I would like to organize all my small parts – fasteners and bits of hardware – in Plano-type boxes. But how to organize the Plano boxes? Any ideas?
Chris @ www.flairwoodworks.com
and www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
– Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Albert Schweitzer
Replies
Sorry but you must be joking! The best I have come up with is mix everything up: take any box without a lid in which your hand just fits when not holding anything at all and drop in the box a good handfull of the mixture.
When you need any of those bits shake the box and try to fish out the bit you want: drop the box on the floor and try another box and so on. Get the car out and spend time and money driving around trying to find that bit. Go home and pick up off the floor the bit you could not see earlier....
Have a good holiday and best wishes, Mufti
That must be the budget route. My intended route is somewhere between yours and the Systainer approach.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Do you have a picture of your Plano boxes?
................................................
Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
~ Denis Diderot
Don,I'm looking at the squarish ones here.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&cat=1,44047,64684,64689&p=64689Unfortunately for my fellow Knotheads not near a LV store, they are available only in stores. For the record, I do work at one, and no, I do not get a discount on special buy items.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com
and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com) - Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Edited 12/12/2009 1:07 am by flairwoodworks
Rubbermaid boxes :)
Several years ago I purchased Plano plastic boxes with a clear top lid that had compartment components for dividing areas. This was driven by an article in a woodworking magazine that showed a cabinet build with multiple dados spaced about 3" apart for sliding shelves of plywood that held the Plano boxes. Personally I build mine with 2.75" drawers with full extension drawer slides. This holds the Plano box steady and prevents the back side from falling out and spilling nails, bolts, and nuts on the floor. Make them similiar to the nuts and bolts display at Home Deport or Lowes that has a compartment map of size and type located on the lid.
This storage prevents me from buying packages of nuts and bolts for one or two required items because I am not wanting to sort through a pile of nuts and bolts dumped in a coffee can. The bottom line is what works best for you.
This is not ideal, nor the tidiest, but it actually works:
Use Baby Food jars as the smallest unit of storage. Alternatively there are similarly sized plastic jars used for sample collection by laboratories. I have access to large numbers of these which are used for water sampling so are clean from the word go.
Everything goes into the jars, even if it's one hinge and 4 screws for it. Label the jars - I use a Dymo labeller but there are others.
Instead of "Plano Boxes" I use Ice Cream tubs, 2 and 4 litre sizes (1/2 and 1 gal). Bigger stuff goes in these tubs, again labelled. They stack beautifully.
Next step could be putting the jars in the tubs but a better way, I think, will be to build a multi layer cupboard. By this I mean a 3" deep cupboard with shelves sized for the jars. A "door" which is a mirror of the cupboard and hinged to it. Another door hinged to this and possibly yet another door hinged to the third.
That's a lot of jars if the hinges can take the strain. Now all I need is the time to build the cupboard after the 3 recipe book stands, 3 guitar stands, 2 vanity units and Entertainment Centre...
I'd build trays that hold a convenient number of the little boxes, and then a cabinet/case that allows the trays to be pulled out like drawers.
For heavier, long, narrow items (drills, punches, etc.) I use Durham 2-drawer sliding units
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/5LE86?Pid=search
along with the trays, which have lids and spring clasps:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/4HY20?Pid=search
Ralph,Those are the ticket. There was an old Ace in Atlanta, General Hardware. Kind of a really old fashioned hardware store with some Ace stuff added. Think they were around since the "War of northern aggression" as they like to interpret it down there. They have been around long enough to really have been through all the storage systems. What wasn't in "100" size boxes were stored in those.They had about 15 banks of them. I needed some very small jewelers' screws and with no fuss we went right to the box, pulled one drawer and voila. With nuts no less. 60 year old hardware located in seconds. I'll take them any day over "look through" boxes, limited size jars etc. Someday when I get organized I'll go for those. In the meantime it's 1qt size plastic dog treat jars for the big stuff (strap hinges, lags etc.) and a misery of endless clear zip baggies with 1 size screw here, a different bunch of nuts there... all in a drawer.
Fortunately, I don't use hardware that much -- for the furniture. For the house, well...
Good units. Well worth the price.Boiler
Chris
Seems like you have started another 'Quest for the Holy Grail', the perfect storage.
If you go the small plano box route, I made a number of small cabinets that held a number of boxes (liftable) the idea being that similar items could be kept in each cabinet and carried to the bench as required, then stacked on a shelf when finished.
I also used the small specimen bottles (unused thank goodness) as storage and they were contained in a narrow (depth) cabinet. The cabinet was designed so that the bottles were stored in the doors as well as the body of the cabinet and when opened you had this great vista of everything in sight.
