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Shop organization

Ukraine Train

Cast Iron
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Location
Ohio
I'd like to get some ideas for organizing my shop. I just took over ownership of a small shop and the place is a bit of a mess. What style/brand cabinets do you use? I found a Huot drill dispenser locally on craigslist so I think I'll be picking that up and I've been looking at the Harbor Freight (don't laugh) tool chests to use for end mills, reamers, inserts, etc. but they'll need some trays to sort everything by size. Any other suggestions?

Here's the HF chest. I have a coupon to get it at $320: 8 Drawer Rolling Tool Cabinet w/ 8 Drawer Top Chest
 
I'm using the red plastic bins from Schaller Corp, you can buy off their website or ebay. They seem to be decent quality and you can get them in a variety of sizes.
 
I have a really hard time spending tons of money on cabinets. Yeah, A $3000 Lista is nice... But that big pile of change can buy another
manual mill, or a back up bandsaw, or about 60 1/2" endmills... Those will help me make money, a cabinet won't...

I did the cheap thing.... Those cheap crappy plastic organizers with about 50 little drawers in them... They work great for organizing drills up to
about 1/2", and they also work great for organizing inserts.. The drawer per dollar value can't be beat.

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Cheap drawers and a bench with some shelves... Picked up on the side of the road... It even has 'FREE' spray painted across it.
Inserts and taps are in those drawers, as are under 1/4" endmills... All sorted nicely and labeled.

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More cheap drawers to hold all the drills, and the tan looking ones came from the hardware store for cheap when they re modeled their
nut and bolt department....

$400 Huot tool cart? How about a $50 cart and a hole saw...

We also completely lucked out when we moved in here, this place already had tons of shelves and cubby holes.

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I'd love to have all kinds of fancy expensive cabinets, but I just can't justify it.

I also really want to get my hands on an old card catalog from a library, but they are expensive.
 
Bob is that an old pic or are you still running an old Allen Bradley controller? I've got almost the same one on my Lagun mill.

J. Clear
 
Bob is right. Industrial cabinets & carts & boxes are usually only justifiable at used prices. Once you get a few or several and it helps set a standard of organization in your shop, then a new one is easier to justify. But for most folks, a new one is just too expensive.

I've had to start even lower here with some used shelving (ya know, the cheap ones made out of 22 ga steel) and some cheap nesting bins from Global Industrial. Take those two and my $20 label maker (with $20/roll labels) and I can make it downright presentable.
 
Bob is that an old pic or are you still running an old Allen Bradley controller? I've got almost the same one on my Lagun mill.

J. Clear

Its an old pic, but she's still there... We turn her on once a year just to make sure she's still good.

So I wouldn't say we are actually running it, but it will run. Back in 2007 we were running that thing almost 24 hours a day.
 
For larger bulkier items lateral file cabinets are great storage and cheap used. As I mentioned in another thread I have nine 5 drawer lateral files that hold all kinds of things from drills to light bulbs. Ignore the home grade cabinets, the office quality ones are rated to hold quite a bit per drawer, the medical office style with flip up doors are great for smaller cabinets or parts bins.

Steve
 
Ignore the home grade cabinets, the office quality ones are rated to hold quite a bit per drawer.Steve

Yup, paper by the yard is real heavy. Ordinary file cabinets are good too but the drawers can be too deep for many items. In the UK most such cabinets have half depth sides so its relatively easy to make lift out trays to exploit the upper half of the space when storeing relatively shallow items in the main drawer. Presumably similar can be found in your neck of the woods. Two or three trays per drawer. Single tray is a pain to manoeuvre out, often too heavy for safety too. Still useable but too tatty for the office cabinets can often be got real cheap or even (like mine) on haul it out and its yours terms

For heavy items such as dividing heads, rotary tables, big chucks and so on slide out shelves on hefty full extension slides are excellent. Best if a "cuddle & lift / lower with your legs" height say 2 ft 6 to 4 ft range. Best deal for really heavy stuff is if a flat top shop trolley can slide under the slid out shelf so its a simple slide from one to the other.

Mean time between "Plenty of room" and "Dang nowhere to put stuff" is around 6 months!

Clive
 
I have looked at that particular tool chest. It is well made and solid, not so much for most of the grey and black ones though. HF is a strange place to buy shop equipment since they have everything from absolute junk to reasonably decent stuff. Always look at the stuff in the store before you buy online.

Bill
 
I have a really hard time spending tons of money on cabinets. Yeah, A $3000 Lista is nice... But that big pile of change can buy another
manual mill, or a back up bandsaw, or about 60 1/2" endmills... Those will help me make money, a cabinet won't...

I disagree.

I've probably got 200 1/2" endmills. They don't help me make any money, unless I can find the damn things.

I used to have the same attitude as you...but I've started buying Lista/Vidmar/etc any time I can. Having an organized space, both visually, spatially and emotionally is more conducive to profitable work than having stuff.

Each person is different, but I'm starting to take the attitude that I've worked for this stuff...and that's after many many years of "it's good enough"...I'm going to take care of the stuff, and the box it's stored in, and show pride in my surroundings.
 
Roller Cabinet - 44" Red Rolling Tool Cabinet w/ 13 Drawers

This thing is great because you can put a surface plate on it too. Something like 24x18" , and then another 24" box next to that.
cheap.jpg

Buy one per year until all your storage needs are met. I saw a guy buy 4 and remove the wheels an make a wall of these boxes with. Notice, the top and bottom drawers are double row bearings. The only downside is that it comes in this obnoxious red.
 
i'd be very careful of the HF tool chests. we had a rolling work station thing from them. wasn't much stiffer than the cardboard box it came in.

You're in Ohio, check at HGR (HGR Industrial Surplus - We Buy & Sell Everything!). They usually have an assortment of used racks, shelving, cabinets, etc.

v

I know you're not going to believe me but those HF pro series tools chests are pretty nice. Not like the other cheap flimsy stuff like their work centers etc. I'm still hoping to catch some Lista's at auction.
 
I know you're not going to believe me but those HF pro series tools chests are pretty nice. Not like the other cheap flimsy stuff like their work centers etc. I'm still hoping to catch some Lista's at auction.

I bought one last week and can verify they are a nice cabinet.
 
I love the little Huot dispenser boxes. They're only a hundred bucks or so, so you can get thirty for the price of that $3000 lista cabinet. They make one for nearly any conceivable purpose, pre-divided and pre-labelled.
 
For an end mill drawer, Enco has the Huot end mill cabinet #13350 on sale for $70 and there's a 20% off and free shipping today so it's $56. good deal.
 
I have tried many styles of storage systems in the past 20 years. I finally came up with what works for me best. Pegboard, Pegboard Hangers & Office Binder Clips. The problem I had with drawers and cubby holes are that they always seem to get overcrowded. The Pegboard solution was cost effective and very helpful for being able to see everything at once. I am slowly converting all tool storage (3/4" and under dia.) to this style.
 

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