tool board to hold all of my Plomb sockets I have and the ones I am currently missing.

The Why:
To pass some time and get organized a bit with my Plomb collection I have decided to put some effort to organizing my Plomb sockets. With my current peg board design there is not a great way to hang the sockets with existing hardware other hanging socket rails or individual sockets on pegs. This does not display them the best either showing the drive or socket end of the tools. Finding a way to display the sockets with stampings facing out would ideal for display and easier reference.
20250621_091057.jpg
The Design Concept:
In order to display the stampings the sockets must rest on a shelf. I thought about using wood but thickness of the wood would take up alot of space so I started to look towards metal for the design as it has the strength needed to support the sockets without taking up a lot of space. Looking at options for metal I first looked towards angle iron but realized that different sized angles would be required for the various size of sockets. I could opt for a 4" angle shelf to cover everything but it would look out of place for the smaller sockets.
Kicking around some ideas I decided to go with a piece of flat steel cut to the crucial dimensions for each socket set. The flat steel would have several crucial dimensions for each set which includes width, and a tapered depth for each set. Here is the generic conceptual design for the shelves.
pro-RqJw97MQ.jpeg
The concept of this shelf would be cut a slit into a piece of plywood allowing the D3 tab to be inserted into the slot in the wood. Once though the wood a couple of metal tapered shims would be put in the rectangular cutout to secure to the plywood from the back creating a floating shelf.

One of the time consuming challenges you could imagine was determining the proper shelf dimensions for each set. Since I didn't have all the sockets from each set I had to interpolate what the cruical dimensions of the set would be mainly the diameters of each socket. Since I have a pretty solid catalog of what sockets are in what sets I was able to find a correlation between socket size and OD (outside diameter) of each socket. Different series had different correlations due to the required wall thickness for the application. Using Excel I was able to find these correlated values then calculate the shelf crucial dimensions.
socket.png
After calculating the size shelfs needed for each set I then built a table of data for each dimension that referenced the generic design. It turns out I need 49 shelves.
master.png

I then had these shelves CADed up and sent out to be cut out of 14ga steel.

In the next post I will show you how I laid out the shelves and determined the best layout and size of board I need. Thoughts and feedback are always appreciated.
 
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r_olson_06

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Next step in the process was determining board space so taking measurements for each socket shelf. Taking these measurements I generated a space allotments in a few crude CAD program called draw.io (great free web based program for flow diagrams, schematics etc.). Playing around with some ideas I think I am going to organized primary on date and secondary on drive size. Color coding each socket shelf in excel and tagging it with an indices help with the spatial layout.
Having the outer bounds be the dimensions by a sheet of plywood helped.
Here are the results:
Overview:
Green is pre 1930 (alpha character part numbers)
Blue is LA series (1930s-1940s)
Red is 1940s
Yellow is mainly WF and other contract productions
SB1.png
Zoomed in view of the layout:
SB2.png

While this is not the final layout but it appears to will be about 4' W X 6' H.

I plan to test the concepts of the shelves in and design something for the socket retention so they will not slide off the shelf easily.
 

Farmer J.

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Thoughts and feedback are always appreciated.
Well, I think this is a great project and worth following, so pleased i had a look in on GJ! It's going to be a big improvement on the pegboard.
Feedback:
-Displaying the sockets vertically is much best, it's nice to see the markings on them.
-Metal shelves will be a great space saver, the wood ones on my comparatively modest Britool '.448 Hex Drive' board do take up a lot of vertical space with the thickness of the shelves.
-Retaining the sockets on the shelves could be done with vertical pegs of some kind up the centre drive hole of each socket. This would allow a full view of the sockets, if you retain them using a lip on the shelf they they will be partly hidden.
Here's mine:
DSC05139.jpg
 
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r_olson_06

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Nice board! Very clean and well thought out.
I agree a peg design would be great. I am considering using some 6mm neodymium as the pegs vs drilling holes but not sure if the magnets will cause a repelling force with the socket if they sit in the drive well. Any ideas?
 

Farmer J.

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Thank you for the kind words. I just banged nails in to the wooden shelves to serve as pegs, farmer style! I did drill pilot holes first..:rolleyes:
Some kind of magnet retention to keep the sockets on the shelf would be very neat, I hadn't thought of that.
Idea: Maybe use a magnet along the back of the shelf, on the plywood behind the sockets? Like a length of that flat 1/4" strip magnet stuff that holds doors closed in a bathroom shower enclosure.
 
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r_olson_06

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Well the layout took way longer than expected. I switched up the layout design to focus on drive size putting the large socket at the bottom of the board. After about 4 hours everything is marked up.

After the market up I made a fence with a 1x2 and a couple of squeeze clamps. Using a rotozip I am starting to cut the slots. After the 1st 3/4" tray I tested it could handle the weight and over all a success.

Should be able to finish the slots tonight.
 

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r_olson_06

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Slots cut and temporarily hung in place. Total size right now is 7'9 x 4' and will hold just under 800 linear inches of Plomb sockets.

Next steps:
Clean and stain the board.
Recut wrong sized racks.
Final coat of paint on racks
Assembly of racks.
Test magnets for socket retention.
Labeling system
 

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r_olson_06

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More sockets loaded up. Still have a few more racks to work through and a few to rethink fitment.
I had to add some thin angles to the 3/4 drives to act as a support.
 

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Ole Slewfoot

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8' socket rack for the win!
I find magnetized tools are hard to get and keep clean.
One thought is get a sack of flat headed sheet metal screws with OD about each drive size.
Then glue them in place.
 
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