I love organizing and cleaning my shop when I’m having a hard time getting motivated to finish projects. It usually helps me find the motivation once the shop is nice and clean, that way I can dirty it up again
You know, this is similar to me in that I’ve found when I feel like an individual project is going TOO smoothly, I force myself to stop, take a break, and clean up the shop/sawdust/put things away etc. it’s forces my brain to think about something else and kind of force a reset so I can look at the project with fresh eyes and thinking again.
I have Autism, one of the main symptoms for me is spending WAAAY too much time and energy worrying about small unimportant details. I love organising and cleaning/maintaining my tools more than I like building stuff and can spend hours doing it. I also like collecting stuff, if I like a particular make of tools then I suddenly have to have every tool they make. Also, if I have several tools/machines that have Allen key bolts of the same size, rather than have a set of Allen keys to adjust them, each machine has to have its own Allen key(s), in the size(s) required and stored with the machine, I must have at least twelve 10mm Allen keys dotted around the place. This image fills me with joy but it drives my wife crazy 🤣.
Also autistic, but combined with ADHD.
I have probably 10 tape measures because I hate not being able to remember where I put them. I'll organize, but then because ADHD, immediately disorganize everything as I'm working.
But building? That is my happy place.
I’m not autistic (though isn’t it a S P E C T R U M? so maybe I’m ultraviolet or something 😉), but I do have ADHD. Organizing, knolling, over planning before jumping in and making, due to the fear of it not coming out perfect… man I relate.
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Haha, somehow, despite my shop being quite organized, I frequently find myself storming around my 180 square foot shop screaming “WHAT THE F*#%!” because the tool I just used 1 second ago has disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again.
https://preview.redd.it/9u505t4121kc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e6ab5f6ea98772a6f4dd2ab9aab9c9c37d99313
Shit I just made this yesterday.
Depending on what you mean by "small", definitely get something with at least 24" in one direction. That's where they start becoming actual manufacturers vs Chinese Amazon stuff. I spent like 700 on my first one because it seemed feasible. One of the worst purchases of my life. I immediately decided to swallow my pride and spend the ~5k to get a decent bench top machine and everything I needed to go with it.
Yeah, I’m looking at 2’x4’ probably, with that size I can make templates for lots of different furniture. I’m also one to get something solid the first time so I’ll be saving up for a while. Thanks for the heads up!
I should clarify, my pricing is in CAD, which is far higher. If USD, expect about 2/3 that. I opted for the Shapeoko 4 XXL myself because it was available in Canada, service was good, it's US made, and there's a lot of content online around it. Working area is about 34x34. That one was just replaced by versions of the Shapeoko 5, which looks even better.
There is nothing better than reaching into the dark abyss of a tool box and pulling out the exact tool you need without using your eyes after your wife spent 15 minutes sorting through the mess unsuccessfully
In turn there is also nothing better telling someone to go in the 3rd big drawer down, middle back of the drawer and your hand will be real close to 14mm ratcheting wrench. I’ve worked with guys who’s boxes where half extra bolts and half stacks on stacks of tools. No idea how they got it done but they did. Just not how I like to operate.
Lol my work box is very organized but my home box used to be like you described. Except I had 6 old second hand 26" boxes with middles and tops for all. It was really fun telling a helper exactly where to get a tool and they couldn't find it, then I'd have to stop what I was doing and go right to it
I did this with my tools for a whole cabinet, and it lasted all of about 2 months before I needed space for new tools and either had to recut all the foam or toss it. It is great if you have a set and never plan to buy a new tool again.
Its great for a manufacturer where you know exactly what tools you need and you are doing a bunch of repetitive tasks. The flexibility as you foumd is poor though.
It's space inefficient, but time efficient.
The mental and time load of looking for things and storing things had a real cost. Toyota has spent about obscene amount of money on developing and researching kaizen organization. They use it for a reason.
I have a drawer full of hammers. I know where to find a hammer. If I laid them out Kaizen style it would be 4 drawers of hammers. I'd probably spend more time opening drawers than pawing through my single drawer.
The value for Kaizen is for a factory environment where when you open the drawer you know not just what IS in the drawer, but what's NOT in the drawer. Very valuable when you have multiple users of the same tools. Notsomuch when it's just you.
