small parts organizers

[scale]

Which style do you use? I have always had a few of the drawer style on the bench but they are frustrating to find things quickly. I am thinking of slowly switching over to the second kind. You can look down and see everything at a glance, they have a handle so you can bring them to the job and they stack real nice and they are easy to get off the bench and free up that space. If you had more than one you could swap out the yellow bins so had more big compartments in one or more small compartments in another. Harbor Freight has these on sale regularly for $6 a piece.

 

[slow]

Same, I've used the top ones and have 2 on my bench, I want to build a rack for the bottom kind and get about a dozen to put on my bench to replace the other ones I have. I deal with lots of electrical connectors, so they would be better for organization.

 

[AndyL]

Both + the 3-6 drawer carts on wheels from Walmart sterilite I think the brand is

 

[Rewind97]

I have a few like the top one with the drawers. I like them, just wish I could find ones with bigger drawers.

 

[gemniii]

Like many here "small parts" can be relative.

For things like different size bolt, nuts, washers, screws, specialty nails etc. that fit in the width of a drawer and may be stored for years between pulling a drawer I favor the top selection. Easily accessible, over a workbench, usually with a label visible. For larger items like longer bolts (> 1.5"), longere nails, I like the bins w/ slanted tops.

For project oriented chores I like the second type where I put a selection of parts in the second type and carry it around.

 

[danielbuck]

I've got several methods of storing small parts/hardware, in general I like this method best, from Durham MFG. the individual drawers have several partition sizes, and most of them have removable dividers (depending on which containers you buy, they offer several different types).

I use these for small parts, like nuts, washers, small bolts, car fuses & electrical items, and so on. I've probably got 4 or 5 of these drawer sets. The plastic 'drawers' don't actually sit in place, you have to remove them and set them down to open them.

 

[gungatim]

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289281you need to check out this thead...

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289281

 

[Justind97]

I have both styles. The top style I have mounted up on the wall with labels.

As for the bottom style, I tend to only use this when I go to the race track. Easier for me to see what's in the bin and where at a quick glance. The problem that I have with using these in the garage is the amount of space they consume just to store stuff. Unless you have a dedicated place for them, the top one is my choice.

 

[Ainsley]

Similar to the durham solution above, I just use tackle trays and built my own rack. There are many similar solutions on the forum here with some heavier duty trays.

 

[scale]

wow...nice. I was hoping they would fit vertically in a standard lateral filing cabinet. They dont. You could get a ton in there if so. They are just too tall.

 

[RDeMeyer]

I am ditching all the little boxes with dividers and am converting to a tool box supported system.

http://www.schallercorporation.com/plastic-boxes/

 

[LeeG]

I have tried a bunch, and what worked best for me is the Allit boxes from Lee Valley Tools. You get various sizes of internal boxes and they are relatively inexpensive. Here is my setup



Here are the various internal container sizes. All are just about 2” deep

 

[scale]

very nice.

 

[brownbagg]

i refuse for my shop to be a warehouse, so other than a handful of hardware, everything else i need i keep at lowes

 

[scale]

i refuse for my shop to be a warehouse, so other than a handful of hardware, everything else i need i keep at lowes

also a very good point. My grandfather ......wow......he had a barn full. He lived in the middle of nowhere though in a very small town. Everyone came to him for the stuff they needed because stores were too far away. He was an over the road trucker so he could grab things over the road and haul them home. I suppose growing up around the depression didnt help either. When he passed away it was quite the clean up job ...but honestly it was fun doing it and he had a lot of neat stuff.

THings today are so convenient you dont need to store a lot of extra parts.....and amazon is 2 days from anywhere.

 

[kngelv]

I am ditching all the little boxes with dividers and am converting to a tool box supported system.

http://www.schallercorporation.com/plastic-boxes/

I just did the opposite. I had a 56" U.S. General top box filled with Schaller boxes. I needed more tool storage and in my smallish garage I thought small cases would work better. I purchased these Husky organizers at Home Depot.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-1...all-Parts-Organizer-in-Black-235587/302939645

They are built really well and less than ten bucks each.

James

 

[intillzah]

I've kinda fell into the trap of warehousing stuff in my garage, not a whole lot,but more that I have done since I was living on the farm here 12 years ago.. I was used to working in parts, and when you do that. You tend to not keep a lot of stuff on the shelf, as it's not necessary, but when they closed where I was working and I left the last place an came back home to work, I just started to become more self-contained, Do I have more that I need? some stuff I do, but I have enough stuff to tackle the projects that come up here at home. And not have to run to the hardware store...

