As I'm sure a lot of you do, I spend 30% of my garage time looking for tools...
I need to come up with something to keep things better organised.
I've invested in lots of storage tubs for nuts n bolts etc
I have big selves but stuff ends up piled up....
My thoughts are some mdf board between the shelves screwed to the walls with places to hang tools like the pic below
Any other ideas.
I generally tidy up once a month but lose so much so this may help.
Thanks guys
Ah the best intentions, yes I've been there too
Keeping the tools tidy, easier said than done tbh, I try but really only tidy up when I can't find anything anymore I think it's working on
till I'm too exhausted and just want to go to bed.
That board looks quite good so long as its strong enough
Ye I know its hard to keep it tidy but if everything has its own place then I can hopefully put stuff back.....
I said hopefully...
Whats wrong with a decent toolbox with a load of drawers so you can put each type of tool in its own draw
A tool rack like that on the wall, with a sharpie outline around the tool will always remind you that tools are missing (Like a dead body outline) because you are much more likely to see it with it being on the wall. A tool box will hide what tools are missing and very easy to not notice
I'm just as bad. I'm convinced its because u need a bigger garage though 
quote:
Originally posted by Davey D
Whats wrong with a decent toolbox with a load of drawers so you can put each type of tool in its own draw
It's amazing just how many of the wrong screw driver type you can find when it's not what you need
Shadow boards are great if you only work where the board is. I use a top box and roll cabinet so I can drag it out of the garage into my yard. I have a smaller box which I decant tools into if I'm going off on a trackday or on a job but then I have to make time to put stuff back where it came from!
When I was a kid for his tool board my dad just got a full sheet of plywood and several lengths of dowel, then just drilled holes in the ply where he wanted a peg and hammered in a bit of the dowel, worked just fine plus cheap
If your garage is absolutely dry then MDF will be fine, otherwise it can be a nightmare.
Personally I find it easier to keep everything in drawers and use a large stainless roasting tin where I put any used tool I've finished
with (rather than on the floor next to the job, balanced on a bit of chassis). Come the end of the day/week/job/tin overflowing/full moon I put all
the tools away again.
[Edited on 30/6/13 by iank]
ok a shadow board it is :O)
Im not convinced the mrs will let me have a bigger garage.
Mine is already doubled in size in the past two years. What is weird is I dont have twice as much room. If anything I have less room now..... Weird
mmmmmmmm
4.8m x 8.4m Plus space in rafters for loads of stuff I will never usebut dont have the heart to through away :O)
David
sorry about mess Im just about to clean it out......
[Edited on 30/6/13 by jossey]
I have observed over the years I have acquired 3 copies of my most used tools. I keep them between tiding operations in the same place. As I loose one then I move on to the other and so on.... until I have lost all three then I tidy the workshop till I find at least one. This improves the probability of finding one by 60%. As I get older however I may need more copies!
quote:
Originally posted by theprisioner
I have observed over the years I have acquired 3 copies of my most used tools. I keep them between tiding operations in the same place. As I loose one then I move on to the other and so on.... until I have lost all three then I tidy the workshop till I find at least one. This improves the probability of finding one by 60%. As I get older however I may need more copies!
Most often I lose tools/bolts/etc IN the car when I drop them. My last car might well still have a spanner somewhere in the engine bay...
I lost a set of holes saws one day, after searching tidying..... searching the workshop 3 times, no hole saws, oh well I have at least another two
sets. Then a year later they turned up in my van I had searched the van but obviously not well enough.
I now have the same problem with my Alan key set.......
The only way really is to be properly anal about putting them away after EVERY use, meaning not even putting down the saw to drill a hole and use the saw again but putting it back in its place then getting it back 2 mins later. I have to do that with my wallet and keys (they go in one place every time as soon as I get in) or they're gone.
Just make yourself spend 30minutes at the end of each garage session tidying up. After a month or so it becomes routine and the i find that its easier
to find motivation when working in a tidy workshop / garage.
Nobody works their best in a sh1t hole....
It's demons...
(I got this published ages ago in Model Engineer - my 5 minutes of fame! )
Workshop demons
No, No, No, it is a tool fairy. The little b...h get's me every time. I turn around tool gone, turn around again and I a tripping over it. I am absolutely convinced it is a tool fairy! Especially if I am in a hurray she hides them all the time. If I have someone in the workshop helping me there are two of the little buggers!
Whatever you do, do not go to
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/
You have been warned!
Cheers
Fred W B
[Edited on 30/6/13 by Fred W B]
We use shadow boards at work to organise kids to organise the tools! Great for steel rulers, spanners etc but unless you have unlimited wall space
and enjoy walking up and down in the (normal scenario) well filled garage I would forget the wall boards- a couple of screw driver racks and a
duplicate set of ratchet spanners near the garage doors, mebbe a wire brush and a hammer or two, and everything else into a couple of tool boxes/
cabinets, some big plastic boxes in sliders under a bench will store drills and air tools etc
The pictures from days of yore of shadow boards with 6 types of panel saws or sets of black smiths tongs were perfect but take no account of the
number of power tools used now and all their associated bits and pieces. We have quite a lot of gear at work and there are several rollcabs and some
large tray units all well labelled and the old adage of a place fo eveything and everything in its place can only work if you have enough seperate
places!!
hth
Mike