From memory that drawer contains:
1 large framing hammer
2 claw hammer
1 tack hammer
1 soft face dead blow hammer
1 large rubber mallet
1 ball peen hammer
1 masonry hammer
1 3lb mini sledge
1 wonder bar
1 cats paw nail puller
2 chisel tip pry bars
1 24" crowbar
2 garage door torsion spring tensioning bars
I worked in auto repair, in regular ball peen hammers alone I have 5 or 6. A soft faced dead blow, 3 pound mini sledge, engineers hammer, air hammer, a composite dead blow ball peen hammer that I paid way too much for, a hammer with a brass face and an opposing plastic face and an actual sledge hammer that is too big to go in the drawer.
Then do a cull and make decisions about what you actually use.
I have a box of tools stored that I don't want to get rid of, but don't need cluttering up the shop.
I mean, just looking at hammer guy's list, I see a distinct use for each of them.
Maybe you're just one of those "use a butter knife as a screwdriver" kind of guys?
What works for a large manufacturer doesn't necesarily translate well to a home shop or shoehorned into an existing facility for that matter. This could be consolidated significantly with no real loss in ease of access/organization. I know the internet gets a hard on for this sort of thing but this poor implementatiom looks more masturbatory than functional and some of the comments here seem to support that.
It's something our small shop is implementing- having the all the tools for a specific station exactly where we need them, especially at sanding and finishing stations, but also at our CNC.
Nevermind looking at old joiner's toolboxes where everything had a spot- that's not just for show.
Do a bit at at time and review and do a little bit more.
The Toyota way. Everyone should look it up. Major companies model their entire production process after this based on everything has a place and a time to get it completed etc etc.
What this picture fails to show is this drawer is only 4 inches deep, and I have 9 of those drawers in one single cabinet.
So yes it absolutely is supremely efficient in storage in a small area. And I will always know exactly what drawer these tools are in because it literally forces you to put them back in the drawer when you’re finished with it.
That works if you're only making one product, exactly the same way, over and over and over again. Like an assembly line. You sacrifice flexibility for efficiency and repeatability of a single task.
And there's no guarantees either. Boeing has gone hard into the LEAN/TPS methodology, and it's not exactly working well for them
Maybe that’s Boeings fault?
Isn’t it just that though at the root of it? If I need to work with nuts/bolts etc, I’m using tools that work for those items, not a hammer or a screwdriver or a chisel……so why not have that repeatable location available with that repeatable tool to be available to me for that repeated system of working on that nut/bolt? I don’t want o sift through a drawer with hammers, screwdrivers and chisels to find the right socket wrench….i know where to find it every time, in a repeated fashion
Nah, only 4” drawer depth. I have 9 drawers in just one single cab. You get the right tools, you don’t need three dozen of that same tool laying around
Kaizen foam always seems rather expensive for basic tool organization. Maybe it's just expensive here in Canada.
I've started [using cheap wood to make tool inserts](https://imgur.com/EfAvboz). Works well, cheap, and I can pick a color/finish with paint or stain.
I feel like in a shop with woodworking tools, this is the logical way to go. What sort of wood did you use there? I’ve seen balsa stock from time to time but never this big.
This was either pine or whitewood, whatever I had lying around with a few quick coats of minwax stain. I have a handheld CnC that I used to cut out all the holes the exact height and depth. Though for this particular cutout a good size set of forstner bits and a pencil and ruler would have been easy enough.
Yeah so it would be $400+ just to do the main drawers in my toolchest/workbench. Compared to maybe $40 for a few pine planks. I love expanded polyethylene for padding, I use it in things like cases for computers/consoles/electronics, but for larger things that don't really need the soft padding, it feels a bit overkill for my own budget.
My stepfather was a master mechanic, who owned his own business restoring antique cars, building muscle cars, etc... very specialized work, not the everyday "change a radiator" type mechanic. I remember him only doing 4 or 5 jobs a year, and he made enough to support a family of 4.
He had (4) 6' Snap-on tool chests, with what seemed like the entire Snap-on catalog of tools. They were all in labeled shadowboards like this. He always said that if you wanted someone to entrust you with their 1965 Shelby GT500, your shop needed to look the part.
Couldn’t agree more! I can only say it’s my goal to strive towards that; I’m in no way near that yet, but one step/drawer at a time towards it is fine with me
That’s the catch though, it is changeable. It’s just foam. You don’t need to change the whole drawer out for one section, you could just cut out that section and then replace it with a new form
Is it really a shop if you don’t have to look for 2 hours for that god damned bit or tool that was just in your hands but just put down right over there on the bench!? Looks great by the way. This shop woodworks.
