Short Material storage (Metal offcuts)

Parts of the garage are becoming "done" the first section is going to house a metal material rack along the wall.  This will be a lower section for 4*8 sheets on their side and then 3 upper shelves for various long tubes.  This is designed/planned.

But what to I do with short Material.  It ranges from 6" to 4'.  I've seen some vertical bins, currently it is all in cat litter buckets.

What do you do with your short materials?  

Buckets. Ideally sorted by type, most realistically, all stubs go in buckets until they're useful again. 

Prop it up in the corner so it can fall over when I'm trying to go through it to find something. I'll be watching for a better solution!

Wrapping paper bin. for tall stuff. Milk crate for shorts.

RevRico said:

Buckets. Ideally sorted by type, most realistically, all stubs go in buckets until they're useful again. 

Appleseed said:

Wrapping paper bin. for tall stuff. Milk crate for shorts.

Agreed with the above. I've wanted to find a "better" solution for a while, but nothing I've been able to come up with beats just whatever plastic totes/buckets are convenient and fit on the nearest shelf or under the workbench.

Milk carton for all the short odds and ends. Just toss it in and when you need something start digging through until you slice your hand on something sharp and then go get some gloves. Been working just fine for about 10 years.

Here's what I'd build. Start with a $7 HF furniture dolly.

Add an 18" diameter circular plywood bottom. Get a 10ft section of 6" diameter PVC pipe. Cut a 3 ft section, 2 ft section, 1.5ft section, 1ft section and 1 or 2 six inch sections. Place the long one in the middle and shorter ones around the outside. You can get 4 on the outside for 5 total or maybe 5 outside for 6 total. 

Might have to get a bit creative to attach the PVC sections to the bottom plywood, but that's what I would (should) do. 

Currently I have a trash can for long pieces and a big tote for shorter pieces.

Edit, you could add some smaller diameter PVC tubes for organizing thinner cutoffs too.

Enter the "Mack Daddy Scrap Caddy". I built this last year and it has been wonderful. It keeps all the scrap outside, freeing up room in the garage, yet it's also mobile on casters so I can move it around. One side is sheet, other side is tubes. Anything shorter than 36" goes in a bin. There are little trays for various buckets/garbage bins, which have holes drilled in them for drainage. It already survived a house move, rolling up the moving truck ramp. 

This is relevant to my garage messes. 

AWSX1686 (Forum Supporter) said:

This is relevant to my garage messes. 

Mine too. 

Here is my solution for the long bits and the short. Sheet metalish stuff gets stacked behind. Long bits is bolted to the floor, bucket is not.

Short pieces go in this pvc set-up  and less than 2' are sorted and put in marked bins on a shelf. 

Here's what I ended up building.  

It's made from 4'x80" of 1/2 plywood.  I still need to do something for VERY short <4" stuff.  

Short pieces go in two milk crates. One for steel, one for not steel. 

Longer stuff, 1 to 3 feet go on a shelf above the milk crates.

3 to 6 foot stuff stand in a trash can. 

Longer than that, 6 to 10 foot, stand between two shelves and stick up into the attic in the shop. 

Machining metals, rounds and chunks, are in a bottom drawer under the lathe. 

That's a smart design. I like it.

I added a few small part bins to the side and a pullout "drawer"  so I can put more smaller sheet in the little void.   These mods where made with the rest of the sheet and a few scraps I had.  I think I could probably rework the design a little to get the whole thing done as shown with almost exactly 1 sheet.  

In reply to obsolete :

Thanks!

In reply to Sparkydog :

Neat! 

Here's what I built: