- Status
Depending upon the quantity to be stored I have found the metal cabinets with plastic drawers available from the big box stores very handy, these drawers hold a surprising amount:
For larger quantities that remain in the factory packaging I have used plastic shoeboxes:
Most recently I completed a bank of 18 divided drawers under one of my benches to eliminate a lot of the shoe boxes and free up shelf space:
Good luck on finding a storage solution which works for you. :wsmile:
For larger quantities that remain in the factory packaging I have used plastic shoeboxes:
Most recently I completed a bank of 18 divided drawers under one of my benches to eliminate a lot of the shoe boxes and free up shelf space:
Good luck on finding a storage solution which works for you. :wsmile:
There's an evolution to it.
Starting out in a new "shop" area, there's a couple boxes/bins of misc. fastners. After some frustration, one sorts them to threaded (nuts/bolts) screws, and misc. specialty. In about two years of use, the first two categories get sorted again into maybe large and small, plus boxes for large and small nuts. After more years of frustrating hunts, the fasteners maybe get sorted as to thread size/ screw size. From there, maybe to head configuration within a size. It just grows and grows as one accumulates fasteners, misc. hardware, tooling, etc., etc. After each re-orginization and new storage containers, you'll get a couple of years of minimum search time.
Here's where I'm at now with a salvaged retail store gondola and Akro Mills storage boxes. The wooden drawer units I built 20 years ago thinking "that's all I'll ever need". At the time, that's all the hardware and stuff I had. Times change. The last photo show a bottom row of nuts, second row of washers, and third row of lock washers arranged as to thread size. The top row has bins of small threaded fasteners that will fit into one bin. Lately, I've had to sort out the nuts and washers for the 10-24 and 10-32 thread sizes.
Starting out in a new "shop" area, there's a couple boxes/bins of misc. fastners. After some frustration, one sorts them to threaded (nuts/bolts) screws, and misc. specialty. In about two years of use, the first two categories get sorted again into maybe large and small, plus boxes for large and small nuts. After more years of frustrating hunts, the fasteners maybe get sorted as to thread size/ screw size. From there, maybe to head configuration within a size. It just grows and grows as one accumulates fasteners, misc. hardware, tooling, etc., etc. After each re-orginization and new storage containers, you'll get a couple of years of minimum search time.
Here's where I'm at now with a salvaged retail store gondola and Akro Mills storage boxes. The wooden drawer units I built 20 years ago thinking "that's all I'll ever need". At the time, that's all the hardware and stuff I had. Times change. The last photo show a bottom row of nuts, second row of washers, and third row of lock washers arranged as to thread size. The top row has bins of small threaded fasteners that will fit into one bin. Lately, I've had to sort out the nuts and washers for the 10-24 and 10-32 thread sizes.
I would describe what you see in the first pic as, the-absence-of-good-order. It ain't pretty and it ain't real orderly, but it sure holds a lot of stuff. I've been at this for over 40 years now, so as you can imagine, I've collected a lot of hardware. Rather than buying a few screws or a few nuts, I usually buy a whole box, figuring I'll need the rest sooner or later. One of these days I'd like to really organize this area.
Below is a metal cabinet I picked up very cheap at an auction. It only had a few drawers, so I made the 30 drawers you see. The pulls are pieces of an old leather belt about 1" wide and screwed to the drawer front. Yup, I'm cheap! :wsmile: It mostly holds larger stuff, like hinges, pulls, latches, etc.
As Bob said, every few years I rearrange things, depending on the mood I'm in. :gar-La;
Bill
Below is a metal cabinet I picked up very cheap at an auction. It only had a few drawers, so I made the 30 drawers you see. The pulls are pieces of an old leather belt about 1" wide and screwed to the drawer front. Yup, I'm cheap! :wsmile: It mostly holds larger stuff, like hinges, pulls, latches, etc.
As Bob said, every few years I rearrange things, depending on the mood I'm in. :gar-La;
Bill
I have 6 of these storage cases:
They're $8 at Harbor Freight. What I like about them is that I can take the entire case from the rack to the assembly table, or I can take out one specific bin and bring that. I have a cheap label maker I got at Staples so I can easily identify the fastener in the bin. I also have a few plastic "cabinets" with those pullout plastic drawers like Glenn described. Those are more for miscellaneous stuff as opposed to specific screws & bolts.
They're $8 at Harbor Freight. What I like about them is that I can take the entire case from the rack to the assembly table, or I can take out one specific bin and bring that. I have a cheap label maker I got at Staples so I can easily identify the fastener in the bin. I also have a few plastic "cabinets" with those pullout plastic drawers like Glenn described. Those are more for miscellaneous stuff as opposed to specific screws & bolts.
8
8-Ball
This particular container system was my original one and I still have a few of them in use. I drink Master Blend but unfortunately they have switched to a plastic container which is less suitable for storage use because of the nooks and crannys. The plastic ones are handy for things like feed corn, grass seed, oil-sorb, rock salt etc. the handle makes it easy to spread stuff.:wsmile:
Don't forget the baby food jars with the lid screwed on the underside of a shelf.
Tony
Tony
Like Glenn said, coffee cans are great for storage, but they don't put coffee in cans any more. When I finally figured this out a few years ago, I actually bought a box of coffee cans at an auction. Here's an alternative way to use them around the shop: screw them to the wall. You can put things in them or hang things on them. I've got a number of them around the shop.
Bill
I use the storage containers like Bas does. I was tired of stacking and unstacking (to get to the bottom container), so I made a large case to fit them in. Each container slips into a dado (where the lip of the storage box slips right in)... Since it is in a shelving unit is not so easy to see, but you can make out the top of it. Since this picture, I have relocated the unit, and can take / post more pictures if anyone in interested...
Yes please! That's a great idea. Right now, I'm always stacking and unstacking the cases like some runaway Towers of Hanoi puzzle.
Very helpful pics.- Status
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