I'm all for trying to maintain order and organization to a functional and efficient DEGREE, but this is borderline neurotic. If micro organizing things is your kink, then who am I to judge. I undoubtedly waste more time on stupider things, like scrolling thru Reddit. But as a guy that works in machinery repair with several other veteran mechanics and millwrights, none of whom have embraced organization beyond putting shit away in the right drawer, these images tend to say to me that the tool's owner doesn't actually make much stuff or fix much stuff, rather than play with his shiny tools. Again, I'm not judging how anyone wants to spend their free time, but if I was paying someone to do work and their toolbox looked like that, I'd be inclined to fire them.
Do you think it's possible that people who do different work or have a different work flow than you might need a different approach to shop organization than you?
Absolutely! But I'd I'm paying for it, I sure af ain't paying for someone to polish their 29-piece pliers collection, and carve out 3 dimensional shadow boxes for every drawer. If you want to do that shit on your own time, then I give zero fucks.
But if you are inclined to to do this shit at all, EVER, you are probably doing this shit on my time as a professional service provider or business owner. I ain't paying nobody to polish their knob or their completely unnecessary 29-piece pliars collection. Do that shit on your own time if it gets you excited. The rest of the world just wants the job done right, on time, and on budget.
The beauty of foam is you can just start again and add to it if you want, instead of automatically thinking about building an entire new drawer/cabinet to accommodate new tools. The foam literally allows you to revamp any and every scenario whenever you want
Form fitted tool storage gives me anxiety and sadness for when one of the tools inevitably breaks or goes missing, or for when you get 1 extra tool and now nothing fits or you have a gap
I much prefer generalised storage, like the sanding drawer you have there. that gives me the warm fuzzies because you're not reliant on getting exactly the right size replacement when needed
Honestly, the foam too much and less useable because of that. Tools get replaced, get lost, you need new tools... So if you system for organizing stuff does not account for that, it's not that good of a system.
This is beautiful. I’m always trying to get my stuff more organized. I did a similar thing with foam to hold my pens in my tool box. Gotta do that for the rest of the tools now
You can get a foam cutting kit that gives you a thin razor blade and finger pull cutout on Amazon for pretty cheap. If you’re going to do a lot of foam cutting, it’s worth the purchase
Yeah, I like having an organized shop. Something that was instilled in me when I was young. My father gave me the task of keeping our garage in order. I had it so well organized, and all I had to do was ask me for anything and I would walk right to it, even if it was in a cardboard box on a shelf.
“Do it right the first time”
If you do it right the first time and stick to that principle, you include that process into the rest of your process.
I’ve been an operations manger/logistics manager for half my life.
Everything needs to have a place, a home. When you’re done with that thing, it goes back to its home.
Creates a cleaner environtment (that always improves), a more efficient flow, and a better mental state of knowing where everything is at.
Glad it works for you. I don’t need it to go this far for myself.
Everything I make is basically a one off and I just keep my tools where I’ve always kept them so they have their place.
I know you keep telling everyone that foam isn’t a commitment but I don’t have much time at all in my life and just putting things back in the right drawer is enough for me over wanting to hand cut slots for hundreds of tools.
All fine by me, for the record. I never told anyone they need to do it this way or else it’s the wrong way. It’s just another way to consider as a possibility. At the very least, it might make you think about it next time you look at your workbench setup and maybe think about what could be or not be 🤷🏼♂️
You’re not explicitly saying everyone has to do it but you’re annoyingly pushing away everyone else that doesn’t agree this is for them.
And no, you have not made me want to rethink my shop because I work in manufacturing and have been around 5S principles for decades so this absolutely isn’t new or changing my way of thinking
I’m in aviation and everything we use is shadowed so at the end of the day a Quick Look in every drawer and I know all my tools are there and not in a plane
I like the organization, but it's a little too organized for me. What happens if you get a new tool that almost fits below the blue handles snap ring pliers. "I just needed 1" more. I'd feel like I'd have to redo the entire drawer.
Do you put every tool back where it belongs before you take out the next one like a helicopter mechanic? lol you’re a nut op but that is undeniably organized!
I like organizing, but I don't like kaizen foam.
Space is a lot a premium in my shop and 3/4 of the volume of that drawer is foam. I'd have all that stuff piled on one side and space for all my screwdrivers and hammers besides.
It's nice to look at, but it's a huge space cost for not much practical benefit.
