Tool Organizing - Drawers in the tool chest

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by JasonInAugusta

I picked up a Rubbermaid dish drain and made a Knipex holder.

Love this idea!

[xiteamxi]

ive had tho's socket organizers for a wile now well worth it.... i do like your way of organizing the ratchets ill have to give that a go

[gyrene]

Great looking tool box JIA. I think I know how I'm organizing my sockets now!

[Charlie-III]

Nice looking tool set-ups guys!
I'm not that organized, but can still find my tools quickly if need be, provided my son hasn't run off with mine. Worst part is that I buy him his own based on what he grabs of mine. He misplaces his and then grabs mine anyway.
Most of my sockets/drivers were bought in a box or rack so I keep them there in a drawer, makes it easy to grab a box and work.

[ibarnes113]

Hell, I thought I was doing good to wipe my tools off before I put them up.

[cherokee95]

Am I the only one to notice what appears to be a Springfield XD? I keep my .45 on my waist, deploys much faster from there.

Originally Posted by JasonInAugusta

Sockets

[mjderstine]

i saw it too.

but where are the bullets? and the trigger lock?

[RivBlueNoma]

There was already a discussion about it on page 2.

Originally Posted by cherokee95

Am I the only one to notice what appears to be a Springfield XD? I keep my .45 on my waist, deploys much faster from there.

[JasonInAugusta]

Originally Posted by Charlie-III

Nice looking tool set-ups guys!
I'm not that organized, but can still find my tools quickly if need be, provided my son hasn't run off with mine. Worst part is that I buy him his own based on what he grabs of mine. He misplaces his and then grabs mine anyway.
Most of my sockets/drivers were bought in a box or rack so I keep them there in a drawer, makes it easy to grab a box and work.

My son will constantly ask to use my tools when he needs something.

"Dad, can I get a screwdriver so I can change batteries?"

I think it's part of the whole "be like dad" thing.

The great thing is that with the tool chest being organized he puts everything back exactly where it goes.


The XD now resides in another location.

I'm always carrying, the XD is just another tool in the chest.

[4u2nv]

I love this thread, it's making me try to organize my tool box better.

I have two of the Hansen holders but they are on the expensive side so I just picked up two sets of these and I think I like them better...

metric
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece...zer-68102.html
standard
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece...zer-68100.html

[Eritex Inc.]

Originally Posted by Reflection

Although my toolbox isn't really messy, I'd need another box if I organized like that. Very cool though. I like the pliers rack idea, may try that. I like the wrench holder that holds them on their sides to. Wrenches and pliers kill allot of space in mine. One thing that also kills my box is 2 drawers filled with countless drills, end mills, turning tools and boring bars.

I think that is the difference between a mechanic and a machinist. I am not sure about you but I keep a set of tools and tooling specific to each machine at each piece of machinery. I hate trying to find the wrench to lock the bed on the lathe over at the cnc, the 3n1, the grinder, the drill press, etc.

I do have a Craftsman rolling work cart that has 4 drawers in it with a 3 drawer box on top that I keep basic hand tools, measuring and inspecting equipment, one off tools, etc in but even that sits right next to the Haas 95% of the time.

[TexasRedneck]

I used to work at a company building military Satellites... They supplied us with our own tools. Some of the guys there, wow... How the heck they made it through the day getting anything done.

I personally can not stand a messy tool box. Heck, the toolbox in the bed of my truck, I clean it out regularly. I dont have a shop or anything, so my tools stay in my truck. I dont have much for tools, either. Just a couple sets to do regular work on the pickup...

Though here soon, once I move, I plan to invest in a nice shop & fill it up. I will have to steal some of these ideas from this thread.

[iamsuperbleeder]

man, and I though I was OCD about my tools...

[JasonInAugusta]

Messed around today and put some 1/4" MDF that I got from the Home Depot scrap bin to use. Was a sheet that measured 3ft x 4ft.

Got it for 51 cents.

Anyway, been making various things for the GE radio build from it, and decided to put some of it use to make the first half of a storage system for the router and accessories.

This is the first layer of two that will be in this drawer and items will be moved around as I make progress, but I got the bottom section cut and assembled tonight. I'll make a storage unit for all the router bits that will go on the top layer and the larger items like the circle cutter, straight line cutter, and power cable will be in the bottom. Should get the upper section done tomorrow.


Mina also stuck her stapler in the stapler/rivet gun drawer. We also keep the utility knife blades in here. Wouldn't hurt to throw the knives in, I guess.

