Toolbox organization - what do you guys do?

[imcarthur]

Toolbox? This is how real people store their tools:




Ian

[Crachian]

I like the magnetic socket trays because they're easy to take to the spot where you're working.

Whatever method you choose, make sure you get it right the first time. If you move stuff around, you'll forever be opening and closing the wrong drawer.

[wholberg]

Originally posted by randywebb
I have too many tools.

I also don't have enough...

What Randy said!!!

[Dixie]

You could always get rid of the tool box and go with the minimal approach.

• BF hammer
• Gas torch

You can do anything with a BFH and a torch..


-

[wholberg]

What I cannot figure out would be what to do with such a little tool box...What I have is below.


Toolbox, not including four portable boxes filled with "lesser used" tools.



Sockets and ratchets.



Screwdrivers, pliers.



Air Tools.



Hammers.



Somehow, like Randywebb said, I still don't have enough; a statement my wife doesn't understand, although she is surprisingly tolerant.

[wholberg]

I forgot wrenches.

[Oh Haha]

No pitures but I have all of my Metric wrenches in one drawer, SAE's in another. I have my sockets separated in one drawer by Metric/SAE.
Screwdrivers and like tools all togther in one drawer. Electrical tools and devices in another. I have all of my Porsche specific tools togther in it's own drawer. Air tools together in the biggest pullout drawer. I usually go through my toolbox a couple of times a year and reorganize. Not because I don't keep it clean but I add a tool or come up with a new storage idea. It's not ER room clean but it is organized and I can tell you where a tool is located. Yup, I wipe my tools down after each use.

[rcecale]

What a great thread!!! Thanks to everyone for their input.

Wholberg, your peg-board setups are exactly what I was looking for. I've recently started setting this up in my garage because I am sooooo tired of digging around through boxes of tools to find what I need. I now have the peg-board up and just need to setup my layout. I'll be using yours for plenty of ideas.

JWW, the idea of the aluminum angle sections will go great in my roll-away.

Keep 'em coming guys, my garage is gonna look great!!!

Merry christmas!

Randy
(The Good Randy of the East)

[Driver Ed]

Y'all are much neater and more organized than I am. Still, my setup works for me.

The big orange thing is a magnetic socket holder, probably purchased from Sears. You'll note that a lot of the sockets are missing -- this is because I also have a smaller travel toolbox in which I've put a lot of those. Also, sitll others are just rolling around loose, but not many. Also, I have drawer liners (purchased from Home Depot, I think) which tends to lessen rolling or sliding around.

I also have labels on all of the drawers. I know what's in all of the drawers, of course, but this way I can ask my daughter (who is eight) to go get me a 10mm socket and she can actually find it quickly.

This photo is entitled "why I don't store anything in the top compartment". I had stuff in there originally, but everytime I'd go to get something out of it, I'd have to clean off all of the stuff on top, so eventually I just gave up.

[asphaltgambler]

First you must detail the new box. Go down to your local carpet store(s) and look for a slices / remnants of commercial grade carpet. This stuff lasts forever and looks very nice. Probably have a lot of colors to choose from.

Just measure the width/length of the box set and multiply by number of drawer storage. Then convert to square feet. They also should have spray or brush-on glue to keep the pieces in place. This makes for a very nice tool storage that is very cheap to do and requires just a little elbow grease.

I would store all sockets / extensions in the top bay. If you have room the ratchets as well. Clip style metal rails work very nice in holding the sockets and can be fastened to the surface with very short sheet metal screws.

I then store screw drivers in first drawer, all wrenches in second drawer, etc.

The idea is the most used tools are stowed at the top and work their way down.

[blucille]

First, my wife encourages me, she is a skip barber trained car nut, too...in fact she is mostly responsible for us having the 911. She is also into me having all the right tools and the organization in my workshop. The workshop is a 200+ year old post and beam barn. All the joinery is pegged together and quite impressive. We've added a 75,000 BTU gas heater, 100 amp electrical service, running water, tiled floor and more. (there's radiant tubing in the floor if we ever go that route)

first, a mobile snap-on cabinet to roll over to the lift when working on cars.

2 lista cabinets, all drawers have dividers and liners to keep stuff neat

the second cabinet holds all the detailing supplies

wurth shelving, thanks to ebay, filled with metric hardware

facom metal peg board for organizing wrenches, mostly

and a view of all of it.


note, this is a working garage, I do almost all my own work on the vintage cars, and the modern cars get oil changes, brake work and seasonal tire changes.

