Shop Organization Essentials?

[Tscott]

I've completed a bunch of long standing projects lately and their aftermath has left me with the conclusion that it is time to really knuckle down and get the shop organized. So I have put everything on hold while I make some much needed organizational improvements to my work space.

I have come to a few conclusions that I am using to guide me process.

1. If I use it a lot, I need to make it easy to get to and easy to put away. This may sound obvious, but I find that things like my angle grinder, which I typically keep in the factory case on a shelf above my workbench, is seemingly easy to get too but once I get it out the case and all the discs are left sitting on some horizontal surface, usually my work bench, taking up valuable work space until I am done with my project. I'm going to ditch the case and try to locate it and all it's related accessories in a drawer or tool box so as to eliminate the wasted space a case takes up while not in storage.

2. Vertical storage is the only effective way to keep your benches clear. This one I think is key. Stacking things on flat surfaces is a waste of work space and invites the addition of more ****. It also makes it harder to get at things. Ideally things should be stored on a wall or shelf 1 item deep and 1 item tall. If you have to stack things, you need more shelves.

3. Organize like things together. This one also sounds obvious, but things like boxes of bolts, screws and nails seem to get strewn around my work benches to no end. I have tackled this by buying one of the Harbor Freight rolling hardware carts. It has a ton of space to store loose hardware of all kinds and since it's mobile, I can roll it right next to the project I am working on saving trips too and from the workbench. I have also bought some cheap tool boxes to store things like electrical parts and pieces. I have one box devoted to things like breakers, wire crimps, switches, cable ends, plugs, etc. I have done the same for plumbing parts and fittings.

4. When you're finished with a project take some time to clean up and put stuff back where it belongs. We'd all rather be wrenching, but it is important to take a short break after any project and simply clean up. I have been lax in this and it has shown. Before I started cleaning, I had 3 benches full of **** now only 2 are full of **** and I hope to have that down to 1 before the end of the week.

So with all that said, what have I missed? What other mantras can I follow to get my shop in order? What are the little tips and tricks you use to keep your shop looking and working in tip top shape?

Tom

 

[carcajou]

I use all the same rules as you mentioned but i will suggest a couple more.

5) Take a hard look at your floor space. If there is something that can be relocated to a wall or cold storage do so. Floor space is a premium in any garage.

6) Get a 5 gallon pail for " to be sorted later" . When i clean my benches there is a lot of good misc parts and supplies that get tossed in there till i have time to put them away properly. Occasionally i'll take an hour or so and put all those little important pieces back where they belong.

 

[Tscott]

I use all the same rules as you mentioned but i will suggest a couple more.

5) Take a hard look at your floor space. If there is something that can be relocated to a wall or cold storage do so. Floor space is a premium in any garage.

6) Get a 5 gallon pail for " to be sorted later" . When i clean my benches there is a lot of good misc parts and supplies that get tossed in there till i have time to put them away properly. Occasionally i'll take an hour or so and put all those little important pieces back where they belong.

I definitely agree with #5. I use pallet racking as workbenches and I have found that I am really wasting the space under the benches. There is no organization system under the there and it has become wasted space in which I could store things that are currently out in the middle of the floor. It hasn't really been a huge issue yet due to the size of the shop, 40' x 60', but I am going to address it before the issue gets worse.

I like #6 as well. I currently use a few parts bins to keep odds and ends in but I thing a bucket would be better suited to the job, especially when I have a bunch of oddball larger objects to sort through.

Tom

 

[RalphInCA]

#4 is the most important.

Leave the shop organized for the next job.

 

[Dan M]

7) Cabinets instead of shelves. As a clutterbug, I will continue to jam an open shelf with junk that doesn't belong. For some reason, having a door on the front stops me from cluttering the shelves. I'm trying to combine this with your #2 of shelves one item deep and one item tall.

 

[djjsr]

What you're talking about is known as "ergonomics", also known as "human engineering". It was always part of my job when I was working to make a workspace as efficient and effective as possible. Now that I'm retired, I still use some of the principles in my workshop.

Two of my favorite things (I've posted these before but they apply here) ..........

A U-shaped workbench area. This 22 ft of bench (8,6,8) but it only takes a couple of steps to get to any part of it.

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Big cabinets, but shallow so you can see a lot at a glance and don't have to look behind anything to find what you're looking for. I've built 4 of these and the shelves are only 8" deep. They hold a LOT of stuff.

