Organization secrets & ideas

[Brass_Machine]

Kevin... is that a crossbow in the 2nd picture?

Eric

[KustomKB]

Kevin... is that a crossbow in the 2nd picture?

I made that crossbow as my grade 10 metal work project. My Dad made the pattern and I cast and machined the parts.
I think I got an A for that one.  I don't think that would go over to well these days though.

[Stan]

Here is a tool holder rack that I made many years ago. It requires almost no machining and a minimum amount of welding. It is a lazy susan thing that just spins around to get the holder you need. It is mounted almost directly over the tailstock of my lathe so always there when you need a tool. The actual tool holder bracket is just a bit or angle angle squeezed in a vise until it fits the tool holder. Since this one was made out of scrap, it was made to hold ten tools but the diameter can be any size.

[wareagle]

Stan, that is a very interesting way of storing your QCTP holders.  The rack I am building is similar, but I will have them stored vertically in three rows on the front and back.  Each side will easily hold nine holders.  I will mount it in such a fashion that it will rotate between the sides, and I am thinking of having a "home" location using a detent ball.  Or maybe something like a ramp on a saloon door hinge.  Haven't decided, yet.

Marv, interesting point about remebering where things are!  That is a big deal, and can be a huge time waste in hunting for that elusive widgit.  I am considering a total revamp of my shop's organization, which likely will never happen.  But it is an exercise to see if I can change things up some to enable easier and more efficient fetching of items.


To all, there are some great ideas here.  Obviously not every idea will work for our differnt shop sizes and layouts, but variations on some might be the ticket! Let's keep 'em coming!!

[steamdave]

Here's how I store some of my material:


A couple of lengths of 4" soil pipe are cut in 3 ft, 2ft and 1 ft lengths and the whole lot is bound together with plastic solvent glue.  The result is stood on a piece of plywood.  The weight of stock prevents it from moving.  Metals of different colour (e.g. steel and bronze) are stored in the same tube.

 
These Linnbins were picked up on eBay and were originally used to help me move the workshop from England to Ireland.  I use them now for storing shorter lengths of metal and offcuts that I have managed to scrounge.  The sections of gutter seen on the right of the picture are also used to temporarily store short lengths of material.

One storage question:  How do folks store their toolmalkers clamps.  At the moment I keep them in a small box, but this is not very satisfactory and am looking for something which makes them easier to select.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

[tel]

One storage question:  How do folks store their toolmalkers clamps.  At the moment I keep them in a small box, but this is not very satisfactory and am looking for something which makes them easier to select.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

I have screwed a row of small cup hooks into an overhead rafter and just hang 'em there- right above the workbench.

[artrans]

hello man check out this guy he has his act together or has a lot of time on his hands flickr # p1010499 type that number in flickr.com his name is mtneer man we can all learn from this guy. must be seen

[KustomKB]

 I can't remember whom to give credit to, but I read here somewhere here that everytime you enter the shop you should put at least five things away.  I've been trying to follow this wise advice but I would have to go in and out for a month straight to get it to look like the flickr p1010499 shop. 

[baldrocker]

artrans
How the hell does that guy ever find anything
BR

[shred]

Somewhere I ran across a rule along the lines of "when you pick something up, you have to put it back where it belongs, not somewhere else".

When I follow it, it works well.

[tsvservice]

Good point shred -- spend a couple minutes putting things away and you save MANY minutes finding them when you need them.  Where I work, we sell commercial video equipment; I'm the repair tech, but I deal with one salesperson in particular who borrows tools and equipment and abandons them where he's done with them.  I waste a lot of time trying to find them when I need them, but he's the son-in-law of the boss...  But in MY shop at home, I can find most anything pretty quickly.  Another good tip is to LABEL every storage container.  Don't count on your memory if you're anything like me.  Although I am getting better.  I can't remember the last time I forgot something.

[itowbig]

Somewhere I ran across a rule along the lines of "when you pick something up, you have to put it back where it belongs, not somewhere else".

he he my dad used to kick my butt cause i dad not clean & put his tools back exactly where i got them & i mean KICK MY BUTT. sometimes it was with the dam wrench i had at the time. so i always put his tools back exactly where i got them and they where clean. you ever get hit with a dam 2inch wrench you know it hurts . 

[putputman]

I found that in model engine building I have many occasions to switch from a vise to an angle plate or a rotary table on the mill. It was always a problem of finding space on the workbench to put the vise when it was not needed, plus it is a heavy beast when it has the base attached. I finally built this hanger for it.



This allowed me to pick up the vise by just useing the mill table crank.





The hanger also serve as a storage devise.



I am almost ashamed to show this next picture as it shows how rough this old mill is. It is an old DoAll mill. I don't think DoAll has built a vertical mill for 40-50 years. The screws and nuts are a little sloppy but with the digital readout, the old gal does a good job.

This is how I mounted the hanger.



If anyone wants to build one, I can post the prints for it.

[Maryak]

Hi Guys,

After reading this thread I have come to the conclusion that I am a leading exponent of the;

NOW WHERE DID I PUT THAT  brigade.

In my efforts to be neat and tidy I seem to always manage to misplace things like spanners, rulers, allen keys etc. 

Here’s a typical example – Last week I repaired a triple enclosure system for an ISO tank and part of this repair required the use of a 13mm spanner and an allen key.

On completion of the job, I put everything away and went back to seeing what was next with Maryak 10.

The first thing I needed was, (you guessed it), a 13 mm spanner to release the lathe chuck. I went to its’ storage position and lo and behold, IT’S MISSING. After 15 mins of fruitless searching, I stopped  and started to retrace my steps. 

Thinks I, “No I couldn’t be that stupid, could I?” – WRONG – I was that stupid. The elusive spanner was neatly packed away with all the spares we carry for the ISO valves.  

If you multiply that by 50 years at 15 mins per working day, it comes to some 3000 hours. Just think how much more productive I would be if I’d left the spanner on the bench.

Best Regards
Bob

[Metal Mickey]

As some may know here I hate wood! So recently I decided I would make a better stock storage system and make it from.......wood! Here are a couple of photo's and the finished article sits next to the shower in my workshop en-suite(!)





At least I can find my stock now. The only other stock I have is in a large plastic box in the workshop for 'scrape' items or as I like to call it my"items awaiting resizing into smaller items" box