Thread: Tool Organization...where to start.

Wish I had a solution, not an easy problem.

My two cents: start with the tool tray. When you do a job, you have to collect the tools to do it and store them near the machine(s) temporarily, right? (Hopefully you are not leaving ball peens on top of headstocks and stuff like that). That is the whole purpose of the tool tray.

My belief is that a machinist with a really good, organized tool tray will have other things organized as well. One thing leads to the other. Once you start having a good organized rolling tool tray, that will lead naturally to the storage being organized as well. May sound a little mystical, but, hey its an idea.

Took me 5 years but I snagged two of the 6' Vidmar cabinents on craigslist for $1500. Very happy with the score. I have 12 machines and was able to condense all the drilling/tapping/center drills / etc tools into one and all the milling / insert tools into another. I have about 6 drawers empty in each one still.

I couldn't bring myself to pay new...

Being a visual type person, after many years of using drawer setups, I opted for a wall mount arrangement. Works well and is cost effective.

Originally Posted by machfab

Being a visual type person, after many years of using drawer setups, I opted for a wall mount arrangement. Works well and is cost effective.

That looks like a great idea...nice and neat, easy to see and seems organized.

I was doing something similar in my office for awhile..all the oddball, LH drills, specialty tools, OS taps, thread files, extra carbon brushes etc I placed in labeled bags then push pined to my office wall.
Worked great the first year till the wall grew...

The good thing about the pegboard/hook/binder clip setup is that every component is very cost effective. I am creating a database of every item on the wall and also adding more. I also have a tag with the item number hanging just in front of the last pack. I also have one pegboard hook in the office where my shop guys will hang the tag when the last pack of inserts or tooling is used. Kind if a safety stock. When the new inserts/tooling comes in, I just return both to the wall.

Originally Posted by dstryr

Took me 5 years but I snagged two of the 6' Vidmar cabinents on craigslist for $1500. Very happy with the score. I have 12 machines and was able to condense all the drilling/tapping/center drills / etc tools into one and all the milling / insert tools into another. I have about 6 drawers empty in each one still.

I couldn't bring myself to pay new...

@dstryr good job scoring those Vidmar cabinets!

Bump:

I've already got a cart at each machine, but I would like one on each side, like I had it where I used to work..

I found these.. Price is decent.. I've got a few of them coming, see how they work. The carts I already have are black,
so they should fit right in. Not too many drawers, just enough for the necessary stuff.. I might add another shelf, and I like
the wood top.

Husky 36 in. 3-Drawer Rolling Tool Cart with Wood Top, Black-HOUC3603B1QWK - The Home Depot

I was going to grab this also.
Husky 52 in. 10-Drawer Mobile Workbench with Solid Wood Top, Black-HOTC5210B1AD - The Home Depot

But then I saw this, 5" deeper, but its $200 more..
Husky 52 in. 11-Drawer Mobile Workbench with Solid Wood Top, 22 in. Extra Deep-HOTC5211B1QBD - The Home Depot

Just trying to get things organized and looking good.

Any thoughts?

My job at the shop I work for is to take care of this kind of problem. We used to have a sheet for employees to write down what they were taking, then you would go back and see if we needed to order more or not. That was until they hired me. First week on the job and an employee wrote down "drill" as what they took. I have taper, jobber, extend, aircraft, 118/135 point HSS, cobalt, carbide, running anywhere from #75 all the way up to 3". Needless to say that sign out sheet was the first thing to go. I'm in my mid 20's with a pretty strong background in IT work (not all people who work IT are assholes) and with that I set up a bar coding system. I had to get rid of all of our old rusted junk/things that would never be used again (we still had manual tools for an old Warner-Swasey manual mill) and figure out what we actually needed. I started buying totes from Akro-Mills that have held up very nicely. With those in place, I bar coded everything and set up minimums so I'd know when they needed re-ordered. I would have a report in my e-mail every day right when I started my morning. It got a little frustrating having to add all of our sharpened tools back into inventory, but overall it has taken us from a "pulling off of jobs due to lack of tooling" kind of shop to a shop that is able to run everything we currently produce at any time. It's become so automated that aside from sharpening stuff/fixing tools and putting away incoming shipments, this tool room could now run itself. I put work tables at each machine with enough room to check parts and bins to keep extra drill bits and inserts at each area. Some are locked to keep machine specific tooling where it needs to be. It took a while to get everyone on board, but even the guys that have been here longer than I've been alive have come around to how much better things are.

This was after about 6 months of organizing and getting everything where it needed to be.

HERE IS PERATO'S PRINCPLE on WIKIPEDIA THE 80/20 principle you use 20% of the tools 80% of the time. So keep
the 20% of them-tools NEAR you.

YOU NEED THIS FIRST. SO PLAN AROUND IT.