Good luck mate I don't know how many times I organized and re organized over the years.
wot
Wotnow,
I've actually searched manufacturers' websites for The Perfect Container. I was tempted a couple times to go ahead and order the minimum 1,000.
Every time I go by those open-front plastic ones in the hardware store, I think, sadly, "Surely that can't be the best it gets."
I like the specimen container idea. I think my ideal find would be something just bit larger.
Check out http://www.fastenal.com I have account with them and they help with setting up a storage system for you. They come by my shop every two week and refill what I have used. They will work with how you want to set things up. For me it's one less thing I have to deal with.
Taigert
Damn! we have forgotten the obvious, screw the lid from a coffee jar under the shelf and..............wotI started out with nothing...and I still have most of it left!
Wot,
I like the idea of a set of trays with about four dividers and a handle. The trays all sit in a drawer and are easily removed and taken over to the bench or a jobsite.
I know lots of people use them, but I've shied away from glass jars because they're so breakable (and I'm so clumsy).
Empty parmesan cheese containers work fairly well.
And of course, the old standby, pill bottles. I put a couple layers of masking tape across the tops of everything and write on it. It's easily removed.
--jonnieboy
--jonnieboy
This is sad isn't it. Whenever my wife comes home with new vitamin or health food containers my hands get this uncontrollable urge to remove the labels and see what will fit in them. I have cardboard cartons full of pill bottles, coffee jars etc all lovingly cleaned and de-labled. I regularly have to do a trip to the tip to get rid of the excess.I think that there is a gene associated with the woodworking one that I call the Pack Rat gene. There is this compulsion not to throw anything out and hence the need for all this storage. I inherited piles of cabinet hardware from my grandfather and father (I an the 4th generation of cabinetmaker/builder) both compulsive hoarders. There is probably a complete history of cabinet hardware amongst that lot.wotI started out with nothing...and I still have most of it left!
Wot,
I have the gene to some extent, but my brother, a non-woodworker, is nuts about little boxes to store things in. It started with cigar boxes when he was a kid, then on to ever more elaborate boxes with little locks and compartments and drawers.
He has nothing to put in them, well maybe a broken yo-yo back then. He just likes them.
We should ask Derek what he thinks our problem is. I mean, what your problem is, Wot. Ha ha!
You know what though, I'll be checking each of the links posted here to get just the right one.
-jonnieboy
I think your brother and I are kindred spirits,
I love making little boxes. I have a set I made, back in Oz, of eight boxes, one inside the other, the biggest being an inch by inch by inch, most with mitred corners and a lid. Now that is obsessive and compulsive. Someone asked me didn't I have something better to do with my time.wotI started out with nothing...and I still have most of it left!
Last summer, I picked up a four box set (Workforce?) at HD. The four boxes "snap" into a case with a fold down handle.
I use it for the odds and ends hardware I need for my cabinets, and find it very handy.
IIRC, there were several other sets there in various sizes.
Chris,
I rather like my screw container system. Labeled on the front and they mount on a wall board. I use this for square drive screws in a complete selection from 6 to 10 in lengths from 1/2" to 3". http://www.mcfeelys.com/product/BINS-6000/6-Mini-Bins-Set
I use totable storage for other parts as well. The stack on the shelf and have electrical in one (wire nuts etc), low voltage light bulbs, a portable screw and anchor selection in another. Stanley makes a sturdy one that does not 'leak' screws across the compartments. I have 6 of them in use.
Your small plastic boxes are OK, but I have found over the years that the plastic hinge parts and clasps break, when you least like that to happen. They discolor so you can't see inside them. So you need to lable them at least.
The coolest storeage! A turn of the century JCPenney spool cabinet in cherry. That is inside my house cause I like it so much.
Otherwise the rest of ends up in the junk drawer ;>)
Morgan
-----------_o
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-------(*)/ (*) http://www.EarthArtLandscape.com
Hi AzmoI went down this track with similar bins, thought I had found the Holy Grail. I had all manner of sizes and colors. I was ORGANIZED. Then a dead duck flew in.
Bins full of sawdust and shavings, they seemed to fall off the racks very easily, and it was too easy to throw things into the wrong box. Good idea but not for me,I like the sound of your spool drawers, any chance of a pic. I made up a set of Appocothery (spellcheck couldn't get that one either) drawers but a friend whose daughter just finished Pharmacy cadged it from me.wotI started out with nothing...and I still have most of it left!
***Apothacary***Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
No,no. "Apothecary."
Why not sort of by sizes/length of things.. Easier to find in the collection...
I am not a very good listener to night. For instance I didn't hear the part about Plano-type boxes . . .
: )
oops
Grin
But I know what I like and what works. Treat your self well and save frustration :
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=3298674&PMT4NO=76128684
I didn't find exactly what I was wanting to show you, go a bit taller drawers, but these are totally fast to use and saves a bunch of messing around.
