Time to Get Organized

[Dave]

Well, things have been going reasonably well lately, so I've decided to reward myself with something I've wanted for a long, long time. Many people might take a trip or buy some new electronic toy, but I've bought two of these instead.

the amount of screws, nuts, bolts and all the other extra little pieces of hardware I've collected over the years, I figure I might as well get it all organized.

I figure it will weigh in at least several hundred pounds when it's loaded, so I'm building a six caster dolly for it to ride around on.

When my time comes, I might not die with the most toys, but I'm sure as hell going to have them organized. :)

[Existential Angst]

> Considering the amount of screws, nuts, bolts and all the other extra

I have a bunch of those, but unless you tape a sample to the outside of each drawer, stuff is not readily retrievable.

I find the item below to be sofar the most practical/usable, even without immaculate or totally logical organization, bec you can quickly pull out a tray and LOOK at what's inside, thru translucent covers. These have been lifesavers for me.

what I have is a FOUR tray version of this by WorkForce (sku

323-742), carried by HD until recently, and replaced by the above, which is only 3 drawers.... figgers.

These are lifesavers, ito quite a collection of screws, nuts, washers, pins, etc, of staggering variety. Prototyping would be almost impossible without some system like this.

I have literally a dozens of these organizers, which don't seem to be available now.

Even without the storage box itself, plastic parts trays that you can view through from the top are quite helpful, altho stacking them can be sometimes problematic.

[Dave]

On Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:09:23 -0400, "Existential Angst" >>

My current parts collection system is not too different from that. Problem is they breed like rabbits and are all over the place. Now everything will be organized in one spot.

As to knowing what's in a particular drawer, a colour coded label such as "FH Screws #8" as an example will suffice. The drawers and dividers I bought are 17" deep. So one drawer with dividers every 1" should suffice for all lengths of that particular type of screw.

[SonomaProducts.com]

eward myself with something I've wanted for a long, long time. Many people = might take a trip or buy some new electronic toy, but I've bought two of th= ese instead.

Considering the amount of screws, nuts, bolt= s and all the other extra little pieces of hardware I've collected over the= years, I figure I might as well get it all organized. I figure it will wei= gh in at least several hundred pounds when it's loaded, so I'm building a s= ix caster dolly for it to ride around on. When my time comes, I might not d= ie with the most toys, but I'm sure as hell going to have them organized. := )

Well, I invested in a bunch of screws from McFeely's I got #6, #8 and #10 s= quare head oiled finish wood screws. Lengths ranging from 1/2" to 2 1/2". C= ame as a bundle with nice little trays and a rack mounting system. So I hav= e three rows of maybe 8 trays each. All with nice labels and the tray can b= e liffted of and taken to the bench. Really happy. Such a nice thing to hav= e. I have reloaded a few of the popular sizes over the last year.

My renter (I rent space in my shop), made some changes to the location of s= ome equipment and removed the rack from the wall, setting it on the floor i= n my personal area. I hadn't rehung it yet. A few days later he popped a ci= rcuit and had to walk through my area to get to the breaker, apparently tri= pping over the rack, spilling all screws in a big pile. Oh joy. Anyone want= to join a sorting party?

[Leon]

> Considering the amount of screws, nuts, bolts and all the other extra

Excellent choice~ I have owned the top 1X6 and the middle 3x6 units you refer to. I have had them since about 1981.

I will say that they will a lot of weight, I have 2~3 thousand screws in mine. You may want to rethink rolling them around, I simply carry the appropriate drawer to the job.

[Leon]

> I have literally a dozens of these organizers, which don't seem to be

I organize my steel drawers by diameter size, and then by length. Then pocket hole screws are sorted the same way. I use no labels at all, having had them for 30 years I can pretty much tell you in which of the

24 drawers to look for a particular screw.

[G. Ross]

reward myself with something I've wanted for a long, long time. Many people might take a trip or buy some new electronic toy, but I've bought two of these instead.

the amount of screws, nuts, bolts and all the other extra little pieces of hardware I've collected over the years, I figure I might as well get it all organized. I figure it will weigh in at least several hundred pounds when it's loaded, so I'm building a six caster dolly for it to ride around on. When my time comes, I might not die with the most toys, but I'm sure as hell going to have them organized. :)

square head oiled finish wood screws. Lengths ranging from 1/2" to 2 1/2". Came as a bundle with nice little trays and a rack mounting system. So I have three rows of maybe 8 trays each. All with nice labels and the tray can be liffted of and taken to the bench. Really happy. Such a nice thing to have. I have reloaded a few of the popular sizes over the last year.

equipment and removed the rack from the wall, setting it on the floor in my personal area. I hadn't rehung it yet. A few days later he popped a circuit and had to walk through my area to get to the breaker, apparently tripping over the rack, spilling all screws in a big pile. Oh joy. Anyone want to join a sorting party?

I have a similar setup with trays. I made a card to fit each label slot and HM glued a screw to each label for quick comparison of screw size in that tray.

[Dave]

On Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:26:28 -0500, Leon

I'm pretty sure I'll be finding a suitable spot for the shelf units and just leaving them there. The castor base is just a means to get them to a spot I can leave them and then on the off chance I ever have to move them again. Just by themselves, the shelves are close to 200 lbs. I'm figuring upwards of 400-500 lbs or more when filled with hardware. A significant amount of stuff in my apartment has wheels on it, which is pretty much a necessity for my circumstances.

Additionally, the castor base I'm building for it will have some drawers in it for accessories ~ labels, dividers, etcetera.

I did call the supplier to make sure the drawers were removable, but I likely won't be carrying the drawers anywhere very much. The units I purchased are 17" deep, so if they accumulate any amount of hardware, they will be pretty heavy by themselves.

[Dave]

On Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:29:19 -0500, Leon

I pretty much have to label. The 17" deep drawers can be divided by 1" increments so many of the drawers will have a variety of hardware. I was thinking that see through drawer fronts would have been nice to have, but then thinking about it, I figured they wouldn't be much use except to see what was in the first drawer section.

[Leon]

If yours are like mine, mine were parts pins, the dividers till also have label holders.