Order in the shop!

plastic organizers are not sturdy enough for nuts and bolts, so for more serious quantities, it is better to go for steel drawer cabinets, huots etc. But in a pinch, smaller plastic 3-drawer cabinets will work.

I have close to 100 half pound tobacco tins on the open side ( other side of the studs is sheathed with OSB) resting on horizontal 1 x 2" strapping - 3 per stud space. The plastic capped tins that salted nuts etc. come in would also work. When I had my shop in the cinder block garage at the previous house, I made a rack of 1 x 3" verticals with 1 x2" horizontal strapping mounted to the wall. I avoid glass jars at all costs due to danger of breakage. Pill bottles are handy for small items. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Put out a call for the old IBM punch card cabinets. Usually 20 drawers each, each drawer can be removed individually , rolller glides, heavy duty, and are easily subdivided.

They are about the size of regular filing cabinets, but the drawers are much shallower. Make GREAT tool and parts cabinets

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Sam's has a very nice Metro clone bin rack setup for $99. Just put the small packages of stuff in the bins. I've got one setup and will probably get another. Bin for wood screws, bin for bolts, bin for electrical parts, bin for tape, etc. Works well.

I'm a traditionalist. I use coffee cans - they have lids, and fit on shelves. But I'm also a radical cutting edge kinda guy - I put labels on them, with an ideal of a label that can be read from any side (typically

I use plastic containers with lids. Large plastic containers that is. If you have a Big Lots near you, they have some Stirling (I think) under bed containers with lid. They are about 15" x 30" x 8". I think they were about 8-bucks.

For some of the larger stuff like grinding wheels and buffs, I make dividers with strips of ply wood that interlock like cardboard separators in a case of wine.

I also use square food containers without lids and fill the under bed tray so they stay pretty much in place. The large under bed thing sits on a shelf and I only have to open a single lid to see what's inside. I label the under bed thing with "Wood/Metal screws", "SAE Bolts/ nuts" etc.

Often HF also has specials (less than 20c per) on those rear hang parts bins and I get a bunch of those and put them inside the under bed thing.

I also have two carriers for the rear hang parts bin. I got a 4' x 4' sheet of 3/4" particle board, mounted to a base with some casters and side supports then stapled the parts bin racks to the 4' x 4'. I have a curtain made from a table cloth from a swap meet (80c) that I drop over the lot to keep them dust free.

Dave

I picked up a bunch of those cheap HF grey bins that mount on the wall. Looked at them and decided that they would collect a bunch of dust and crud. So I hit the Wal~Mart and picked up some of the heavy clear vinyl they have. Mounted the bins and then made a narrow shelf over the top and attached the vinyl to the shelf. I cut the vinyl so it overlaps with

On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:28:09 -0800 (PST), with neither quill nor qualm, "Dave, I can't do that" quickly quoth:

I got some of those but haven't put them up yet. I'm trying to figure out a dust control system first. Maybe a stitched fabric cover with plastic insert will do it.

Has anyone tried their new $97 parts bin on wheels? It has been in their email ads for the past couple weeks. I'm no longer happy with the concept of open parts bins any more, as my woodworking is way too dusty. (Bins sold separately? Feh!)

This Just In: Pope Camping Trip

The Pope took a couple of days off to visit the mountains of Alaska for some sight-seeing. He was cruising along the campground in the Pope-mobile when there was a frantic commotion just at the edge of the woods.

A helpless Democrat, wearing sandals, shorts, a "Save the Whales" hat, and a "To Hell with Bush" T-shirt, was screaming while struggling frantically, thrashing around trying to free himself from the grasp of a 10 foot grizzly bear.

As the Pope watched horrified, a group of Republican loggers came racing up. One quickly fired a .44 magnum into the bear's chest. The other two reached up and pulled the bleeding, semiconscious Democrat from the bear's grasp. Then using long clubs, the three loggers finished off the bear and two of them threw it onto the bed of their truck while the third tenderly placed the injured Democrat in the back seat.

As they prepared to leave, the Pope summoned them to come over. "I give you my blessing for your brave actions!" he told them. "I heard there was a bitter hatred between Republican loggers and Democratic environmental activists but now I've seen with my own eyes that this is not true ."

As the Pope drove off, one of the loggers asked his buddies, "Who was that guy?"

"It was the Pope," another replied. "He's in direct contact with heaven and has access to all wisdom."

"Well," the logger said, "he may have access to all wisdom but he sure don't know anything about bear hunting! How Is the bait holding up?"

I keep a small stock of hardware in plastic drawers in the shop and the excess in food containers etc out back in the shed. They're sorted by thread size and material but not length or head type since it's easy to pick out matches to the one I'm holding. Stainless, brass, aluminum and plastic are all in the same drawer because they are so easy to tell apart. The only exception is separate drawers for short screws which otherwise fall to the bottom under the long ones.

This greatly reduces the number of bins needed; almost every size I need from #0 to 1/2" plus metric fits in two 13" Acro cabinets.

I made a stepped sorting gage with coarse threads from 1/4-20 to

Jim Wilkins

i use the ziploc resealable lunch containers usually taking a minute to label them at least by project using masking tape and a sharpie

for shelving i make a wall of milk crates and lash them together on their side with tiewraps and it allows me a lot of size flexibility to put large tooling or small parts in the same cubbyholes

Plastic Sterlite drawers stacked on top of each other with different containers (cutoff plastic bottles ect) holding various items in each drawer. Best system I've used to date for misc fastners ect. Also have smaller drawer system for reloading/flytying bench. Good product for the money. ED

I have them stacked 4 high and the bottom one has bowed out enough that the drawers fell out of the tracks. Someday it will have plywood reinforcements screwed to the sides.

"Steve W." wrote

I like it.

That's pretty close to the way I do it too.

Large ones for power washer, HVLP painting gear, etc.

Smaller ones for angle grinders, soldering equipment, sanders.

Two large ones full of fiberglass materials and tools.

Lots of small peanut butter jars for fasteners, etc

Four large heavy duty shelf units paired back to back against one wall with most stuff stahed there.

Works well.

Richard

Canning jar time ? Normally cheap by the dozen or more.

Lids can be screwed under something.

Mart> I am moving part of my "stuff" to a new room I built. I think I'll just

I use B-52 Film cans myself :-) They are more Man like. :-)

Mart> >

Nah - your stuffed. If you have a logical, ordered mind, you would have worked it out years ago. Just accept the chaos....the only thing I fond that works is the plastic crate things that retail for a few bucks each - I throw things of the same class in them, and then use stick on labels to get some vague idea where things are.

So saying this, I just got back from the hardware store where I had to buy some shade cloth fixing strips - I KNOW there is a box of them, somewhere....

Regards,

Andrew VK3BFA.

Jim Wilkins wrote: ...

'You have a picture? Bob