PS: you may be able to find plant closing auctions where you can pick up these for cheep.
People don't believe me but once you use this type of thing you won't settle for anything else. Open a drawer and all the bits for that one type of application is spread out before your eyes. Quick pick or put back later and quick to check on what you need to order. Unless you like opening a bunch of card board boxes or snapping and un snapping plastic liddy things nah dude nah.
Drawers are TOTALY the way to go for small parts.
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 12/12/2009 10:11 pm by roc <!-- ROC2013 -->
Edited 12/12/2009 10:12 pm by roc
Okay, I'm getting lots of ideas, but little help. The reason I like Plano boxes is that they are portable and have lids, so it's no problem to take them out of their little nook to wherever need be. I am inclined to store them on edge on a shelf long enough to hold the boxes. A stop at each end and possibly some dividers throughout would keep them upright. Adding a top would give the dividers a little more ridigity. So basically, a really long shadow box.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
>take them out of their little nook to wherever need be<Are ye switching over to being a traveling carpenter ? Guess I am a mechanic first and a wood dude second. I'll keep quiet. I'll just sit over here. You won't know I'm here.Plastic boxes hmmmm, gotta open 'em snap pop, pry, click to see what is there, squint at lots of little labels that fall off, . . . lids and stuff hmmmmnah I can be quiet.I can . . .. . . could just yank open a big flat drawer with the equivalent of four planos all spread out with labels under clear plastic things, can't come loose, . . . not the thing you want ? Slam closed, drawers are on ball bearings ya know, and yank open another big old flat drawer with a veritable plethora of hardware all related to the application . . .sshhh I'm quiet as a mouse . . .rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 12/12/2009 10:37 pm by roc
Roc,No, I am not becoming a travelling carpenter, but I often need fasteners in different areas of the shop, and in the benchroom and the machine shop. I know that it's not an issue with your fancy chests of drawers, but with the cheapies I have currently, they sometimes fall out and spill their contents over the floor. But they are removable. I like the lids because they are much less likely to spill their contents.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Flair,
I'm telling you, whatever you hang, French cleats.
--jonnieboy
Roc,
I know you're there. I can feel your brain whirring like a fan.
Your cabinets. Do you actually have some of these MSC ones? They are so cool, but man, the price.
See, with a plane or a chisel, no way could I make those. But a drawer for stuff, or stuff to hold other stuff, no one could come up with a better idea than I could dream up, and they're buildable.
Except of course my stuff is in parmesan cheese containers with the little half-moon lid snapped off and then hinged back on with masking tape.
Roc? Roc? Where did you go?
--jonnieboy
>Do you actually have some of these MSC ones?<Well no . . . but every place I work has them. And Chris is a pro so he needs pro level stuff. Time is money and all that. If I spent most every day all day in a shop I would do what ever it takes to store small, numerous, must have items this way. I have used the other alternatives in the past and it is such a time waster.I have what we used in a shop before we upgraded to the steel cabinets I posted and these pre upgraded things are $heeet. But I just dink around I don't try to make money from my home shop. I still have a similar system though. Divided open trays on drawers. They just don't have bearings and are smaller drawers.The price of a coffee every day at Star Bucks would pay for it and then you have it year in and year out. MSC had some a few years ago for round 1,000 and four feet tall.Depending on the inventory put into it the cost of the parts can make the cabinet look cheep. It is possible to put thousands of dollars worth of small parts in a cabinet like this pretty fast if you fill it.A person will spend thousands on a cell phone contract but can't get a parts box. I would rather have a land line and the parts box. Ten years from now I would still have some thing to show for my money.Or did I just get too far off in lala land. It is hard to tell. Just had a nice steak and some nice wine and am feeling pretty happy with things so what ever you guys decide to do is juuuuust fiiiine with me.: )rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )Edited 12/13/2009 12:45 am by roc <!-- ROC2013 -->
Edited 12/13/2009 12:54 am by roc
Well OK you are a man who knows what he wants.
As far as organizing them I have found that if you put them so you cannot see the contents through the clear lid then for labels I would recommend line drawings of the items with relevant size info stuck on the end of box and taped over with clear package tape.
I find it much faster to locate items if there are drawings of each items for a label in-place of a word description. Once you find drawings that you like you can arrange them in your computer and then print out a sheet of labels on a sheet of mailing labels. then when you need more you have the original and can print more. If this is unclear I can post an example.
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Chris,
Based on what I have seen you are more than capable of creating - not just build a space for these boxes.
Many fine tool cabinets grace the walls of Knots members shops.
Now is the time for the ultimate storage solution storage solution.
Therein lies my challenge to you.
Don
I'm always up for a challenge, Don.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
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