STAN-

Looks good to me.

Originally Posted by Bobw

Bump:

I've already got a cart at each machine, but I would like one on each side, like I had it where I used to work..

I found these.. Price is decent.. I've got a few of them coming, see how they work. The carts I already have are black,
so they should fit right in. Not too many drawers, just enough for the necessary stuff.. I might add another shelf, and I like
the wood top.

Husky 36 in. 3-Drawer Rolling Tool Cart with Wood Top, Black-HOUC3603B1QWK - The Home Depot

I was going to grab this also.
Husky 52 in. 10-Drawer Mobile Workbench with Solid Wood Top, Black-HOTC5210B1AD - The Home Depot

But then I saw this, 5" deeper, but its $200 more..
Husky 52 in. 11-Drawer Mobile Workbench with Solid Wood Top, 22 in. Extra Deep-HOTC5211B1QBD - The Home Depot

Just trying to get things organized and looking good.

Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by Koenig419

This was after about 6 months of organizing and getting everything where it needed to be.

Love the meme on the bench.

Originally Posted by Dr Evil

OF COURSE I USED A "TORQUE WRENCH"

The amount of seized screws I've had to drill out was the inspiration for that one. It's not a day that ends in "y" if there isn't something broken....

I started my garage organizing with the purchase of Storage Bins first. The number of my tools kept growing and growing and then I already bought a large Toolbox and made shelves for Storage Bins. A lot of ideas for organizing tools can be found in the blog.
Top 5 Best Storage Bins [2020 Review] - Toolboxwiki

Another pathetic piece of crap spammer.

Originally Posted by Dualkit

Another pathetic piece of crap spammer.

You warned me, and I still clicked on it...

For a while I thought I’d had it all figured out. I was thinking of having a Pez dispenser for tools that hung on the wall with adjustable slot widths, doors, adjustable back stops, the whole 9. Could it have worked? I guess. Even made a prototype I still use, but it’s more of a tool clutter area now...

Still pretty happy with my tool holder rack.

I see I am not the only person that makes things out of scrap wood and is only concerned about function and not appearance.

Lista cabinets are great. I've scored a couple via auctions and Craigslist. The sheer amount of density you can get in them compared to any mechanic style box is crazy. Thinner drawers that hold a bunch of weight and still glide smoothly are just nice. Vidmar are the same. For smaller stuff, some hand tools, etc, I've been using Wall Control stuff. It's basically metal pegboard, with the standoff already formed on a press brake. You basically just bolt them to the wall and it's very reasonable. I covered a relatively good sized area with hooks and bins and other stuff they have for a few hundred bucks. Plus it's modular, so you can always re-arrange at any time to suit whatever changes. Sorry for the small pic.

I only have a cpl systems that I have/like/would recommend:

The first one is the drawer system from Durham.

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/00064840

You need to rumage around to see what all is available.
Might be best to go to the catalog page so that you can see adjacent stuff easier?

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/00064840


I have several of these around the place. The drawers are available in several different count and shape of compartments.
I have as many as 32 count compartments for small things, and up to maybe 12 compartment that I squirrel away 16C collets in.
I have one that is "configurable" I guess, and in each compartment I have collets, bush, and barfeed collet for 12 sizes for the swiss.

The other thing is simply the 4 drawer Huot (?) drill cabinet(s).
Fraction/number/letter/big bulk drawer on bottom.
I now have two of them. One for new, and one for clean/used/one owner drills.
The newer units have the fancy slides now-days...

I have not ponied up for their reamer or endmill units yet.


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I am Ox and I approve this h'yah post!

Originally Posted by Ox

I only have a cpl systems that I have/like/would recommend:

The first one is the drawer system from Durham.

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/00064840

You need to rumage around to see what all is available.
Might be best to go to the catalog page so that you can see adjacent stuff easier?

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/00064840


I have several of these around the place. The drawers are available in several different count and shape of compartments.
I have as many as 32 count compartments for small things, and up to maybe 12 compartment that I squirrel away 16C collets in.
I have one that is "configurable" I guess, and in each compartment I have collets, bush, and barfeed collet for 12 sizes for the swiss.

The other thing is simply the 4 drawer Huot (?) drill cabinet(s).
Fraction/number/letter/big bulk drawer on bottom.
I now have two of them. One for new, and one for clean/used/one owner drills.
The newer units have the fancy slides now-days...

I have not ponied up for their reamer or endmill units yet.


---------------------

I am Ox and I approve this h'yah post!

Ha! I have the ANCIENT version of those. Guessing from the fasteners I took out of it, potentially before WWII. Used it for awhile and was going to use it for something else. Was sitting on the floor of my shop when my daughter spotted it. It is now cleaned up and full of Barbie clothes, neatly organized. Not sure if that type of retirement is heaven or hell for the old guy.