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[Tscott]

What you're talking about is known as "ergonomics", also known as "human engineering". It was always part of my job when I was working to make a workspace as efficient and effective as possible. Now that I'm retired, I still use some of the principles in my workshop.

Two of my favorite things (I've posted these before but they apply here) ..........

A U-shaped workbench area. This 22 ft of bench (8,6,8) but it only takes a couple of steps to get to any part of it.

View media item 14358
Big cabinets, but shallow so you can see a lot at a glance and don't have to look behind anything to find what you're looking for. I've built 4 of these and the shelves are only 8" deep. They hold a LOT of stuff.

View media item 5469
View media item 5470

Djjsr, I like the wall cabinet. Are those full size interior doors? I'd like to do something similar but I am not sure where. Maybe something smaller over one of my workbenches with room for hanging stuff inside and outside of the doors?

Tom

Tom

 

[k1rodeoboater]

One of the best ideas I've had so far for storage on a shelf under a workbench is to build a full extension sliding tray. It allows you to use the entire space and easily access the stuff in the back.

For your parts/hardware bin. Use hot glue to glue a sample to the outside. Makes it quick and easy to find/reference. I want to get a storage bin system where I can do that. All nut bins will have a hole drilled in the front with the nut glued over it so I can test fit unknown hardware for size and thread pitch. For bolts I'll also have a hole but I'll hot glue a representative shorter version through to test fit and pitch, but also glue a full size one horizontally for a quick reference length.

 

[Johnson]

djjsr, I really like that u shaped setup. I want to put a small work area together in my basement. I work on projects down there in the winter and it seems like I'm always going out to the garage to get a tool. If I had a nice setup in the basement, I can bring all the pertinent tools inside and leave them there all winter.

Tscott, it sounds like you're right on track. I keep adding horizontal work surfaces yet it seems like everything is still out of whack all the time. I need to add more vertical storage near the work area. One thing I can suggest, if you haven't already, is to move all yard tools to a separate shed. My mower, weed eater, seed spreader, shovels, rakes ,hoes, buckets, hoses, bikes, wagons, etc... all share the garage with me and I'm always climbing over it to get to my workspace. My goal is to build a small shed behind the garage to hold all of this.

 

[shooting4life]

Besides above, the biggest thing is making sure your wife knows that she cannot put her **** in the garage. I tell my wife, you have the whole house to store your stuff, the garage is for my stuff. We have to have this conversation every few months. I do not budge, at first it will just be a few Christmas items, then before you know it she will be asking for half your work bench so she can do her scrap booking.

 

[k1rodeoboater]

I do not budge, at first it will just be a few Christmas items, then before you know it she will be asking for half your work bench so she can do her scrap booking.

LOL yours does that too. My wife said I can have my workbench back when I build her a sewing table...but she wants it the same size 3'x8' with a drop in hardboard top so she can cut on it, under bench storage for her sewing machine on full extension platforms, built in "notions" organizer (still don't know WTF a 'notion' is), and a few other misc things.

 

[djjsr]

Djjsr, I like the wall cabinet. Are those full size interior doors?
Tom

Yes, those are cheap hollow doors and are each 30" wide so the cabinet is approx 60"x80". But since doors are available in so many widths, you can make a cabinet just about any size you want.

This is the smallest at only about 2 feet wide but still holds a lot of stuff.

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[Ray916MN]

Have open space, containers and bins to store parts from "in process" projects.
Have a dry erase whiteboard to keep track of "in process" and projects to be done.

Nothing better than making sure you've got everything you need to get a project done either before you start or after you've done your discovery work and that it is all in one place.

 

[sberry]

I am all over this. I do a lot of it and follow most of those rules. I think its easier to maintain on the auto side due to the fact the car gets removed and its obvious to clean and put away. I can be straightened up in 10 minutes, 15 well if I am in a hurry, usually an hour to really get back to square one. I have 10K sq ft of storage that is devoted to keeping my shop empty as possible.

I had a full house this last cold spell, had a couple of my own and a couple customers in, one a 20 ft trailer, my own crane truck and 60 ft of snow sled. Often people come in and wonder what we are working on,, well today had 2 cars in, both already gone and cleaned up.

One of my guys is a nascar fan, he gets it, we tidy up and almost nothing is left on the floor and we rarely got to walk on a cord or hose with auto work.

You can see a bit of change between page 3 and 4 as some of it came together. The tool set feeds 2 bays, they are not stored at the wall but in the middle.

