Multiple toolboxes? One for SAE and the other metric?

[wantedabiggergarage]

So in the new house with how much of the vehicles are metric only, and since I have a walk out basement (outside shed for lawn equipment), I am wondering if any of you have effectively two shops?

Garage/metric one for vehicle work and use the older Craftsman boxes for the SAE/house repair type of stuff. (door from one to the other is three feet)

Looking for thoughts as well as personal experiences, etc.

Thanks

 

[kbeefy]

I do.

In my garage/house I have a light combination of sae and metric.

In my shop I have a wide array of tools. I have 6 roll around toolboxes in there.

My main, most used toolbox (full bank roll around) I have Metric and Sae sockets in 1/4-3/8-1/2 from about 4mm and 1/8 to 27mm and 1 1/4.
Metric wrenches to at least 27mm and a pile of knipex cobras. Drawers of other stuff.

In my 'secondary' toolboxes I have SAE stuff. I don't use it as mutch so I don't want it in my 'go' box.

 

[pbon]

Mine are mixed, though 80-90% of what I do is metric. I would not want to be running across the room or next door for tools, but don’t mind reaching across the drawer or into the next drawer. However, I may not have as many mechanic hand tools as you —- my metric and SAE fit in two 42” five drawer chests. I do have 6 more 28” five drawer chests for other tools, 8 upper cabinets, and 7 lockers. But I share a lot of the tools in those places with both metric and SAE jobs and would not want to duplicate pliers and gutters and pry bars and hammers and power tools.

 

[PhantomEB]

One drawer SAE wrenches,
one drawer Metric Wrenches,
one drawer SAE sockets,
One drawer Metric Sockets.

have Hansen trays of both SAE and Metric in all 3 drive sizes, down the side of a cabinet beside the main work bench. need to put key rings on ratchets and hang one of each drive below.

Saves me time when working on either side of the garage.

 

[impactims]

One box big enough for everything.

 

[cowades206]

I used to have a few imperial tools and lots of metric. I kept my few imperial tools handy for use in the house.
Then I inherited some imperial stuff so now I have a box for each.
Quite irritating to need both.
Only non metric thing I own that moves is a 2018 MTD cub-cadet riding mower. 21st century and not metric!
But I have really cool old sets of SK and Craftsman to fix it.

Metric on the left.

 

[swsman]

I keep the usual OEM sizes in my main box, rest of the unused ones sit in one of the three plastic toolboxes I keep tool overflow in.

In the past 7 years ai do not recall having to reach and grab anything from those boxes, save for tooling up my friend with his own screwdrivers, wrenches, sockets, ratchets, and other misc. tools.

If I need to work away from the main box I either use OEM Tool Tray, or my canvas tool bag and load it with what I need for a specific job.

 

[ohhimark]

Metric wrenches go in the left side drawers, right side drawers for SAE wrenches.

 

[OccupantRJ]

The grey box here is all metric wrenches, mostly for auto repair. The rest of my tool boxes contain S.A.E. tools.

 

[humpty]

I have 2 "shops".

I have the garage which has normal automotive tools in it and I have a basement shop with the 2nd set of tools.

I used to store a lot downstairs and ran back and forth to get things, it wasn't terrible but I have since streamlined the process and I have most commonly used things out in the garage when I need it. I like a non-cluttered workspace so I still keep the rarely used tools in the basement, I figure I know when those moments are coming and I can bring them out ahead of time.

I have also noticed that I am doubling up on things so I can have things in both shops, cordless impact driver for instance.

Overall it works, I don't do the same type of work in both shops so it seems to work a bit easier. Your situation seems super close so I wouldn't think it will be an issue. You might find it more efficient with the main box being more targeted in its tool selection.

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

You might find it more efficient with the main box being more targeted in its tool selection.

That is what I am thinking. I have enough wrenches that I could still have SAE ones in the garage (along with pliers, etc), but thinking more things like plumbing tools, adjustable wrenches which are more likely going to be other projects then vehicle, etc, in the basement.

Also drills. I am more likely to use my cordless stuff in the garage or as a grab and go, and use a corded drill in the basement.

 

[Toold_up]

I'm surprised guys here don't have a blue toolbox for metric and a red one for fractional.

 

[Toold_up]

And purple for mixed

 

[AEAdam]

YES!! Do it.