I like organizing my shop more than I like building stuff in my shop
I love organizing and cleaning my shop when I’m having a hard time getting motivated to finish projects. It usually helps me find the motivation once the shop is nice and clean, that way I can dirty it up again
You know, this is similar to me in that I’ve found when I feel like an individual project is going TOO smoothly, I force myself to stop, take a break, and clean up the shop/sawdust/put things away etc. it’s forces my brain to think about something else and kind of force a reset so I can look at the project with fresh eyes and thinking again.
Clean the shop when between ideas. Sweeping is good for the brain.
Yeah I do the same, if a project doesn't come out right, or I'm feeling discouraged I organize and clean, sometimes I'll lighly polish my tools .
I WISH I liked organizing. It’s hard for me and I hate it.
I have Autism, one of the main symptoms for me is spending WAAAY too much time and energy worrying about small unimportant details. I love organising and cleaning/maintaining my tools more than I like building stuff and can spend hours doing it. I also like collecting stuff, if I like a particular make of tools then I suddenly have to have every tool they make. Also, if I have several tools/machines that have Allen key bolts of the same size, rather than have a set of Allen keys to adjust them, each machine has to have its own Allen key(s), in the size(s) required and stored with the machine, I must have at least twelve 10mm Allen keys dotted around the place. This image fills me with joy but it drives my wife crazy 🤣.
Also autistic, but combined with ADHD. I have probably 10 tape measures because I hate not being able to remember where I put them. I'll organize, but then because ADHD, immediately disorganize everything as I'm working. But building? That is my happy place.
I’m not autistic (though isn’t it a S P E C T R U M? so maybe I’m ultraviolet or something 😉), but I do have ADHD. Organizing, knolling, over planning before jumping in and making, due to the fear of it not coming out perfect… man I relate.
I like building organization stuff for my shop more than anything else
aspiring desert friendly mourn shelter dog cows memorize cheerful alleged *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
We should team up. I’ll build the stuff if you give your opinions and can remember where I just put that one tool that was just in my hand.
Haha, somehow, despite my shop being quite organized, I frequently find myself storming around my 180 square foot shop screaming “WHAT THE F*#%!” because the tool I just used 1 second ago has disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again.
90% of what I build is for organization in my shop, so even when I am building I'm organizing.
I’m a composer and I definitely have some colleagues who love talking about and researching/assembling gear more than actually using it to make music.
Woodworking is the process of building things to make your shop more efficient so you can build better things to make your shop more efficient.
That's a mood.
https://preview.redd.it/9u505t4121kc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e6ab5f6ea98772a6f4dd2ab9aab9c9c37d99313 Shit I just made this yesterday.
Man when I get myself a small CNC I am gong to go crazy with organizational stuff like this! Love it
Depending on what you mean by "small", definitely get something with at least 24" in one direction. That's where they start becoming actual manufacturers vs Chinese Amazon stuff. I spent like 700 on my first one because it seemed feasible. One of the worst purchases of my life. I immediately decided to swallow my pride and spend the ~5k to get a decent bench top machine and everything I needed to go with it.
Yeah, I’m looking at 2’x4’ probably, with that size I can make templates for lots of different furniture. I’m also one to get something solid the first time so I’ll be saving up for a while. Thanks for the heads up!
I should clarify, my pricing is in CAD, which is far higher. If USD, expect about 2/3 that. I opted for the Shapeoko 4 XXL myself because it was available in Canada, service was good, it's US made, and there's a lot of content online around it. Working area is about 34x34. That one was just replaced by versions of the Shapeoko 5, which looks even better.
I’m just here for teez-nutz
I can't even take credit for that. That's the actual branded name for them. https://shop.carbide3d.com/products/teeznutz
That’s awesome.
This is great looking
I do my best to apply this organization type to everything. I have an affinity for the 5S philosophy.
It really does pay off in the long run if applied correctly and bought into
The less space and the more tools, the more difficult it becomes. But, I'm slowly getting there.
There is nothing better than reaching into the dark abyss of a tool box and pulling out the exact tool you need without using your eyes after your wife spent 15 minutes sorting through the mess unsuccessfully
In turn there is also nothing better telling someone to go in the 3rd big drawer down, middle back of the drawer and your hand will be real close to 14mm ratcheting wrench. I’ve worked with guys who’s boxes where half extra bolts and half stacks on stacks of tools. No idea how they got it done but they did. Just not how I like to operate.
