bit OT : spanner tidying

I was doing a little tidying in the garage and putting away some spare spanners in the drawer cabinet. Its got to the stage where I have to rummage about in the drawers rather than just selecting the correct size. I have seen ( on fleabay ) a self adhesive strip with a crocodile teeth profile which seem expensive for what it is has anybody got an innovative idea they use to keep stuff tidy ?

Derek Christmas is coming the goose is getting ...well a bit nervous.

Reply to
Derek
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I got a cantilevered metal toolbox to add to my drawer-style box on wheels, the common hand-tools go in the luggable one so I can cart them around the cars, while the less common tools go in the big box in the garage, you end up with the more common stuff in one place so easier to find.

I've got one of those magnetic tool strips, not bothered with it yet, I drag the little box around with me because it's all well and good knowing where the next spanner is, but if you have to crawl out from under the truck to get it, it's still not convenient enough!

In my dining room I have run out of space and am having to pile stuff up in the hallway. The reason I've run out of space in the dining room is because there's a big pile of boxes in there that I got for putting stuff in. Blasted things.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

Oddly enough the mess in the cantilever ( since donated to a worthy cause) plus the weight of kit held in it were the reasons for getting the cab 'n' boxes set, I keep a roll in the car and I do have a spanner tray for going walkabout which is rare tho' I have promised to sling the compressor in Kato so we can inflate the tyres on CJD's B-GT so it can be rolled out of the garage for a wash . He really should bite the bullet and flog the bloody thing. Derek

Reply to
Derek

Ian, do you have a brother by the name of Chris, that spent a good few years in the north of Scotland? Just curious, putting 2 and 2 together and no doubt making 67 as usual! Badger.

Reply to
Badger

Well, sort of, I have a younger brother called Chris, but we spent our time on the west coast of scotland, in the vicinity of Oban, or Loch Melfort to be precise. I don't believe he ever went any further north than that and he didn't spend much more time in Scotland than I did, certainly not past the age of about 18.

Do you by any chance have a brother called Brock, a black and white striped birthmark on his face? If so, I think I saw him squished on a road today. Sorry about that.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

I worked with a Chris Rawlings who had a brother that was into landrovers, in the early to mid 90's. Like I said, just me adding 2 and 2 and getting it wrong as usual!

:-(

Reply to
Badger

Made myself a shadow board out of some 3/4 ply. Actually two because the first one (about 4' wide by 3' high) didn't have enough room for everything. Spannery, grippery and screwery went on board one, special stuff - torque wrench, feelers etc (including precision percussion instruments) - on board two. Took a bit of effort (thought) to lay out so that everything had its place and I could remove the spanner I wanted without disloding three I didn't onto the floor, but the end result was/is great. The tedious bit was marking round the tools and painting in the shadows, but I just took it a bit at a time for an hour or so in the evenings when the soaps were ruining the telly watching.

I also took the opportunity to paint a coloured band onto the spannery and socketry - I used red for AF, green for metric, blue for whitworth and yellow for the odd BA and other weird sizes. I use a tack tote (cheap plastic/nylon carry thing for horsey stuff) to take the tools to the job and then stick 'em back on the board when I'm done. The colour bands help when I'm diving into the tote for a spanner or socket on the job - if I want a

9/16 AF ring there's no point in picking up a spanner with a green band to see if it's the size I'm looking for! Works great for me.

Steve

Reply to
Steve

Thanks Steve I have a long pegboard that houses all the moles hacksaws OS spanners etc I should probably shadow it so stuff goes back in place.What I need to sort out is the drawers in the cabinet.Trouble is I'm a tool magpie with about 40 years practice since I tinkered with my first pushbike. I think I have found what I need ( god bless you Tim Allen ) on the Sears website all I need to do is persuade them to ship 2 to the UK (emails sent)

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I'm thinking about making a channel rack to glue to the drawer matting for the ring spanners out of sheet steel.Derek

Reply to
Derek

I use drawer based tool trays - section for A/F, Whit, Metric & so on, and then subdivide each into open ended, combination, ring & ratchet spanners. Sockets all live on a shelf, 1/2" & 1/4" onto clip racks in order, 3/4" (cos they are so heavy) just sit on the shelf.

Reply to
Duracell Bunny

Where do you get the trays from Karen I mean brand wise as its a bit far to nip down there for a couple.No response yet to my email still its early yet in the US Derek

Reply to
Derek

I use about 3 inches of electrical wire with a bucket and spade terminal on each end so I can loop it through the ring end of the spanners to make them a bit like allen key sets. Then I have one with all my 13mm spanners, one with < 1/2in spanners and one with > 1/2in spanners on. Means all my spanners are in one of four bundles and you only have to look at one of them to see whether the one you want is in the bundle. If you need to get one off you just pop open the connector. Of course they have to be ring spanners :-)

Regards,

Dave.

Reply to
Dave

This doesn't work. They keep falling off.

Ah.

Reply to
Rich B

Got them in the UK last time I was over, & shipped them out. They have wheels, 3 shallow trays & a deep tray at the bottom. Top trays collapse down & lock for transport - though I find them too heavy to lift. I have two sets, one metric only, the other imperial only (A/F, Whit/BSF, BA & so on)

Cycle stuff gets kept separately (I recently took up mountain bike riding) as it seems to get used more often than the other stuff at present - speaks volumes of my lack of MTB skills.

Reply to
Duracell Bunny

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