-Lewis

[Driver Ed]

Lewis -- a couple of questions on your garage set up. First, it looks gorgeous (I wish my kitchen were that clean!)

It looks like you have an unconnected stainless steel link on one wall. I am imagining you could wash parts in there and then drain the solvent into a bucket beneath. Is that the setup there?

Second, I see that you have both spotlights and flourescent lights. I'm guessing that they're spotlights, but my question is whether they're spotlights or floodlights.

Thanks for the inspiration in this interesting thread. It makes me want to go clean up my garage, except my wife claims that there's some holiday thing coming up soon and that I need to appear to be sociable when our guests arrive.

[Grady Clay]

Of course working on a 911 takes many
specialized precision tools. Since the first
356 there has been a series of P-tools.
Many were also used on the production
line. Here is a collection of the most
important P-tools.





Scroll down
















More



















P1 weighs 3.47 Kg.
The entire center section is lead.
This is the ultimate dead-blow tool.

Merry Christmas

Grady

[blucille]

I have track lights with spot-bulbs that allow me to focus lights on the tasks at hand. I just added 5 2-tube 8' fluorescents that really do a nice job of lighting everything....and then I have 2 500watt halogen swing-arms lights for under the lift, and a fluorescent reel-light.

the stainless sink is a work in progress....it WILL drain into a bucket, but will give me the option of cleaning parts or using water for cleaning up my hands before going for a drive.

I plan to spend a bunch of upcoming weekends out there, doing some serious detail work on all 3 vintage cars.

-Lewis

[dfink]

Just an interesting note. Used to be actual mechanic at one point in time and the dealer I worked for was robbed. Luckily this about was a month after I quit. Every single tool box in the place was stolen except for one. The one that was not stolen was a very nice and large Snap-on set, top and bottom unit. The owner had bolted the top unit to the bottom unit. We assume because the units couldn't be separated that it was just too damn heavy to lift. Every one else also had two piece sets but none were bolted togeather. As a new mechanic at the time mine would have been very easy to take. It didn't weigh much and still doesn't.
So just remember next time you are trying to decide if you need that new tool. The heavier the tool box the harder it is to steal.
Think of it not as a tool but an anti theft device..

[randywebb]

re: theft - pegboard is accessible but if you leave your Garage door open it lets pasersby see what you have for a future visit.

The best compromise might be to steal an idea from cabinet makers and make a big wall mounted wood box with 2 hinged doors. Instead of dozens of wooden mallets & saws, chisels, you'd put mechanics tools in there. Easy to modify them for that. Then just swing closed when not in use. The wood gives some thermal buffering also if condensation is an issue.

[randywebb]

[randywebb]

"wow, are you guys professional mechanics?"
- Some are, JW is, for example.

The cost of tools can often be borne by doing your own work. So you are "saving" money (ha ha ha) - that's what we all tell ourselves anyway. We should all acknowledge that we are partly just collecting jewelry (a phrase that can also come in handy when someone with too many X chromosomes starts asking questions about the proliferation of tools).


Here are some handy and cheap magnetic labels I found in some catalog somewhere. In keeping with the famous "Verburg Car Parts on Persian Carpets" series, these are featured on a fine tan vinyl refridgerator....

[edward993]

I orgainize according to:

1. most frequently used on upper drawers
2. type of tool

So I have sockets and drivers up top on one set of drawers; 3/8" drive then 1/2" lower. Then open-end/combo wrenches underneath that. Screw drivers in another chest and upper drawer, but more specialized ones underneath. Pliers, etc in one drawer; hammers and things that get banged in another. You get the idea. The same principle aplies to tools on the pegboard. I can find any tool that is in my head in an absolute instant. Whenever I work, the easier it is to find the tool (in my head), the more I can focus on the job ...or that's how my mind works anyway. This is a serious hobby ...remember that

Edward

[Joeaksa]

Mine is pretty much like Sergio's. I work with airplanes as well and we have to make sure that the tools are back in the box. Airplanes have been lost (with people onboard) when a tool jams the controls, so being sure is mandatory.

Magnetic holders can be nice but anyone who works around engines hates them. All it takes is one fastener to get magnetized and start collecting metal then it goes around the engine. I know of several aircraft engines that were overhauled long before their time from this. Cost was over $10k each time.

A professional has a descent tool box and tools organized. Sergio, Sonett, and John's boxes show how its done correctly. Randy's is a work of art and wish I had room and the tools to have something like that.

Joe A