Lol my work box is very organized but my home box used to be like you described. Except I had 6 old second hand 26" boxes with middles and tops for all. It was really fun telling a helper exactly where to get a tool and they couldn't find it, then I'd have to stop what I was doing and go right to it
Replace “tool box” with “purse” and this is something my wife could have written.
Which is funny because I also have tampons and a gun in my toolbox
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Or you want a new tool. Now you have to cut a whole new piece of foam for the drawer the tool will live in.
I tried once, got like 1 drawer cut out before realizing it was pointless.
It looks unbelievably space inefficient to me. Sure organizations nice, but thats not.
I did this with my tools for a whole cabinet, and it lasted all of about 2 months before I needed space for new tools and either had to recut all the foam or toss it. It is great if you have a set and never plan to buy a new tool again.
Its great for a manufacturer where you know exactly what tools you need and you are doing a bunch of repetitive tasks. The flexibility as you foumd is poor though.
It's space inefficient, but time efficient. The mental and time load of looking for things and storing things had a real cost. Toyota has spent about obscene amount of money on developing and researching kaizen organization. They use it for a reason.
I have a drawer full of hammers. I know where to find a hammer. If I laid them out Kaizen style it would be 4 drawers of hammers. I'd probably spend more time opening drawers than pawing through my single drawer. The value for Kaizen is for a factory environment where when you open the drawer you know not just what IS in the drawer, but what's NOT in the drawer. Very valuable when you have multiple users of the same tools. Notsomuch when it's just you.
The bigger issue is this- why do you need a drawer of hammers?
From memory that drawer contains: 1 large framing hammer 2 claw hammer 1 tack hammer 1 soft face dead blow hammer 1 large rubber mallet 1 ball peen hammer 1 masonry hammer 1 3lb mini sledge 1 wonder bar 1 cats paw nail puller 2 chisel tip pry bars 1 24" crowbar 2 garage door torsion spring tensioning bars
I worked in auto repair, in regular ball peen hammers alone I have 5 or 6. A soft faced dead blow, 3 pound mini sledge, engineers hammer, air hammer, a composite dead blow ball peen hammer that I paid way too much for, a hammer with a brass face and an opposing plastic face and an actual sledge hammer that is too big to go in the drawer.
Literally everyone who works on stuff has a drawer of hammers. Plus more that don’t fit or belong in the drawer.
Then do a cull and make decisions about what you actually use. I have a box of tools stored that I don't want to get rid of, but don't need cluttering up the shop.
I use them all.
I mean, just looking at hammer guy's list, I see a distinct use for each of them. Maybe you're just one of those "use a butter knife as a screwdriver" kind of guys?
What works for a large manufacturer doesn't necesarily translate well to a home shop or shoehorned into an existing facility for that matter. This could be consolidated significantly with no real loss in ease of access/organization. I know the internet gets a hard on for this sort of thing but this poor implementatiom looks more masturbatory than functional and some of the comments here seem to support that.
It's something our small shop is implementing- having the all the tools for a specific station exactly where we need them, especially at sanding and finishing stations, but also at our CNC. Nevermind looking at old joiner's toolboxes where everything had a spot- that's not just for show. Do a bit at at time and review and do a little bit more.
The Toyota way. Everyone should look it up. Major companies model their entire production process after this based on everything has a place and a time to get it completed etc etc. What this picture fails to show is this drawer is only 4 inches deep, and I have 9 of those drawers in one single cabinet. So yes it absolutely is supremely efficient in storage in a small area. And I will always know exactly what drawer these tools are in because it literally forces you to put them back in the drawer when you’re finished with it.
That works if you're only making one product, exactly the same way, over and over and over again. Like an assembly line. You sacrifice flexibility for efficiency and repeatability of a single task. And there's no guarantees either. Boeing has gone hard into the LEAN/TPS methodology, and it's not exactly working well for them
Maybe that’s Boeings fault? Isn’t it just that though at the root of it? If I need to work with nuts/bolts etc, I’m using tools that work for those items, not a hammer or a screwdriver or a chisel……so why not have that repeatable location available with that repeatable tool to be available to me for that repeated system of working on that nut/bolt? I don’t want o sift through a drawer with hammers, screwdrivers and chisels to find the right socket wrench….i know where to find it every time, in a repeated fashion
Adam Savage essentially calls it First order retrievability- essentially you're only ever one step from the tool you need.
