Hardware Chest

[bogan]

A place for everything, and everything in it's place; this is my shed tidy mantra. And now that I'm about to get rid of a bunch of work stuff I have some more space; so I figure I'd set up a hardware cabinet for all my fasteners/bearing/electronics/assorted lengths of wire. Thus freeing up more space elsewhere for more tools and or motorsickles...

Already got a top tip from a mate, which was to get a number (200 in my case) of tiny clip together boxes for SMD electronic components.
Got 20 sets of drawer runners/handles coming, @600mm size. If I go 1m wide that gives roughly 12m2 of surface space. Am thinking a stainless top with raised edge for assembly stuff, and stainless doubles as a sweet whiteboard to label things; steel frame with MDF drawers etc. Get some perspex interlocking divider things cut to partition each drawer, which will range from 30mm high to 100mm. Probs go two undivided drawers to chuck random fasteners/electricals in and sift through easy.

Not sure if I want it on wheels, or what sort of partition sizes are good; or any other tips/tricks the kb brain trust has picked up along the way?

[Akzle]

sounds like a lot of pcb shit. antistatic the fuck out of that homie.
i like a wood bench every now and then (great for welding on)
and then a jagged steel 20mm plate, which is good for delicate work you don't want scratched up.

if you have work area and storage separate, suite.
if you're going to combine them, keep the shit you want within reach, within reach. if you're mobiling the shit, plug your solder station, silly-o-scope, your 10v drill, dremel etc into a multibox stashed down the back somewhere and just plug the whole cabinet in. of course you have nifty drawers and hangers and shit for all the toys.

lighting. you want shitloads of it. and vices, lots of vices.

start with minimum shit, and over the next year or five, find out where you naturally chuck/drop shit, then put the storage there.


i need a 47kR half watt, got one handy?

[bogan]

yeh might be worth looking into antistatic drawers, though the SMD containers are anti-static themselves I think.

It's storage + clean assembly only, I already have welding table and tools cabinet plus vices plus general assembly bench.

Lighting I hadn't thought about, shed has a few lights, but might be worth seeing if I can get it more ambiet instead of so direction for clean assembly stuff. And maybe an LED strip under to top to shine down into just opened drawers...

chur for the tips.

[unstuck]

The more storage you have, the more shit you seem to collect. Does around here anyway.

[buggerit]

White is quite a good colour for a bench top as far as seeing fiddly components etc (seratone maybe),put loose on top of stainless and have more than 1
so you can store different incomplete projects and still retain the use of your bench.

[husaberg]

A mate of mines father used to always stored fasteners etc in jars he had the lids screwed to the roof/false lintle that way he could instantly see what was in them as they were near eye level and the kids (he had 8, couldn't get at them)

Once I seen a guy who had heaps of drawers made out of 25 liter dairy detergent containers with the sides cut out he had then set out like drawers hold crankcases etc and don't leak plus easy to clean.
I often use then for holding dissembled engine bits cut the side out with a chainsaw or jig saw easy as............. the cut off top is useful as well.

[george formby]

Discipline. If it's shit, just face it & bin it, or move it on.

I was recently given a container full of shelving, draws, dinky plastic slide outs etc all filled with 2 generations worth of tools (5 metal tool boxes, 8 40 ltr plastic bins), every fastener known to man kind (112 compartmental little tackle box things & counting), 4ft x 6ft x 1ft of shelving space filled with jars & plastic containers of gubbins, at least a mile of extension cable & chain etc. I've barely scratched the surface, amazing what you can get into a container. But TBH most of it is in the "that might come in handy one day" category.
What do you need 7 sets of metric spanners for IYKWIM?

Got to say that storage in which the contents is visible is a god send, like the jars with lids screwed onto something. Labeling is a nightmare. A real man can lay his hands on a #3 stainless self tapper, or some such, faster than he can he lay it on the missus's clitoris.

Part of my horde is galvanised steel fencing, 2" squares. I've cut some of it up & put it over the shed windows (security) and hang all those odd shaped things off it, clamps, tape measures & gauges etc and the stuff I use often. I can just grab it, use it, and hang it back up. Most effective storage to date in the shed.

It's awesome having so much stuff but I spend more time looking for what I need than it takes to do the job.