 

[sberry]

The sockets and wrenches were a problem, we put the drive stuff and a hand full of metric combo on a cart and sae and sockets on turnstyles. The socket thing is the easiest I have ever used. Don't sort by drive size at all.

 

[sberry]

I was going to do something similar to the other service cart but the demand on sockets is fewer in numbers, a dozen impact sockets do 95% of the work but the hoist and tractor bay take a fair variety, I don't keep everyone I own there but the ones we really use.

 

[sberry]

5) Take a hard look at your floor space. If there is something that can be relocated to a wall or cold storage do so. Floor space is a premium in any garage.

Yes, this is what I was eluding to, I am not scared to strip the 2 or 3 sockets I really use out of a set and toss the rest in an out of the way drawer.

 

[santagary]

If you replace all the wasted wall board square feet with white pegboard, you can hang all kinds of things including the shelves you mentioned.

 

[bachertzhan]

Leave the shop organized for the next job.

 

[Zeke]

djjsr, I really like that u shaped setup. I want to put a small work area together in my basement. I work on projects down there in the winter and it seems like I'm always going out to the garage to get a tool. If I had a nice setup in the basement, I can bring all the pertinent tools inside and leave them there all winter.

Tscott, it sounds like you're right on track. I keep adding horizontal work surfaces yet it seems like everything is still out of whack all the time. I need to add more vertical storage near the work area. One thing I can suggest, if you haven't already, is to move all yard tools to a separate shed. My mower, weed eater, seed spreader, shovels, rakes ,hoes, buckets, hoses, bikes, wagons, etc... all share the garage with me and I'm always climbing over it to get to my workspace. My goal is to build a small shed behind the garage to hold all of this.

I have to agree about yard tools and even kid's things. If the garage has to be all in one a place for kid's bikes and soccer balls, the wife's decorations, a place to park a car (who'd have thought of that?) and your work place/hang out spot, then everything has to have its area and/or wall.

Johnson, you cant buy 2 of everything to have in both locations but I have found a cheap set of tools or a hodge podge of yard sale stuff will suffice for the winter inside stuff. I mean I want my best cordless drill on the truck but the wife and I can use a 20 dollar HF 18v for hanging pictures, etc. Keeps me from running out to the truck or even out to the garage.

When you need a quality tool, you know where it is you just have to go get it. But 90% of the time a cheap *** screwdriver does the same job. When you think it's not going to work and booger a screw, you stop and get a good one.

Besides that, my wife thinks a screwdriver is a punch, chisel, ice pick, scraper, pry bar, scratch awl and a weapon. She also thinks there are no screws that won't work with a driver/drill in or out. I mean why would anyone want to try and twist on that thing?

 

[Autorotica]

7) Cabinets instead of shelves. As a clutterbug, I will continue to jam an open shelf with junk that doesn't belong. For some reason, having a door on the front stops me from cluttering the shelves. I'm trying to combine this with your #2 of shelves one item deep and one item tall.

I think the majority of human nature is the opposite of this. I have a lot to do with MRO supplies at work and we have removed every door off of every cabinet. With doors people jamb stuff in a cabinet and turn it into a junk pile. We hang clear view strips over the cabinets so you can see what is inside without exposing it to the dirt in the shop...


Other thing is to keep the shelves as shallow as required. The deeper they are, the more you will store clutter and lose it behind the other stuff in the front.

Thanks for everyone sharing their thoughts!
Chris

 

[taumac]

Take a look at what I did for my work bench wall. You might get some ideas from this or take a look at my garage thread. I sure you can find some helpful ideas. Good luck

 

[parnass]

It is easier to organize fewer things. Therefore, get rid of items you don't use and will probably never need.

 

[Tscott]

Bunch of great responses guys I really appreciate the input. I am really excited to be making progress. Keep the ideas coming if you've got any more.

Tom

 

[Dberglind]

Taumac, what size PVC is that for the drill holders?

 

[taumac]

Taumac, what size PVC is that for the drill holders?