I have 2 basic automotive toolboxes. I have a couple sets of SAE sockets and a set of wrenches that float between them for lawn mower maintenance, which is vehicle maintenance to me. That's it. Our vehicles are nearly all metric now.

I have SAE tools in Kennedy boxes scattered around. These are MUCH smaller sets. I find I don't need the quality or diversity in inch sizes. In my machine shop, I have a single 28" drawer that holds all the sockets, extensions, ratchets and screwdrivers I need. I have a shallow drawer (Kennedy) for wrenches laying flat and another for pliers.

For carpentry, I occasionally need mechanical tools and these are nearly always SAE. What's left of my craftsman stuff is scattered around in hand boxes (need to consolidate).

Point is, the use for SAE isn't what it used to be. The big red toolboxes, typically serving vehicles, now (for me) no longer need to hold SAE sizes, just metric. That gives me more room for the tools I actually need to work on cars.




Said this before, but maybe worth repeating. Like a dinner buffet, I start on the right hand side, pick up a ratchet, then selection extension, then keep moving left, pick up a socket and keep walking. If I had SAE mixed in, I'd need to open 2 drawers to get the socket I need. That SAE would have to buy its way into this drawer.

That one red holder far left is 3/8" SAE hex sockets. The red mechanics time savers magnetic holder (vertical, mid picture) is SAE 3/8" Allens, as is the black holder adjacent to it (1/4" drive). Someday, I'll swap all the holders so the colors match the units.

 

[dr_clyde]

Other than sockets, wrenches and hex tools, are there enough unique tools that it justifies an entire box vs just a drawer or partition?

In my main box, I have a general tool set designed to work on what I most typically see. This is a good mix of inch and metric tools, and since it is a general set, I don't skip any sizes and I try to have that box outfitted with whatever I may need in a given scenario. It is in a fixed spot and doesn't move.

Mobile kits are more specific, outfitted only with the stuff I need to save weight and space. Pipe wrenches in the plumbing box only, for instance. No sense in lugging a pipe wrench to my in-laws when I need to help assemble furniture.

Specific machines and work areas in the shop get their own stuff so I don't have to be robbing from the main box or walking all over for the wrenches I need for a machine. I buy singles for the stuff I need here, not sets. For instance, I keep just the wrenches and tools used on my CNC lathe in a toolbox specific to that machine, along with machine parts and supplies like soft jaws and carbide inserts. Same with the welding area. I have just the wrenches needed for the gas cylinders, hose and line fittings and the welding table dogs in the welding area toolbox. My saws have the specific hex keys to adjust their set screws and that's it. If there isn't enough tools to justify an entire toolbox, I usually make a small tray or even just a magnetic bar to grab the tools.

Its a bastardized version of the 5S system for manufacturing.

 

[dr_clyde]

I would also like to point out that the dominance of metric fasteners is primarily only in the automotive industry. Once you step into the worlds of industrial, heavy equipment, aviation, construction and many others inch sized fasteners are still alive and well, if not the predominant system.

 

[PCMusicGuy]

Unless you work on airplanes, you don't see much SAE these days. Even my mid 90s Chevy pickup truck is metric. I don't see the point in having a whole box for SAE.

 

[Steve_P]

On Industrial, it depends on the facility "owner" on what you'll find, and how new it is. If you go into a Toyota factory, I doubt you'll find too many inch-sized fasteners on the equipment. I can't think of anything in factory automation that's only available from an American company that's made with inch fasters and there isn't a Japanese or German made equivalent; but brands like THK (Japanese) own the world of linear motion components and it's all metric. Same if you go into a Japanese owned tier one parts supplier; I worked in two of them in the 1990s and we'd always joke that we could walk onto the production floor on a holiday and take 98% of the assembly equipment apart with just a set of metric hex keys that we had in our pocket. If we had an outside firm in the US design and build a piece of equipment, we specified that it would be all metric fasteners and components, and the drawings in metric. At an older "big three" factory you're going to find a lot of inch fasteners. US government type facilities are mostly inch fasteners IME; and almost all of the engineering drawings are in inches.

Back to the question, my tool chests are Craftsman griplatch 26" wide, so I have one stack that has inch tools like sockets and wrenches, plus other stuff, and another stack that's the same but with metric. Each has a separate drawer with chrome sockets, impact sockets, bit sockets... since the drawers are small in comparison to what's common today.

 

[ecotec]

I do not… but, my top drawer of my roller is only metric sockets. My SAE sockets are in the second drawer from the bottom.

