Shop Organization Ideas - Horizontal Surface Recovery

I'm not a neat freak organizer type, but I do struggle with two aspects of shop organization.

First, what to do with project specific hardware that I may never use again, but it's brand new and I paid good money for it. This is a real issue for me. Due to the unique way I was raised, I have a hard time throwing out anything I paid for, and most things I didn't pay for. For example, I have a few boxes on the bench full of random copper sealing washers, a bag of 48 1/2-20 jam nuts, some 1/8 steel cable, a gate latch, some self tapping screws, and other random crap that I needed to build something but do not normally stock.

So what is the preferred plan? Toss the extra stuff? Keep for some prescribed amount of time and then toss it? Make up a pile of labels and file it all in tubs to be forgotten the next time I need it? Pack it up and ship it to one of the hoarders on this site?


The next issue is what to do with projects that are started, but can't be finished immediately for whatever reason. Mostly this is repair work that I am waiting on parts or direction or outside services or personal motivation. The stuff is taken apart and needs to be kept together so I can minimize how much gets lost. It also needs to kind of be in the way so that I don't put it completely out of my mind. However, the workbench is only so big.


So, what do other shops do? I have so much stuff it's makes my head spin, and I'm just a little guy compared to most here.

ewlsey said:

So, what do other shops do?

Click to expand...

Wheels and 'skates'. More than any other single approach, mobility of anything and everything one can safely MAKE mobile.

Two manufacturing shops, spare room of my flat in HKG that had to become a Unix server R&D shop, and still-yet, here and now.

Double-door sheet steel cabinets, plywood platform, GOOD casters at four corners, all swiveling, two with locks.

Cabinet or rackup too slender, may tip over? Fasten two such back-to-back wth ignorant door hinges. Pull pins one side to form an 'ell', both sides to separate.

Same again with wire 'bread racks'. Uprated casters, add extra shelves, reinforce with plywood or stack drawer units onto them. Preferably metal. I DETEST plastics for bins and such.

El Cheapo "Husky" drawer units when no budget for Lista - or the goods stored just do not get accessed often enough to justify the spend. Slip a sheet of heavy ply under their thin sheet steel pan, use longer fasteners and/or uprate the casters, stack an extra 'bottom' unit atop instead of smaller drawer units.

Busy person hasn't time to go-fab this stuff. ANY of it. I even use El Cheapo bamboo cutlery drawer dividers from Big Lots kitchen junk area to store milling cutters and holders, loose measuring gear bought with no box.

A deeply-ribbed cookware 'fish' griddle will store tools at lathe or mill that roll all over the place on a flat tray.

Not just about getting stuff UP off the scarce horizontal surfaces, but also about keeping them mobile so space can be rapidly re-arranged for whatever special use is needed on a given day or week.

Also about storing in thin enough layers the cubic space is not all eaten-up by AIR, yet a browse through fewer storage units can quickly lay an unobscured eyeball onto that forgotten item one otherwise ends up buying two or three of, finding two years later..

Anyone drink instant coffee? Get used to Folgers.

Shrink-on label slices off, no gummy residue. Clear wasp-waisted containers won't slip through greasy hands. Wide flip-open lid needs no unscrewing.

All those odds and sods of fasteners, clamps, copper rings? "Folgerize" 'em. Clear sight, easily shelved, less risk of broken glass the old-timers had with recycled Mason jars.

Too many things put out-of-sight in a Lista drawer may as well have been 'blackholed', as they'll not see the light of day again until you've bought another one just like it - then gotten that funny feeling you've BTDTGGTS arredy.


JM2CW

I have come to terms that I have to toss stuff. I have three 60" wide vidmar drawers and a large pair of bolt bins (3' wide, 8' tall, 12" deep with 5x5 openings). The three vidmar drawers makes one for inch bolts, one divided for metric bolts/nuts, washers and inch nuts and the third drawer is for pipe fittings under 1/2". They are just catch alls for used stuff. I try real hard not to put greasy nasty stuff in there. it's not worth saving that shit. The bolt bins are for hardware I stock for my products with maybe a dozen bins filled with hardware that looks really useful, but I should probably throw out. When the catch all bins start not wanting to shut I toss the stuff that looks less useful.

