Metal (Hand) Toolbox Organization

[oldschoolcraft]

I’ve been eyeing up small metal toolboxes from other posters lately. There’s been some interesting arguments in favor of them versus using bags or polymer cases. One thing ive always disliked about the toolboxes is their organization is usually lacking.

You get a big bottom area and a removable tray and that’s it. The cantilever boxes are nicer but still somewhat limited.

What are some creative ways GJ has found to organize these metal toolboxes?

I love the Vim Tools magnetic mag rails and I wonder if they’d work well inside a metal toolbox. Maybe stuck to the inner sides of the main bottom area. Or maybe stuck under the top. Or maybe even stuck on the removable tray.

I’d be worried that the magnets would attract other tools bouncing around inside the toolbox and get them to stick to them.

How do you set up these toolboxes so you don’t have to take everything out to access one tool? Is there any type of kaizan type system, maybe not with foam, but that lets you see what tools are missing? Inventory control To keep you from leaving tools behind?

Does anyone modify the outside to store stuff on the outside?

 

[kbeefy]

I used metal boxes for quite a while.
My situation is probably different than most.
I was a mobile mechanic. I had to carry all my tools. I needed my loadout to be efficient.

I started with 2x 70# boxes, and eventually whittled it down to one 50# box.

Cantilever boxes are generally better.

I always reinforce the bottom to help the box stay square during travel.

Lots of Duct Tape.

 

[ecotec]

Cantilever boxes are too heavy to carry around all day.

If your job has Rubbermaid, or equivalent, carts for everyone to use… they are a little less bad. There will be times that you have to carry them, though.

To make a small hand box work with you, use zipper bags for certain categories of tools… screwdrivers, wrenches, socket set, bag of tricks (drill bits, masonry bits, unibits, taps, wire wheel, hole saws, tap sockets…).

If you used an unlocked bag or backpack… anyone can grab stuff out of your bag. If your tools are in a locked hand box, your tools stand a little better chance of not being fucked with.

For example, if someone goes back to a setup area… without bringing tools with them… and needs 20 feet of wire… and there is someone’s tools in the gang box with linesman’s or diagonals just sitting there in a pouch on the side of a bag… there is a good chance that person is going to use those tools out of convenience. Especially if he walked a quarter mile through the plant to get to that setup area.

Nothing is totally safe… someone in theory could take the whole box… but the reality is that someone will just take one tool… the one that they need…

Just because someone makes $40-50 an hour doesn’t mean they aren’t a *************… and if you use my tools without asking… I barely care if you live or die.

It really depends on how much you need to carry to determine if you can make a hand box work for you. There has been a shift towards backpacks in the last 10 years or so.

 

[ecotec]

I like to set my hand box at one of the far sides if I am using a boom lift. If the door is on a side, and not the middle, I put it opposite the door.

I put the tools I am using in a rig bag, hung from the lift railing with a big carabiner. These bags are only $10 at Home Depot, and dial in your ergonomics. Never set a tool down outside your rig… never set your tape measure on an I beam for example… ever… ever ever… it is bad practice. A rig bag gives you a spot to put everything.

The first thing you do when you get a rig bag is cut out the rain cover with a razor knife.

Lock your rig bag in your hand box at night because humanity is a cesspool of predators.

 

[Brett in KS]

 

[CS454]

Obligatory Wes Video:

Another idea I quite liked:

A huge part of the game is eliminating redundancy. My road box (a 5 gallon pail typically) looks a lot different than my shop setup.

When I was mobile everything was hand tools or a literal handful of impact sockets and the 1/2" gun, or my pneumatic cut off tool. No room for ratcheting wrenches or anything gimmicky.

Ran 12 point chrome shallows and 6 point deeps, standard length combis in a roll, 6 in 1 screwdriver with a 3/8" hex adapter, etc. sockets on twist lock rails. An old journeyman swore by the old metal socket boxes, too but that's far more weight.

 

[T45]

Good thread has some metal toolboxes...

Show us your portable toolbox!

I just bought a 4 drawer portable toolbox from tractor supply and would like to see what everyone else uses and how it is organized. The only rule is it must be a box that you carry by yourself. I am waiting for some drawer foam before I organize mine. As soon as I do I will add pictures. Let's...

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