Oh, lumping stuff together works for me. Electrickery there, measure stuff in that, cutty things at the back, stainless in blue, bronze in red etc.

[ducatilover]

We just build benches when the other ones run out of room
Failing that, there are heaps of cars and floor space to chuck shit too




Oh. I like shelves, all sorts of shelves. No fuckery with drawers, peasy easy to clean. Can have sex on them.

[Gremlin]

Reminds me of the jokes about tools:

TOOL DEFINITIONS:

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted part which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, ''What the...''

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

SKILL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

WELDING GLOVES: Heavy duty leather gloves used to prolong the conduction of intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub you want the bearing grease out of.

TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper..

EIGHT-FOOT LONG YELLOW PINE 2X4: Used for levering an automobile upward off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters gained from using a 2X4 to try to lift an automobile off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle.

PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbor Chris to see if he has another hydraulic floor jack.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps neatly off in bolt holes thereby ending any possible future use.

BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside edge of the line instead of the outside.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 24-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A very large pry bar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids and for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while wearing them.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty suspension bolts last tightened 40 years ago by someone in Abingdon, Oxfordshire and rounds them off.

FUCK IT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling ''FUCK IT'' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.

[george formby]

That did it for me. I'm totally new to manly stuff despite the evidence of my dotage in the mirror. Ticked off a few of those.

Spent 30 minutes digging out me blocked culvert today, mud, rotten shit & general putridness. As I stood back to gain satisfaction of a job well done the fuckin wheel barrow filled with said shite rolled over on top of me & reinstated the status quo. Glad there were no kids walking past.

[Kornholio]

sounds like a lot of pcb shit. antistatic the fuck out of that homie.
i like a wood bench every now and then (great for welding on)
and then a jagged steel 20mm plate, which is good for delicate work you don't want scratched up.

if you have work area and storage separate, suite.
if you're going to combine them, keep the shit you want within reach, within reach. if you're mobiling the shit, plug your solder station, silly-o-scope, your 10v drill, dremel etc into a multibox stashed down the back somewhere and just plug the whole cabinet in. of course you have nifty drawers and hangers and shit for all the toys.

lighting. you want shitloads of it. and vices, lots of vices.

start with minimum shit, and over the next year or five, find out where you naturally chuck/drop shit, then put the storage there.


i need a 47kR half watt, got one handy?

Silly Maori... ice-cream containers under the bench ftw

[ellipsis]

The more storage you have, the more shit you seem to collect. Does around here anyway.

...my first real shed that was mine and mine alone was a tiny block garage that had been built for a Morris 8 or a Prefect or a very small horse...I had enough room to put an 8x4 ft table in it that had to be moved out onto the pavement if the work didn't fit within its bounds...a 2ft deep by10 or 12 ft work bench with dozens of varying size drawers against the wall with the window, held most of my stuff with a whole wall of silhouette storage with nails and hooks held the rest. My Triumph just fitted between the bench and the table. When I look back now I cant believe the amount of big stuff that got done in that tiny space...

...25 or so years down the track and my shed I built was 12.5x8.5 meters...with the same 8x4 ft table and at least 18 lineal meters of workbenches...by the time I had stored my timbers and tools and sundry shit and my bikes, it was too small so a couple of years later I added a 6x4 meter workshop to one end...guess what...I'm now adding an 8x4 meter extension to the other end and a 9x5.5 meter lean to to the side for storage 'cos it got too cramped... if there is some kind of moral to this I suppose it goes like this...a busy man who does lots of stuff will never have a big enough shed or space...I also am the most finicky and tidiest of people you could ever wish to not meet...

[Akzle]

i dont like led light.

[bogan]

Question for those woody gentlemen. I don't like doing the painting thing, are there boards like melteca with the good finish on the outside of MDF that would be suitable? If so, what sort of things would need to be done to seal the cut edges after I cut them to size; needs to be proof against general shed oils/water of course.

Updated plans is 17 drawers, 10.8m2 of drawer space, and 6.3m2 of acrylic drawer dividers.

[ellipsis]

...you can get an edging for that kind of thing...an iron or heat applied to the edging to seal ...in saying that, none of the edged stuff is really high impact on the edges and the melamine laminate that you can buy from 2.4 x1.2 down to 1.x.200 are not cheap for what it is...more money buys quality but it starts getting expensive then...