If I can't get one of my hoarder friends to take something I toss it in the scrap hopper.

Currently, I have a 36' x 12' storage mezzanine in one of my buildings that is packed with shit above and below it. I just built another storage mezzanine above my office that is 14 x 16'. My goal by the end of this next summer is to tear down the 12' X 36' mezzanine (the whole building it's in is going to move across the property) and condense everything I feel I just can't get rid of into that smaller mezzanine.

For long term projects I like steel carts on casters. I have a bunch that are about 20X30". Roll it in a corner when I'm not working on it.

If I can't think of a specific job and time it will get used, it gets tossed.

I'll spend more time moving the stupid thing back and forth for the next 5 years, then trying to find it, than it costs to have it shipped to my door if I ever need it again.

When I was in pump manufacturing, once a year, I would go through everything: scrap iron steel bronze , bolts & other hardware etc.....new stock old stock , old customer parts etc And throw it out if I could and if I couldn't, it was shoved in a corner until the customer showed up....

I had lots of unused space in my horizontal stock racks (where I store up to 24' bars), so I got some sheet metal formed up and welded shelves in between the frame legs of the rack. That gave me about a 100 linear feet of shelf space, 24" deep by 5" high. I can comfortably slide a 4" high Akro bin in there, as well as assorted shorts of all kinds of stock remnants. That's my limit on my bolt collection, and on junk.

1. If it is not labelled, stored in some findable way, and put in a place where I'll come upon it while looking for it, it does not exist. That is the same as throwing it away. Note that "come upon" is quite important - so I strive more and more to keep all fasteners in bins with coarse labels (1/4" stuff, 5/8" stuff, washers, etc.) which are kind of gathered together. Thus, if I want some brass washers, the odds I'll know about where to look and will actually find them are pretty good.

2. Boxes (some from Uline), bins, etc. - all set up so I can get a pallet jack under them. And now all of the parts of whatever can be put in a box, moved about, and found when wanted. Some level of labelling so you'll find it when you look for it.

3. Scraps and cutoffs below a certain size, or with some kind of awkward shape, I throw away. The test here is "how much work will it be to fit this into a vise or chuck?"

4. Random collections of fasteners (the infamous jar of nuts an bolts) get thrown out.

5. Tools are more difficult, but I try to arrange that they're at least all piled (in their plastic boxes) on or near the main tool cabinet - more work is required.

ewlsey said:

. For example, I have a few boxes on the bench full of random copper sealing washers, a bag of 48 1/2-20 jam nuts, some 1/8 steel cable, a gate latch, some self tapping screws, and other random crap that I needed to build something but do not normally stock.

Click to expand...

That stuff goes in 12"X36" x 7'high shelf unit filled with those cheap corrugated fold together file bins 12" long x about 4" wide and 4' high. the front is half height so you can see into them and still write on the front or apply a label. Fittings, crush washers, cotter pins, heim joints, odd fuses, lug nuts, jacking screws, U bolts, etc get segregated into similar seeming items in bins near each other and labeled on the front. some have smaller cardboard divider bins within to separate cotter pins and such. There's a formica counter a few steps away so if you can't find what you want while standing there you can spill the bin out on the counter to search then scoop it all back in the bin and slide the bin back in the shelf unit. This works REALLY well. The corrugated bins aren't ideal, some are 30 years old and still in good shape some are covered in tape. I haven't found plastic file bins that fit in the rack properly, If I could start fresh I'd look for more durable bins and a rack to fit them.