[optikalillushun]

i love this thread. i use a lot of the products u mentioned but the rubbermain disdrainer for pliers is awsome.

[JKMotorsports]

Wow. I thought my box at work was organized. I get compliments on it by operators that open it to borrow a tool.

Now the handgun might be something I need to add so that when they borrow a tool they will be sure to bring it back!!!!!


Also anyone have a good way to organize T-Handle Allen Wrenches in a shallow drawer other then carving out foam? The oils on the machinery I work on destroys foam in weeks!

[4u2nv]

I need more ideas... how do you guys store your hex bits? I'm liking this but can't find any information on them.

[Danny_b]

Really like the last one, where can i get those?

[JasonInAugusta]

Originally Posted by 4u2nv

I need more ideas... how do you guys store your hex bits? I'm liking this but can't find any information on them.

Hansen makes some.

Hex/Torx Socket Bit Tray - Tool Storage Accessories - Tool Storage and Transfer Tanks - 5NLN2 : Grainger Industrial Supply

Went out of town this past weekend to work at mom's place. I sold a mountain bike and had the intent of picking up a Harbor Freight 56" cabinet here in town after we returned. Since mom's place is in KY and there's a Harbor Freight in Lexington, Mina said we should pick up the cabinet in KY and pay their 6% sales tax vs the 9.5% sales tax we'd have to pay in TN.

So that's what we did. Called to see if it was in stock and went to pick it up. We got back Tuesday and the wife and I unloaded it out of the truck with lawnmower ramps. Pretty simple. I decided to stick it next to the 41" Craftsman I've been using for 7 or 8 years.



So, I decided to build a hutch for it.

I didn't plan anything other than just a general idea. I extended a tape measure off the surface of the cabinet and got an idea of how high I wanted the hutch to be so I didn't whack my head on the thing as I stood in front of the cabinet. For me I decided on 33" from the surface of the cabinet.

I went to Lowe's and found they had 1/8" x 3/4" x 4' angle iron on clearance for $2.63 each. They had seven pieces in stock and I grabbed six of them. One for each vertical leg and two more to make the upper and lower cross-members for each side wall.

I also grabbed two pieces of 1/8" x 1" x 6' ($11.67 each) for the front and back top cross-members and a 1/8" x 3/4" x 6' ($8.97) for the rear lower cross-member.

After a bit of cutting and welding I had the frame pretty much um...framed up.

Here it is without the 1/8" x 3/4" x 6' cut and installed at the bottom of the back wall.


I went to Home Depot and picked up a full sheet of white pegboard as well as a 2' x 4' sheet. Due to the size of this thing I could only get the back wall and one side from the full sheet. Had to make two trips, but it's all good.

My daughter came out and loved it when she saw it partially mocked up. (I know it looks crooked in the pictures, but everything is square and plumb. I think the lens on the cell phone camera distorted things.)



Then she said something that made me realize how mature she's getting...and how old I'm getting.

"Dad, are you going to pass down your toolboxes to me and Jeff one day?"

But yeah, even though I ran out of pegboard, she loved it. She even went and got a stool so she could sit at the cabinet. "I wish our desks at school were this cool."


Last night I picked up a full sheet of 1/2" MDF for the top of the cabinet and the top of the hutch. Mina came out and helped guide the sheet through our 10" Craftsman table saw.

Mocked up with the 1/2" MDF in place.


Even though I hadn't hard mounted the top to the hutch, I thought it would be a good time to go ahead and lay out and mount a set of six Xenon puck lights I picked up at Lowe's. These have a touch-sensitive switch and low/medium/high 3-way controller. Since I had 54" of space between the interior walls and six pucks to mount, I marked center, went 4 1/2" to either side, then marked every 9" to evenly space the pucks.

A few minutes later the pucks were mounted, plugs were installed, and it was time to test the lights.


I'm lovin' it. While I haven't trimmed the cables for the lights to length yet, and the top/pegboard isn't hard-mounted to the frame, this gave me enough of a look at what the finished product will look like to know that the time and effort will be worth it.

I'll update as I progress. Plenty of work ahead.

[JasonInAugusta]

Originally Posted by JKMotorsports

Also anyone have a good way to organize T-Handle Allen Wrenches in a shallow drawer other then carving out foam? The oils on the machinery I work on destroys foam in weeks!

I just arrange mine by size like in this picture. I have SAE, metric, and Torx T-handles here. Not 100% happy with this because of the space it consumes - which is less than cutting slots in foam - but it works for now.