 

[PhysicsDude]

I've tried a bunch of different things, and by far my favorite solution are the plastic organizer containers with removable bins.

The ones with plastic dividers just don't work that well, at least not for me. The removable bins are very superior in many ways.

The Harbor Freight ones are OK. Stanley ones are better. Some more expensive options like Sortimo. I really like these Stalwart brand ones, I usually buy a few when the price dips below $30 per set of 4:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017W2Q6PG/?tag=atomicindus08-20

One thing I like about the plastic cases with removable bins is they don't get dust (sawdust!) in them. I like the pull-out drawer organizers too, but I get really annoyed when I pull them out and everything is covered in dust/sawdust.

I am ditching all the little boxes with dividers and am converting to a tool box supported system.

http://www.schallercorporation.com/plastic-boxes/

I like those! I saved the link for later. I like the long bins, it can be hard to find storage/organizer solutions for things like 6" long bolts. Thanks for sharing.

 

[taumac]

wow...nice. I was hoping they would fit vertically in a standard lateral filing cabinet. They dont. You could get a ton in there if so. They are just too tall.

I have a 4 drawer legal size filing cabinet I put bins in vertical.









The 2 top drawers can hold 14 of the Plano boxes each for total of 28. The bottom 2 drawers can hold 8 of the yellow bins each plus 2 more Plano boxes. My bottom 2 drawers will probably get switch out to a bigger style Plano box in the future because I can’t put them vertical. This is best solution I came up with for the amount of storage in a small foot print.

Btw. The yellow bins I did have stored once in a 3 drawer lateral file cabinet. When I got the y’all 4 drawer they didn’t fit so switch to Plano boxes. They under $4 a piece while the larger ones where $9 a piece. I’m still in process of organizing everything but so far I’m really liking this setup.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I've been using both, and although I've thought about switching to just one or the other, my current setup seems to be working.

I have 5 of the 39-bin StackOn wall mount organizers: one in my beer room for keg parts and fittings, and the other 4 in my garage for nuts, bolts, washers, taps, etc. They're mounted over my bench since things like bolts I'm most likely using in the garage.

I have 5 of the black/yellow Harbor Freight carry organizers with all types of screws, nails, etc since I'm likely to be using those when I'm away from the garage. Although if I'm only using one type of screw I'll bring that bin or dump them in a pouch rather than taking the whole organizer. I also have one with all my pocket hole jig parts/screws and knobs and different parts for woodworking jigs.

I also have two Packout organizers that have my electrical and plumbing fittings and parts in them.

 

[TurtleValley]

I use these from Princess Auto up here in Canada.

Build a cart so they can come to the job instead of back and forth around the shop.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181229/e85c0558de9105411d3a71dfc3ece119.jpg

 

[stangconv]

Whats the Princess auto sku number for those

 

[Bessy]

I'm integrating the Stanley sortmaster bins into the side of my mobile workbench currently. The plan is to hold 20 Stanley bins on the one side. I've got one of the little drawer unit things with the plastic drawers, and it will likely just remain on the shelf for items that are way specific, or that I don't have enough to warrant keeping in a Stanley case. Wishing I had of just bought the princess auto cases but at this point I have probably 12-14 of the Stanley cases, so I'll stick with those for now.


Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[cspcrx]

for years I have used a parts drawer I got from grainger with 5 pull out and lift out drawers. They are stackable, I only had one, and if I recall was like $45. you can just see it in this picture sitting under the bench.
Untitled by Victor M, on Flickr

Since then I found 4 of these parts drawers on craigslist and am moving everything over to them. much more storage.
Untitled by Victor M, on Flickr

 

[Vbwiley92]

I'm integrating the Stanley sortmaster bins into the side of my mobile workbench currently. The plan is to hold 20 Stanley bins on the one side. I've got one of the little drawer unit things with the plastic drawers, and it will likely just remain on the shelf for items that are way specific, or that I don't have enough to warrant keeping in a Stanley case. Wishing I had of just bought the princess auto cases but at this point I have probably 12-14 of the Stanley cases, so I'll stick with those for now.


Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Walmart's Hyper Tough line has that same box in red and and blank and they're only 2 for $10 here in the states. I have both and really like them.

Sent from my SM-G955U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[scooby074]

I use these ones from Princess Auto. SKU: 8196552 The plastic is a bit brittle but they cant be beat for the price on sale. Looks like they are now on clearance, so I got to remember to pick up a couple extras.