To the left is my new bolt bin, one of those 5X5 metal open racks full of grade 5 - if something can be found there it doesn't get saved anywhere. To the right is a 36"X24" deep shelf 11' high, bins and organizers and such go there filled with wiring items, hydraulic jacks and portapowers, new metric fasteners, bolt cutters TIG supplies, higher up there are infrequently used manuals, plus whatever needs a large cube bin to store and is worth climbing a ladder to get to - no real order to it but it works.

The next issue is what to do with projects that are started, but can't be finished immediately for whatever reason. Mostly this is repair work that I am waiting on parts or direction or outside services or personal motivation. The stuff is taken apart and needs to be kept together so I can minimize how much gets lost. It also needs to kind of be in the way so that I don't put it completely out of my mind. However, the workbench is only so big.

Click to expand...

Same again with wire 'bread racks'. Uprated casters, add extra shelves, reinforce with plywood or stack drawer units onto them. Preferably metal. I DETEST plastics for bins and such.

Click to expand...

I acquired a HD version of that that someone built. About 36'X42' X 5' high, pretty sturdy, 4 shelves and a good handle on one end. It's like having 4 workbenches to pile stuff on, then you can park it right in your way or roll it over to the corner.

These things from Vince Basnik Co. are great also. I bought 2 at auction and liked them so much I bought 4 more new ones, I think I have at least 7 now. We use them for WIP at the machines, there's always one shelf at a perfect height for measuring tools and the rest are rolling storage. I see an air indexer on the bottom shelf of this one.

All those odds and sods of fasteners, clamps, copper rings? "Folgerize" 'em. Clear sight, easily shelved, less risk of broken glass the old-timers had with recycled Mason jars.

Click to expand...

I've accumulated little tupperware type containers from the grocery store, they stack together and don't take up much room when empty, and you can see what's in them and write on them with a marker. sometimes small ziplock bags inside them help segregate things like ballscrew balls or just put the Mcmaster bags right in them, You can throw them around without losing what is inside and they also serve well as trays in the partswasher.

I also bought a supply of fast food cafeteria trays on ebay, they are great. Keep all your tools and hardware for a small job together, pick it all up and move it all at once, and nothing rolls off the tray while on a machine or bench.

I have a place for each item in the OP. Literally put copper crush washers in with the rest of them tonight, about an hour ago. 1/4" jam nuts go in the 1/4" drawer of the IBM computer card file cabinet with the other standard hardware. Lined up in each drawer are little 4" Akro Mills bins of standard stuff. Low-quantity specials go in snack size baggies (half-height) along the edges. Another cabinet has the drawer for misc. rigging, like the steel cable, u-bolt clamps, and turnbuckles. Another for door hardware (only worth saving because I have a hundred-year-old house). The self-tapping screws go either in the IBM card file cabinet, or the Stanley or Husky portable divided case of popular hardware for selection on-site.

But the lesson clearly is: If you can't find it when you need it, it's not worth having. Each clean-up session is in service to that mantra. That goes along with 'if you're not going to use it, lose it.' Not always the actual state of things, but always the goal.

Surplus bakery racks are lightweight, already ruggedized, and are perfect for interrupted projects kept organized in sheet pans. They're 6' tall, and have spaces for pans every 4" or 6". Need more height? Take out the next pan.

Larger projects get fold-top totes, that are all uniform size for best storage. Labelled with Post-it notes in the 'extra sticky' variety, so they stay stuck. (They also make all-sticky ones.)

I'm not saying that nothing is in a cardboard box, or the bag from the store. But those usually contain the things that take the longest to find.

And yes -- wheels, wheels, wheels.

Chip

Locate a spare not too old computer and either use a spreadsheet or create a database with acces.

For the spreadsheet have many columns so each column means something that can be used with the filter tool to quickly find things.

We put something in "the perfect place" for it only to forget where it was months down the road when we need it but now we find it in seconds.

Make labels for every storage place so it is easy.

Columns like type, size, qty, material etc.

Then pick a spot and gut it out as a landing zone and determine what goes there then start looking for those items and put them there and log them into the computer as you go.