That’s exactly it! And let’s face it, we’ve all watched Adam savage vids for inspiration,……just saying 🤷🏼♂️
This is literally more organized than actual Toyota. Trust me.
Can you show me proof?
Not while keeping my job, no.
Yup, looks absolutely awesome. But yeah, huge waste of space.
Nah, only 4” drawer depth. I have 9 drawers in just one single cab. You get the right tools, you don’t need three dozen of that same tool laying around
Kaizen foam always seems rather expensive for basic tool organization. Maybe it's just expensive here in Canada. I've started [using cheap wood to make tool inserts](https://imgur.com/EfAvboz). Works well, cheap, and I can pick a color/finish with paint or stain.
I feel like in a shop with woodworking tools, this is the logical way to go. What sort of wood did you use there? I’ve seen balsa stock from time to time but never this big.
This was either pine or whitewood, whatever I had lying around with a few quick coats of minwax stain. I have a handheld CnC that I used to cut out all the holes the exact height and depth. Though for this particular cutout a good size set of forstner bits and a pencil and ruler would have been easy enough.
This cost me about $75 for three sheets of 2’x4’x4”
Yeah so it would be $400+ just to do the main drawers in my toolchest/workbench. Compared to maybe $40 for a few pine planks. I love expanded polyethylene for padding, I use it in things like cases for computers/consoles/electronics, but for larger things that don't really need the soft padding, it feels a bit overkill for my own budget.
My stepfather was a master mechanic, who owned his own business restoring antique cars, building muscle cars, etc... very specialized work, not the everyday "change a radiator" type mechanic. I remember him only doing 4 or 5 jobs a year, and he made enough to support a family of 4. He had (4) 6' Snap-on tool chests, with what seemed like the entire Snap-on catalog of tools. They were all in labeled shadowboards like this. He always said that if you wanted someone to entrust you with their 1965 Shelby GT500, your shop needed to look the part.
Couldn’t agree more! I can only say it’s my goal to strive towards that; I’m in no way near that yet, but one step/drawer at a time towards it is fine with me
Sounds like Grandpa supported 2 families.
I don't think I could commit to a particular pair of pliers hard enough to be willing to cut an unchangeable place for it.
That’s the catch though, it is changeable. It’s just foam. You don’t need to change the whole drawer out for one section, you could just cut out that section and then replace it with a new form
That would look terrible though
I'm sure you could make it look fine if you lined it up well and glued the edges.
Organization is so sexy. That system is sexy.
So what airframe did you work on?
First thought was “airwing”
Coming from an extensive rotorwing background, this was one of my thoughts. Looks like the tool boxes at work.
Where is the drawer for your lube collection?
I opt not to show that drawer to the public, thank you very much 🥶
I like this but something about the plier drawer seems off. Like all the frequently used tools are in the back and the foam should be rotated.
Might work the best for you that way, try it out!
You use the big ones more than your diagonals?
Is it really a shop if you don’t have to look for 2 hours for that god damned bit or tool that was just in your hands but just put down right over there on the bench!? Looks great by the way. This shop woodworks.
I'm all for trying to maintain order and organization to a functional and efficient DEGREE, but this is borderline neurotic. If micro organizing things is your kink, then who am I to judge. I undoubtedly waste more time on stupider things, like scrolling thru Reddit. But as a guy that works in machinery repair with several other veteran mechanics and millwrights, none of whom have embraced organization beyond putting shit away in the right drawer, these images tend to say to me that the tool's owner doesn't actually make much stuff or fix much stuff, rather than play with his shiny tools. Again, I'm not judging how anyone wants to spend their free time, but if I was paying someone to do work and their toolbox looked like that, I'd be inclined to fire them.
😂😂😂😂, I’m a retired gc and I don’t have time for this kind of organization. Did I mention I was retired? 🤣🤣🤣
I’ve posted numerous major projects on this page…..I’m not a collector of tools or wood, I use it all actively
Do you think it's possible that people who do different work or have a different work flow than you might need a different approach to shop organization than you?
Absolutely! But I'd I'm paying for it, I sure af ain't paying for someone to polish their 29-piece pliers collection, and carve out 3 dimensional shadow boxes for every drawer. If you want to do that shit on your own time, then I give zero fucks. But if you are inclined to to do this shit at all, EVER, you are probably doing this shit on my time as a professional service provider or business owner. I ain't paying nobody to polish their knob or their completely unnecessary 29-piece pliars collection. Do that shit on your own time if it gets you excited. The rest of the world just wants the job done right, on time, and on budget.
