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Tool Drawer Organization

redmed

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Oct 27, 2014
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276
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Michigan
I organized my tool cabinet drawers years ago with foam that I cut to insert my wrenches. I have just bought some new wrench sets and want to make some new foam inserts. Any suggestions of what material to use and where to get it?
 
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redmed

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LB-1911

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redmed

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Oct 27, 2014
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276
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Michigan
Tool Box Shadowing with foam

There are a lot of retail options out there for foam, but most of them run $30+ a drawer. Message boards and forums drew my attention to a Camping Pad that Wal-Mart sells for $7.47, and it should do at least two drawers for the bargain basement price of roughly $4 a drawer!


http://aviationmechanic.blogspot.com/2012/11/tool-box-shadowing.html

https://www.google.com/#q=shadow+box+foam

I'm going to check out that camping pad. Thanks.

I may have a couple camping pads already. Unless my wife tossed them. I remember that she complained about them. We kept sliding off them in our sleep. Woke up a few times during the night cold and off the pads. She complained about them all the way home. I'll have scrounge around my camping stuff.

I was also thinking maybe something from Lowes or Home Depot like a thin sheet of foam insulation.
 
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e015475

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Jul 24, 2012
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Show Low and Mesa Arizona
I bought my foam from an upholstery supply house. For $10 I got enough to all the drawers of two 53" HF tool chests.

They had several densities to choose from.

I put masking tape on it then traced the tools with a Sharpie. I used an Exacto knife with a straight blade to cut it out. I had a stone and frequently sharpened the Exacto blade as I cut.

It seems like the foam was about 5/8" thick and I saved the cut-outs from the small tools, cut them in half and put them back in the foam to raise the tool enough to get it out

Can post some pictures if you'd like to see the result - LMK
 
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redmed

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Oct 27, 2014
Messages
276
Location
Michigan
I bought my foam from an upholstery supply house. For $10 I got enough to all the drawers of two 53" HF tool chests.

They had several densities to choose from.

I put masking tape on it then traced the tools with a Sharpie. I used an Exacto knife with a straight blade to cut it out. I had a stone and frequently sharpened the Exacto blade as I cut.

It seems like the foam was about 5/8" thick and I saved the cut-outs from the small tools, cut them in half and put them back in the foam to raise the tool enough to get it out

Can post some pictures if you'd like to see the result - LMK

Sounds like a good alternative. I assume you got a high density. Any wear on the foam from grabbing stuff?
 

e015475

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Jul 24, 2012
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Show Low and Mesa Arizona
I'm just a shade-tree mechanic, so my tools don't get used everyday, but the foam seems to be holding up well. The Craftsman box I had before this used the same foam and it held up to use for about fifteen years.

Here's a few pictures of the drawers using upholstery foam-

Hammers-View media item 44569
Screwdrivers -View media item 44570
Socket Drivers - View media item 44571
Wrenches -View media item 44572
Up to this point I'd made all of these foam liners from $10 of upholstery foam. But this is a custom made socket holder from FoamFitTools - I didn't see how I'd ever get all the socket holes cut and make it look decent. Cost me about $150 and they laid it out in CAD from an Excel spreadsheet of the socket dimensions. It was cut on some type of CNC machine out of two layers of foam - the top black and the bottom red so you can immediately see if a socket is missing. The sockets are not an 'off the shelf' set but the 'cats and dogs' I've collected over the last 30 years that I like to use-View media item 44573
If you want to throw money at your tool organization problems, this is a good place to do it- spendy but worth it - loosing sockets is the bane of my mechanic-ingView media item 44574
 

gaston9mm

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Joined
Oct 1, 2011
Messages
114
Location
South Carolina
I'm just a shade-tree mechanic, so my tools don't get used everyday, but the foam seems to be holding up well. The Craftsman box I had before this used the same foam and it held up to use for about fifteen years.

Here's a few pictures of the drawers using upholstery foam-

Hammers-View media item 44569
Screwdrivers -View media item 44570
Socket Drivers - View media item 44571
Wrenches -View media item 44572
Up to this point I'd made all of these foam liners from $10 of upholstery foam. But this is a custom made socket holder from FoamFitTools - I didn't see how I'd ever get all the socket holes cut and make it look decent. Cost me about $150 and they laid it out in CAD from an Excel spreadsheet of the socket dimensions. It was cut on some type of CNC machine out of two layers of foam - the top black and the bottom red so you can immediately see if a socket is missing. The sockets are not an 'off the shelf' set but the 'cats and dogs' I've collected over the last 30 years that I like to use-View media item 44573
If you want to throw money at your tool organization problems, this is a good place to do it- spendy but worth it - loosing sockets is the bane of my mechanic-ingView media item 44574

ok I have to ask are you wearing a robe in the picture? lol btw nice set up. the tools I mean.
 
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