No need to count bolts but knowing you have 4 boxes is helpful.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk

Regarding hardware, this is where pickle jars, peanut butter jars, or whatever small containers come in handy. I then box them up and stick them on shelves. At home, that was pickle jars put in diaper boxes on steel shelves. At a (long ago) previous job, it was motor-oil boxes that were filled with this hardware, or smallish parts, and whatever else needed short-term stored.

If the "stuff" is too big for boxes, then it would go on a pallet. Labeling helps of course. But when it comes to organizing/house-keeping, it's kind of like gunpowder in a cannon. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it. However, it's possible to put too much time/effort in (in both cases), so just keep it reasonable.

About horizontal-surfaces, there's no way to really "rid" them of messes - they're magnets for clutter. The easy way to keep them clean, is to get rid of them... If tools keep piling up on the workbench, then what you need is a toolbox that's closer/more convenient, so that tools go there instead of on the benchtop. If there's anything else that can have an angled top-surface instead of horizontal, then it de-magnetizes that surface from attracting clutter. Works well.

Jashley73 said:

If there's anything else that can have an angled top-surface instead of horizontal, then it de-magnetizes that surface from attracting clutter. Works well.

Click to expand...

Now THERE is a chronic hassle!

Every damned flip-lid topmost drawer/tool storage unit under this roof has s**t parked atop it, cannot be opened without moving said s**t, does NOT get moved, does not GET opened unless in desperation.

Smart move is probably to knock the hinge-pins out, fab a riser for an elevated shelf, and leave those open and now two-levels.

Else empty 'em, recognize the habit of a lifetime, and put a plain self, same level.

Too greedy to go with a slant-top, here.

acro bins

the usual hardware organized by size, then as you come up with things, write with sharpie on the front of the drawer and dump them in

using broad categories rather than say, 1/2 crush washers, try crush washers, or even seals.

I have for instance:
copper plumbing
brass plumbing
air fittings
keys[woodruff etc]


I still struggle to get things off of horizontal surfaces, but when I am in the mood I have a place to put them

Monarchist said:

Now THERE is a chronic hassle!

Every damned flip-lid topmost drawer/tool storage unit under this roof has s**t parked atop it, cannot be opened without moving said s**t, does NOT get moved, does not GET opened unless in desperation.

Click to expand...

My woodworking tools live in one of these things. There's a reason it has a sloped lid...

gustafson said:

acro bins

Click to expand...

One array of 60 such still holds electronic parts salvaged from 1920's and 1930's radios onward to IC's for the Honeywell 6. Needs dumped and re-purposed, long-since, of course.

As useful, there are 'stackable' units with a lift and carry loop atop where the storage compartments don't pull-out so one can drop the silly things, nor carry them off and forget to put them back, but simply TILT forward when unlatched.

Golden for those collections of seldom-used regular, fender, split, star lockwashers, hemi-ball washers & nuts, square and nylock nuts, ball-end, brass-tipped, "differential" threaded cap screws, woodruff keys, yadda, yadda, as the whole unit can be toted to the task site, then put away in a dust and swarf protected cabinet between rare needs.

You know "for want of a nail.."? Seems it is always the WEIRD, and CHEAP little items that stall completion of a task, so those are hoarded when 'common' fasteners as can be had same-day need not be stocked anywhere near as religiously.

Not all hoarding is equally useless...

Monarchist said:

Wheels and 'skates'. More than any other single approach, mobility of anything and everything one can safely MAKE mobile.

Two manufacturing shops, spare room of my flat in HKG that had to become a Unix server R&D shop, and still-yet, here and now.

Double-door sheet steel cabinets, plywood platform, GOOD casters at four corners, all swiveling, two with locks.

Cabinet or rackup too slender, may tip over? Fasten two such back-to-back wth ignorant door hinges. Pull pins one side to form an 'ell', both sides to separate.