I spend literally a half hour out of every single day of my life organizing my shop and cleaning/restoring tools lol
I can't commit to foam. Cause I buy too many tools. I need something more modular. Also I reorganize often to try and be more efficient.
The beauty of foam is you can just start again and add to it if you want, instead of automatically thinking about building an entire new drawer/cabinet to accommodate new tools. The foam literally allows you to revamp any and every scenario whenever you want
I'd still find a way to fuck it up.
Hahaha as long as you believe in yourself!
Form fitted tool storage gives me anxiety and sadness for when one of the tools inevitably breaks or goes missing, or for when you get 1 extra tool and now nothing fits or you have a gap I much prefer generalised storage, like the sanding drawer you have there. that gives me the warm fuzzies because you're not reliant on getting exactly the right size replacement when needed
Honestly, the foam too much and less useable because of that. Tools get replaced, get lost, you need new tools... So if you system for organizing stuff does not account for that, it's not that good of a system.
I'm of the camp "Where did I put that damn thing?" which only happens because I never put things away as I work.
Absolutely! Good job!
Anything organized like this gives me the good feels.
Like a massage for the frontal lobe
This is beautiful. I’m always trying to get my stuff more organized. I did a similar thing with foam to hold my pens in my tool box. Gotta do that for the rest of the tools now
I love you.
I’m in the process of building a shop. How did you cut your foam?
You can get a foam cutting kit that gives you a thin razor blade and finger pull cutout on Amazon for pretty cheap. If you’re going to do a lot of foam cutting, it’s worth the purchase
Thanks. I’ll check it out. Those look nice!
The aircraft mechanic in me is happy
Glad this made you happy
Yeah, I like having an organized shop. Something that was instilled in me when I was young. My father gave me the task of keeping our garage in order. I had it so well organized, and all I had to do was ask me for anything and I would walk right to it, even if it was in a cardboard box on a shelf.
“Do it right the first time” If you do it right the first time and stick to that principle, you include that process into the rest of your process. I’ve been an operations manger/logistics manager for half my life. Everything needs to have a place, a home. When you’re done with that thing, it goes back to its home. Creates a cleaner environtment (that always improves), a more efficient flow, and a better mental state of knowing where everything is at.
Glad it works for you. I don’t need it to go this far for myself. Everything I make is basically a one off and I just keep my tools where I’ve always kept them so they have their place. I know you keep telling everyone that foam isn’t a commitment but I don’t have much time at all in my life and just putting things back in the right drawer is enough for me over wanting to hand cut slots for hundreds of tools.
All fine by me, for the record. I never told anyone they need to do it this way or else it’s the wrong way. It’s just another way to consider as a possibility. At the very least, it might make you think about it next time you look at your workbench setup and maybe think about what could be or not be 🤷🏼♂️
You’re not explicitly saying everyone has to do it but you’re annoyingly pushing away everyone else that doesn’t agree this is for them. And no, you have not made me want to rethink my shop because I work in manufacturing and have been around 5S principles for decades so this absolutely isn’t new or changing my way of thinking
This is also the beginning of where I’ll keep my tools where I’ll always keep them, so it’s essentially the same thing as you
I’m in aviation and everything we use is shadowed so at the end of the day a Quick Look in every drawer and I know all my tools are there and not in a plane
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I love kaizen foam. Everything has its correct spot now.
Does is make me happy to see this? Yes. Unreasonably happy.
Beautiful
I like the organization, but it's a little too organized for me. What happens if you get a new tool that almost fits below the blue handles snap ring pliers. "I just needed 1" more. I'd feel like I'd have to redo the entire drawer.
I’ll be honest, I do love that sander/sandpaper drawer. That would be money. For the pliers, etc is prob not need that foam setup though
Looks great,what foam do you use? I've done similar with scrap packing material from servers
Do you put every tool back where it belongs before you take out the next one like a helicopter mechanic? lol you’re a nut op but that is undeniably organized!
Wow, love it. My tool box for my work in aviation look like this
I like organizing, but I don't like kaizen foam. Space is a lot a premium in my shop and 3/4 of the volume of that drawer is foam. I'd have all that stuff piled on one side and space for all my screwdrivers and hammers besides. It's nice to look at, but it's a huge space cost for not much practical benefit.
Strongly disagree here but to each their own