What are your methods in organizing your tooling and material stockpile?

[John Hasler]

I have no system at the moment, and its a killer. spending 20 minutes looking for a bolt... run to the hardware store, come back and put the bag right on the bag that held the bolt... no joke!

So i'm planning on buying some nice hardware bins, red for SAE, yellow for metric, label each bin. then start in on the tools, every tool gets its own cutout in a drawer, label the drawers, tool cabinets for the lathe tooling, one for the mill tooling, bins for the endmills, hout drill drawers... yeah i need to get going.:whiteflag:

I've got about a hundred little plastic drawers of hardware in steel racks. Unfortunately most of them are organized by my father's system, which I've never figured out. They also mostly contain oddball fasteners that he scrounged at work. Everything I need is in there somewhere, but I often end up going to the hardware store for it anyway after searching for half an hour. Worst is when I need four matching fasteners and I find three right away. There's *got* to be at least one more here somewhere...

 

[sinebar]

I'll repeat what I said on the thread about keeping a knowledge book.
"You guys are way more organized than me."

 

[Coomba]

Hello all,

I think that anyone, like myself, who does this for a hobby, it's difficult to remember which drawer certain tools are in when you don't work at it daily. When I'm on a project for a few days in a row, I get into a groove and can put to hand all of my tools with ease. But give me a few weeks off and I'm fumbling again for awhile.

I haven't come up with a good way to store metal, but I have some woodworking and tooling storage systems that work for me. Mind you, I am a one man shop with no interference from anyone else.

Here's a few pics of a tool cabinet for woodworking tools. Everything has it's particular spot...







Here's how I store my rough lumber...




These racks have nearly 1000 lbs. on them. I have three such racks in the shop.

I recently threw this little shelf together to store my lathe toolholders and the different cutting fluids. It simply slides onto the splash guard and can be slid to any position...



I have this roll aroung tool box to store the majority of my tooling. Home Depot has them on sale every year for around $300.00. Each drawer has it's specific "genre" of tooling and everything goes back to it's specific spot when I'm finished a project. During a project, however, it looks like a bomb went off... :yikes:







Tooling to do with the mill is on the wall next to it. I am going to enlarge this shelf to be able to store my spin index as well as the dividing head...



This is my first attempt at metal storage.... not so good...



Best regards....

Brian

WOW, Really!! Good for you.

 

[xalky]

For bolts 1/2- 3/4, I keep an inventory and buy new from this place: http://www.krsupply.com/
Prices are cheap, quality is good, and they ship a $30 order for free, and it comes quickly.

Thanks for that link. Their prices are good! I've been looking for a good source for fasteners for quite some time. Fastenal is a rip-off.

 

[Baithog]

I know exactly where my tools are supposed to be. Someone sneaks in here at night and moves them. I swear, phillips screwdrivers evaporate if you don't keep an eye on them. One of them sneaked into my back pants pocket and hid there. It took hours to find it.

I could be a lot more organized if I got rid of all the stuff I don't use any more. I've gotten to the point that its another tool chest, or a machine. The machine usually wins. Of course, once I get rid of something, I'll need it and have to go buy another... at twice the cost of the one I sold.

I really admire those that have all those lists and pictures and know where everything is all the time. I think they are aliens.)

Larry

 

[Harris Creek Central]

Hello all,

I think that anyone, like myself, who does this for a hobby, it's difficult to remember which drawer certain tools are in when you don't work at it daily. When I'm on a project for a few days in a row, I get into a groove and can put to hand all of my tools with ease. But give me a few weeks off and I'm fumbling again for awhile.

I haven't come up with a good way to store metal, but I have some woodworking and tooling storage systems that work for me. Mind you, I am a one man shop with no interference from anyone else.

Here's a few pics of a tool cabinet for woodworking tools. Everything has it's particular spot...







Here's how I store my rough lumber...




These racks have nearly 1000 lbs. on them. I have three such racks in the shop.

I recently threw this little shelf together to store my lathe toolholders and the different cutting fluids. It simply slides onto the splash guard and can be slid to any position...



I have this roll aroung tool box to store the majority of my tooling. Home Depot has them on sale every year for around $300.00. Each drawer has it's specific "genre" of tooling and everything goes back to it's specific spot when I'm finished a project. During a project, however, it looks like a bomb went off... :yikes:







Tooling to do with the mill is on the wall next to it. I am going to enlarge this shelf to be able to store my spin index as well as the dividing head...



This is my first attempt at metal storage.... not so good...



Best regards....

Brian

Although the pictures did not show up here, they did come through in my email. Thanks for including the pictures.
EDITED NOTE: When I posted this there were no pictures. Now in the reply the pictures come to life..

Harvey,
in Kelowna, BC.

 

[umahunter]

now I haven't got proof yet but im pretty sure most of my tools and materials come alive the second I leave the shop I mean how else could they get allover the place lord knows I would never do that :rofl::rofl:

 

[Bill Gruby]

I have Gremlins" that organize my shop. They keep me on my toes. The shop is never the same 2 days in a row.

"Billy G"

 

[dpat]

don't mean to step on toes or hurt someones feelings, but A CLEAN SHOP [or desk ] IS A SIGN OF A SICK MIND!

my old mentor stayed on my DONKEY for >20 yrs about my house keeping,i finally proved i could find the tools or product he wanted. not sure that satisfied him, but he quit B.....ng.





dpat

 

[uncle harry]

don't mean to step on toes or hurt someones feelings, but A CLEAN SHOP [or desk ] IS A SIGN OF A SICK MIND!

my old mentor stayed on my DONKEY for >20 yrs about my house keeping,i finally proved i could find the tools or product he wanted. not sure that satisfied him, but he quit B.....ng.





dpat

My boss is the same way, always wondering how I can work in my clutter. He's been like that for much longer than 20 years. BTW, did I tell you that I'm self-employed ?