Same again with wire 'bread racks'. Uprated casters, add extra shelves, reinforce with plywood or stack drawer units onto them. Preferably metal. I DETEST plastics for bins and such.

El Cheapo "Husky" drawer units when no budget for Lista - or the goods stored just do not get accessed often enough to justify the spend. Slip a sheet of heavy ply under their thin sheet steel pan, use longer fasteners and/or uprate the casters, stack an extra 'bottom' unit atop instead of smaller drawer units.

Busy person hasn't time to go-fab this stuff. ANY of it. I even use El Cheapo bamboo cutlery drawer dividers from Big Lots kitchen junk area to store milling cutters and holders, loose measuring gear bought with no box.

A deeply-ribbed cookware 'fish' griddle will store tools at lathe or mill that roll all over the place on a flat tray.

Not just about getting stuff UP off the scarce horizontal surfaces, but also about keeping them mobile so space can be rapidly re-arranged for whatever special use is needed on a given day or week.

Also about storing in thin enough layers the cubic space is not all eaten-up by AIR, yet a browse through fewer storage units can quickly lay an unobscured eyeball onto that forgotten item one otherwise ends up buying two or three of, finding two years later..

Anyone drink instant coffee? Get used to Folgers.

Shrink-on label slices off, no gummy residue. Clear wasp-waisted containers won't slip through greasy hands. Wide flip-open lid needs no unscrewing.

All those odds and sods of fasteners, clamps, copper rings? "Folgerize" 'em. Clear sight, easily shelved, less risk of broken glass the old-timers had with recycled Mason jars.

Too many things put out-of-sight in a Lista drawer may as well have been 'blackholed', as they'll not see the light of day again until you've bought another one just like it - then gotten that funny feeling you've BTDTGGTS arredy.


JM2CW

Click to expand...

But? That's how you appease the shop gods who are hiding the other one! You buy a new one, and the old one miracalously appears! Done it that way for 40 years! I got two of EVERYTHING!

gorrilla said:

But? That's how you appease the shop gods who are hiding the other one! You buy a new one, and the old one miracalously appears! Done it that way for 40 years! I got two of EVERYTHING!

Click to expand...

TWO? Only TWO?

Mike-Foxtrots don't just HIDE!

Some of 'em seem to BREED in the dark and hatch the eggs!
Cheap and bulky PCV sanitary line fittings at the head of the list.

If I could but get the surplus "shark bite" copper fittings fired up with raging hormones to pull the same trick, I could sell their offspring and buy a nice flat in Lugano off the profits.

Lybarger's Corollary applies. It is always the cheap-shit nuisance goods that multiply and expand to consume all available space, never the valuables.

Wes wuddna STARTED this thread if his shop was buried in stray gold and platinum scrap.

The dividers in Akro bins are quite annoying in that they come out so easily, that it messes up your nut and bolt collection. Hot glue the dividers in and be happy.

Monarchist wrote: "One array of 60 such still holds electronic parts salvaged from 1920's and 1930's radios onward to IC's for the Honeywell 6. Needs dumped and re-purposed, long-since, of course."

To the right guy, the radio parts would be a worthwhile acquisition, as they're not makin' them any more. A good way to give them away, and actually get a taker, is to offer them pre-organized, for free-ish. What you want in exchange is a replacement organizer that fits your current needs. That way, you avoid dumping all the parts in one box in a disorganized manner, forcing the new recipient to start over on the sorting chore. audiokarma.org and videokarma.org may have eager recipients...

For labels, I've gone to the business card magnets, with whiteboard material stuck on them. Easy to change label and location. For the IBM card cabinets, they are easily labeled with IBM cards, of all things. Happen to have a few hundred that came with a cabinet.

Chip

Monarchist said:

Lybarger's Corollary applies. It is always the cheap-shit nuisance goods that multiply and expand to consume all available space, never the valuables.

Click to expand...

The same with employees too I have noticed.