Use 3" id pipe

 

[Strouty]

I am at the same point, my shop has been a mess for the last three years due to an injury and some surgeries. Now I have been pretty busy, but I want to finish organizing. I am having a hell of a time trying to figure out what is the best way to sort and store items. I essentially have a stock room that I am working with, but I am not sure I want everything in the stock room. It seems like certain things should be out in the shop so they are easier to get to, but then I need another shelf or cabinet…… you get the idea. I am starting to think that the more storage I have, the less organized I become. I was watching an episode of "hoarders" the other night and this lady had 3000 containers, all of them looked neat and tidy, but they were everywhere and she really had no way to find anything. That is what I feel like right now, I have purchased so many containers, now I need to organize and label things so that I can find something without looking in every container every time! To the OP, do you plan on a stock room or are you spreading things around to certain areas/workstations? I am a jack of all trades so I have a mix of everything, my shop is a little smaller than yours at 32 by 60, but the stock room is on one end, so for some stuff I have to walk about 100' round trip to get an item. I am leaning towards getting some small cabinets for the main part of the shop to keep smaller quantities of the most used stuff handy, then have the stockroom for bulk and less used items. I also want to set up a "clean room in the stockroom area so I can do electronics or other stuff like that.

 

[BellyUpFish]

I've found muscle memory tends to help and have done everything I can to put things back when I'm done with them. Even if that means I'll be coming right back out tomorrow to work on it..

 

[Tscott]

I am at the same point, my shop has been a mess for the last three years due to an injury and some surgeries. Now I have been pretty busy, but I want to finish organizing. I am having a hell of a time trying to figure out what is the best way to sort and store items. I essentially have a stock room that I am working with, but I am not sure I want everything in the stock room. It seems like certain things should be out in the shop so they are easier to get to, but then I need another shelf or cabinet…… you get the idea. I am starting to think that the more storage I have, the less organized I become. I was watching an episode of "hoarders" the other night and this lady had 3000 containers, all of them looked neat and tidy, but they were everywhere and she really had no way to find anything. That is what I feel like right now, I have purchased so many containers, now I need to organize and label things so that I can find something without looking in every container every time! To the OP, do you plan on a stock room or are you spreading things around to certain areas/workstations? I am a jack of all trades so I have a mix of everything, my shop is a little smaller than yours at 32 by 60, but the stock room is on one end, so for some stuff I have to walk about 100' round trip to get an item. I am leaning towards getting some small cabinets for the main part of the shop to keep smaller quantities of the most used stuff handy, then have the stockroom for bulk and less used items. I also want to set up a "clean room in the stockroom area so I can do electronics or other stuff like that.

No stock room for me, just one large open space. The idea right now is to sort like things together. For example, all my sockets wrenches, impacts and most other commonly used automotive type things are in a Harbor Freight rolling cart. My main workbench how has things like punches and all my drills hung on its back wall. These are all things I typically use to tear down smaller assemblies once they are off the car. I also have a good number of woodworking tools and my plan there is to build a large (approx. 4'x8') rolling table saw station with lots of drawers in it to house all my wood working tools. So when doing anything involving woodworking I will use this large rolling table as my home base. I also figure the rolling saw station will be really handy for things like upholstery work or for laying out new parts that I don't want to get scratched up on the concrete floor. Other less commonly used things, like fiberglass supplies or tile setting stuff, will be stored in labeled totes on my pallet rack and I'll just pull it out on the odd occasion I need it.

This is the plan and so far I am happy with it. I have worked long enough in my shop that I am pretty comfortable breaking things up like this and as long as it's organized and well labeled I foresee no issues finding stuff.

Tom

 

[69supercj]

I struggle with organization all the time. Must be the OCD coming out in me. I have about half of a 30 foot wall that is semi-heavy duty shelving and I use bananna boxes from the grocery store to keep a lot of my extra Mustang and Ford parts that I have accumulated over the years and they are labled on the outside so you can read them w/o moving them. I take complete boxes and sort through others when its swap meet time. However I'd kinda like to move them out of the shop and into my barn but I know that they will become pretty dirty when stored there and mice would also be a concern. I've considered closing in part of the ground floor of the barn to make a more secure and clean storage but just haven't done it yet. Funding and injuries have sorta sidetracked me but I plan on getting it done this spring. One other thing I've found is the more surface area you have, the more disciplined you have to be to keep those areas from becoming a catch-all. Its a never ending battle for some of us.

 

[Cdn2usa]

Take a look at what I did for my work bench wall. You might get some ideas from this or take a look at my garage thread. I sure you can find some helpful ideas. Good luck

Taumac

Love the way you are storing your DC tools. I know what I'm doing on Saturday.

 

[taumac]

Taumac

Love the way you are storing your DC tools. I know what I'm doing on Saturday.

