# Re - mis - dis - organization



## TRX (Jan 21, 2020)

My project for today was to organize the "stuff" in my shop.  Most of it has been stored in the "looks like space for it here" system.  Now that I have new machinery and a bunch of new tooling I need a better plan, particularly since I just found I've bought multiple duplicates of some things because the first ones weren't stored anywhere near where they might be used...

An amazing amount of "stuff" has colonized the drawers of the toolboxes.  And some of the tools, while expensive or useful, aren't used often enough to justify precious drawer space.  A lot of things are getting evicted to secondary storage; mostly plastic storage bins in the otherwise-useless open spaces under the roll-about drawers.

I was looking at half a drawer full of threading dies.  A full set of metric, and inch in 7/8, larger ones in 1" or hex, and their various die stocks.  Then I realized that *years* will go by before I use a die, even though "make a tailstock die holder" has been on my to-do list for, oh, a couple of decades now.

Most of the problem is the nice wooden trays I made for the dies, each in its own little counterbore.  The trays take up a lot of space.  Hmm.  For no more than I use them, dumping all the dies into a small box would probably be space and time effective.  But when I noticed that some of the plastic end mill tubes are *almost* big enough to hold a stack of dies.  Hmm.  If I got a few appropriately-sized tubes I could load them with dies and dessiccant packets - I have a bag full of those - and evict them to some lower-rent storage space somewhere else.

So I turned to eBay and found that "end mill storage tubes" got me nowhere.  There are plastic tubes for storing coins, some of which are the right diameter, but only a couple inches long.   Eventually I found the proper invocation is "shipping tube", not "storage tube."  The "shipping" keyword brought up a nice selection of stuff.

I also noticed that, besides round, square, plastic, and cardboard, the tubes are available in diameters up to 6"  I have a number of tools - boring heads, for example - that could go into 3" or so tubes and then near one of the shelves near the milling machine.

Hey, it's a little thing, but every cubic inch of space must be fought for...


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## mikey (Jan 21, 2020)

A common issue for most of us but very nicely written, TRX!


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## mmcmdl (Jan 21, 2020)

mikey said:


> A common issue for most of us but very nicely written, TRX!



Yes it is Mike , we grow our tooling and machines but most times our spaces never grow , or actually shrink over that time . What once started in a basement , now occupies that basement , another basement , a 2 car garage , a few bedrooms , the back yard , the kitchen , a patio ……………………….


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## mikey (Jan 21, 2020)

My problem is that stuff comes in but never goes out! Looking for another Vidmar now. There is no hope that things will change in my lifetime ...


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## mmcmdl (Jan 21, 2020)

After becoming basicly empty nesters for 7 years or so , all my children are now back home after college . Open space and flat surfaces come at a premium , so even if I can create such space , it's gone within the day !  My place is in a shambles as it is . I have to un-pack everything to find the things I want to disperse , and it's laying around everywhere . It's fine when it's packed up nicely in the Vidmars , but then I cant ever find what I'm looking for !


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## brino (Jan 21, 2020)

@TRX 

I like that die storage idea!
Thanks for sharing it.

Lee Valley has various storage tubes that also may lend themselves to that:
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/sho...anization/containers/32173-shop-storage-tubes
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/sho...iners/43331-stacking-storage-container-system

-brino


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## C-Bag (Jan 21, 2020)

I've been lucky to score a couple of ex-military cabinets in estate sales. Vidmar and their like are scarce as hens teeth and way expensive around here. The mil-cabs are deep and heavy duty and can hold a ton of stuff so I don't get rid of the plastic tubes most of my tooling came in because there is another constant nemesis, rust. And while the wooden cases my huge old navy reamer set and Greenlee tap plate sets came in aren't exactly convenient they seem to be really good at fighting rust which metal tool boxes and the mil-cabs aren't. It seems another cab shows up about the time I'm out cab space. 

I guess because a lot of machinists restricted themselves to a little machinist box they did the drawer dump method of organization from what I have observed on CL of retiring or passed machinists. We were talking about tooling irritants and for me the biggest irritant is digging through a dump drawer trying to find a specific tool. As a line mechanic digging for tools was a waste of time and $$. One of the best things I ever did was put all my sockets and wrenches on rails and racks. The latest tip since going to multiple tool boxes and cabs was put it where you first think it should be or makes sense. And I've learned, THEN DONT MOVE IT!


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## mmcmdl (Jan 21, 2020)

C-Bag said:


> As a line mechanic digging for tools was a waste of time and $$.



Hey Bag . I go thru this as a line mechanic also . I had to split machinist tools away from the mechanics tools . They wonder why I need so much space in at work , and I tell them because you don't supply me with machinist tools . I bring them in from home . I can't tell you how many of my own carbide end mills I've ruined doing company work .


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## C-Bag (Jan 21, 2020)

Yup, bringing in special home tools usually never worked out. Especially when I didn't get paid extra because the job wouldn't have gotten done otherwise. I think your wages and mine were not even in the same quadrant. Not even parallel universes!


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## Aaron_W (Jan 21, 2020)

My shop resembles your thread title, it seems like every time I kind of get it into shape something changes and I'm right back to chaos.