My cart is mostly metric.

My vintage stack is 50/50 SAE/metric.

My workbench is 50/50 SAE/metric.

If I ever put a small stack in the basement, it will be 50/50 SAE/metric. A lot of house infrastructure is still SAE.

If I had the room, I would have two side by side bottom cabinets so I could have one socket drawer with metric and one for SAE. I would not have to bend over while getting SAE sockets this way.

The other standards share a much smaller drawer.

 

[dr_clyde]

On Industrial, it depends on the facility "owner" on what you'll find, and how new it is. If you go into a Toyota factory, I doubt you'll find too many inch-sized fasteners on the equipment. I can't think of anything in factory automation that's only available from an American company that's made with inch fasters and there isn't a Japanese or German made equivalent; but brands like THK (Japanese) own the world of linear motion components and it's all metric. Same if you go into a Japanese owned tier one parts supplier; I worked in two of them in the 1990s and we'd always joke that we could walk onto the production floor on a holiday and take 98% of the assembly equipment apart with just a set of metric hex keys that we had in our pocket. If we had an outside firm in the US design and build a piece of equipment, we specified that it would be all metric fasteners and components, and the drawings in metric. At an older "big three" factory you're going to find a lot of inch fasteners. US government type facilities are mostly inch fasteners IME; and almost all of the engineering drawings are in inches.

Back to the question, my tool chests are Craftsman griplatch 26" wide, so I have one stack that has inch tools like sockets and wrenches, plus other stuff, and another stack that's the same but with metric. Each has a separate drawer with chrome sockets, impact sockets, bit sockets... since the drawers are small in comparison to what's common today.

A lot of this is automotive based still, which makes sense. Only the big dogs like GM and Toyota can afford to build brand new facilities from the ground up and specify a fastener system for everything. Most manufacturing is done in an old building with a mix of new and used machines.

When I worked in industrial maintenance, we had machines ranging from brand new to pushing 100+ years old. I worked in a large brewery, and unless we bought a European machine, even the brand new brewing tanks and packaging equipment was all inch fasteners. Pretty much the entire building was held together with inch fasteners from the bolts on the steam pipe flanges to the fasteners holding the uni-strut to the walls. All the conveyors, the boilers, the red iron on the building and even the concrete anchors holding the guardrails to the floor, all inch.

Yeah, a car or truck is going to be metric. But the USA still has an absolutely enormous amount of inch based fasteners. The brand new bulldozer is probably metric, but the one from the 70's that still works and needs maintenance won't be.

 

[toolenthusiast]

Metric in toolbox

SAE in garbage can

Fight me

 

[driftpin]

For ~45 years, I've kept one portable toolbox with metric and a second for SAE. It works for me. I have multiple sets of 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2", and a separate set of 3/4" drive SAE sockets, so some live in toolbox stacks, some live in ~20" tool bags, and some in their own OEM metal boxes.

What I wish I had more-of is space. A 2-car garage isn't enough. We're not likely to move, so the space need will continue, unless I get rid of things.

 

[mikedodge]

I go by drawer. Unless you're a heavy professional user that regulsrely needs both most people wouldn't need separate tool boxes unless you're talking about the portable kind.

 

[larry_g]

Other than sockets, wrenches and hex tools, are there enough unique tools that it justifies an entire box vs just a drawer or partition?

In my main box, I have a general tool set designed to work on what I most typically see. This is a good mix of inch and metric tools, and since it is a general set, I don't skip any sizes and I try to have that box outfitted with whatever I may need in a given scenario. It is in a fixed spot and doesn't move.

I'm with the doctor here. Outside of of the sockets and wrenches that fit a specific sized fastener there is little else that separates the metrics from the SAE tools. So I have a drawer for the metric **** and drawers for the SAE tools and other items. I work on a lot of older equipment so SAE gets the top drawer and the metric is further down in the box.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[NUTTSGT]

In the main garage area, I have a 42" box and a 56" box. Top of the 42 and a wide drawer in the bottom box are metric sockets and wrenches. The same spots in the 56 are SAE

In the addition, I have a 27" top/bottom box with a mix of both, along with misc fab stuff and fasteners.

There's a 26" top box in the woodworking side with a mix of stuff. This was the box I had when I worked at GE so I didn't have to add much to it to get it where it is now. It basically keeps me from walking in the other side of the garage to get a tool.