Thank you. I can't take credit for the idea. I saw it somewhere on net and thought what I great idea. I just have my battery tools there but they fit my air impacts to. I plan to cut more for hammers and such to keep bench clean while working.

 

[Strouty]

No stock room for me, just one large open space. The idea right now is to sort like things together. For example, all my sockets wrenches, impacts and most other commonly used automotive type things are in a Harbor Freight rolling cart. My main workbench how has things like punches and all my drills hung on its back wall. These are all things I typically use to tear down smaller assemblies once they are off the car. I also have a good number of woodworking tools and my plan there is to build a large (approx. 4'x8') rolling table saw station with lots of drawers in it to house all my wood working tools. So when doing anything involving woodworking I will use this large rolling table as my home base. I also figure the rolling saw station will be really handy for things like upholstery work or for laying out new parts that I don't want to get scratched up on the concrete floor. Other less commonly used things, like fiberglass supplies or tile setting stuff, will be stored in labeled totes on my pallet rack and I'll just pull it out on the odd occasion I need it.

This is the plan and so far I am happy with it. I have worked long enough in my shop that I am pretty comfortable breaking things up like this and as long as it's organized and well labeled I foresee no issues finding stuff.

Tom

I try and keep everything on wheels, except for the stuff in the stockroom. I am going to eventually add a second floor over the stockroom, that will eliminate my small office and all the overflow office supplies and electronics. Here are some pictures of my current mess. I am actually cleaning up some of the drawers right now. Sometimes it feels too far to walk, but I think if I can free up my damn carts, I should be able to go to the stockroom and get what I need, then wheel the cart to the location I am actually working at.

 

[shooting4life]

I would also look for something to organize smaller parts. I always had the hardest time keeping my hardware organized in a way that worked for me. I kept looking on CL for something on the cheap. Took about 6 months till I found this set up for $100 about a week ago.

 

[sberry]

I don't have a stock room, I put it where I use it and if I don't need it try to move as soon as possible and have a little makeover on occasion. I moved some wiring stuff out of the way, don't use it daily and if I got to walk 30 extra feet once a day oh well. I do more than that for coffee.

I really work on duty cycle and the realistic chance that I need the thing as much as practical. If I aint used it in a month I can take a few steps from my service cart to get the thing. I hate sifting thru the uncommon to find the common, I do not mind sifting thru the common for the uncommon but there is no point in mixing it up.

 

[sberry]

Some tools are used on almost every job, no point in putting them away all the time. I stripped a 5 gallon bucket full off this cart a while back and I think the last pic is the last version. I have often waited too long to re fit, I could reduce the sockets by a couple yet but this aint bad.

I should draw my floor plan, the tools are on the way or in the middle. Some of them like common combo wrenches and general sockets don't even have a home. They float between 2 socket racks and 3 wrench racks, when there isn't one on a peg it means its somewhere else or the peg is full means some other area is short.

I found I can adjust the length of the peg, only so many fit on it.

 

[Strouty]

I wish I could keep it as simple as sberry, but my OCD, ADHD, perfectionist, and confused child won't let me. I have some of the cleanest messes you could imagine. That doesn't mean that I keep it clean, it just means that I clean up everything and pile it back onto any flat surface available. Some of the stuff just has no home, some of it I can't figure out what to do with it. With almost everything on wheels it can be a pain in the **** if you move one of the flat surfaces around, then you lose track of what pile you need to look in. Sometimes I feel like I am playing marco polo with a mute. Other times I feel like I am a playing pin the tail on the donkey, except not only am I blindfolded, but the donkey moves.

 

[Strouty]

I would also look for something to organize smaller parts. I always had the hardest time keeping my hardware organized in a way that worked for me. I kept looking on CL for something on the cheap. Took about 6 months till I found this set up for $100 about a week ago.

That is one **** cabinet, I would have bought it in a heartbeat for $200.

 

[shooting4life]

That is one **** cabinet, I would have bought it in a heartbeat for $200.

Thanks, still trying to figure out where to put it. I have a couple of ideas but having a small two car garage (18x23) does not leave much in the way of options.

 

[Strouty]

Thanks, still trying to figure out where to put it. I have a couple of ideas but having a small two car garage (18x23) does not leave much in the way of options.

It took six months to find the cabinet, you can't expect to find a home for it instantly. I usually let them hang around a while, a spot usually whispers to you, then it hits you with a hammer and you know where it should go.