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## mikey (Jan 21, 2020)

C-Bag said:


> The latest tip since going to multiple tool boxes and cabs was put it where you first think it should be or makes sense. And I've learned, THEN DONT MOVE IT!



TOTALLY AGREE!!!

Memory is a funny thing. You can have a need for a tool that you haven't touched in 10 years and if you follow C-bag's RULE, you'll be able to find it. I admit that I don't know how it works; I just know it is true. It is also true that the older you get and/or the more tools you have, the more important the rule becomes!


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## RJSakowski (Jan 21, 2020)

My shop areas are the pictures you see when you look up chaos in the dictionary.  I am constantly struggling with it.  

My problem is that my memory isn't what it used to be so I don't like to bury things where they will be forgotten.  An idea that I had was to label all the storage locations with a unique number and/or letter location and the log the items in those locations in a spreadsheet or database.  That way instead of searching through multiple boxes looking for that one part or tool that you need to complete a project, you can look it up in the spreadsheet.

To go a  step further, if the items are categorized the search can be restricted to a catagory.  A database is ideal for this but a spreadsheet can be used as well.  With a spreadsheet, you would just create a column for each characteristic and enter a 1 in for the particular item.  Then you can sort the list for the 1 for that characteristic and all the items meeting that characteristic will be listed together.  Suggested categories might be cutting tools, clamps, fasteners, etc.


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## RJSakowski (Jan 21, 2020)

mikey said:


> TOTALLY AGREE!!!
> 
> Memory is a funny thing. You can have a need for a tool that you haven't touched in 10 years and if you follow C-bag's RULE, you'll be able to find it. I admit that I don't know how it works; I just know it is true. It is also true that the older you get and/or the more tools you have, the more important the rule becomes!


My problem with C-bag's rule is that I have multiple locations where it would be logical to keep a given item.  With a machine shop, a welding and forge shop, a woodworking shop, an electrical/electronics shop, and a mechanic's shop, that gives me five different areas t search.  Oh, and add the office.


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## mmcmdl (Jan 21, 2020)

RJSakowski said:


> My problem with C-bag's rule is that I have multiple locations where it would be logical to keep a given item. With a machine shop, a welding and forge shop, a woodworking shop, an electrical/electronics shop, and a mechanic's shop, that gives me five different areas t search. Oh, and add the office.



And that's how you end up with 10 of everything !


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## RJSakowski (Jan 21, 2020)

mmcmdl said:


> And that's how you end up with 10 of everything !


Fortunately, I live far enough from any vensors that I don't just go out for another.  I do spend a disproportionate amount of time searching for things though
I used to hunt squirrels when I was younger.  Squirrels have a habit of running up a tree and running down the other side.  If you are certain that the squirrel is up the tree, you can sit down and eventually it will come out.  However, if the squirrel ran down the other side, you could wait there forever with no results.  I spend far too much time waiting for long gone squirrels.


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## mmcmdl (Jan 21, 2020)

I live 1 minute away from a hardware store . At a point many years back I counted 17 oil filter wrenches in my possession . I know I haven't gotten rid of any , and have purchased many more over the years . It's easier and much faster to buy one for 3 bucks then digging for 4 days for one .

And to add insult to injury , made 2 trips to this hardware store for metric bolts for mounting a tv yesterday . I have 20,000 bolts in the house , but never the ones I need .


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## mmcmdl (Jan 21, 2020)

I joke about this on here , but this is really not funny . " Houston , we have a problem " would be appropriate . 

I AM gearing up for a yard sale in April though , I do pretty good .


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## C-Bag (Jan 21, 2020)

RJSakowski said:


> My problem with C-bag's rule is that I have multiple locations where it would be logical to keep a given item.  With a machine shop, a welding and forge shop, a woodworking shop, an electrical/electronics shop, and a mechanic's shop, that gives me five different areas t search.  Oh, and add the office.


Full disclosure I got that "rule" from good ol Marv Klotz and he had gone through the whole spreadsheet thing. Which ain't no way homey gonna do dat. Talk about tidy neat shop! But I think he was in single car garage but not only were all the walls covered in drawers and storage cabinets he had stuff built into the rafters. His focus was miniatures and models so he had small machines.

Unlike RJ my real rule is my 20x20 garage is all I got. PERIOD. Yeah, I'd love to have a bigger shop and more room but having moved 25 times in 35yrs taught me the folly of bigger is better. Bigger just mean more. This fact became painfully apparent when we went from basic 2brm apartment living to 4 bdrm 3bath 2500sqft house with a huge garage for only 4yrs. We used to move in 1 1/2 days, by ourselves. Moving from that McMansion(for us) took almost two weeks with help!

I'm just one guy and I can't even get to all the projects and the road out front is definitely a LOT shorter than behind so I'm all about focus and refining. And keeping my inner hoarder corralled by 20x20.


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## C-Bag (Jan 21, 2020)

mmcmdl said:


> I joke about this on here , but this is really not funny . " Houston , we have a problem " would be appropriate .
> 
> I AM gearing up for a yard sale in April though , I do pretty good .


I'm so glad you are on the other side of the world or I'd be in deep yogurt.


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