codrus
UltraDork
7/31/17 12:15 p.m.
Sky_Render wrote:
My tool chest came with nice no-slip drawer liners, so I just lay my wrenches flat in order of size--Metric on one drawer and SAE on the other.
Yeah, as long as the toolbox mostly stays in one place (rolling around vibrates everything) and you don't slam the drawers too hard, wrenches will mostly stay in one place. It does wind up being less space-efficient to store them flat rather than at an angle, though.
I have found for me it doesn't matter much what kind I get as long as I get enough of them and get enough drawer space. I have a bunch of different kinds for sockets and double-ends. And odd wrenches lying on the anti-skid mats in the space left over between organizers. I have both metric and standard, sockets in all three driver sizes and short and deep for each, double-ended in a couple different lengths, crows foot, etc. There are a ton of them.
The thing is, once I mentally assign a "place" for it, I know where it is when I want to pull it out and use it, and where it goes when I put it back. That's where my time savings comes from. My task time is cut in like, half, when I'm not walking around the shop space looking for the wrench I just put down somewhere.
I ended up buying this:
As stated in the reviews, it is flimsy "rubbery" plastic and it does not tightly hold the wrenches. But it will mostly stay in the toolbox, it holds all the wrenches I needed organized, and it fits.
Am I the only one who can look into a drawer of jumbled wrenches and grab right one by sight? Maybe its a savant-type thing, but I just look at the nut, then look in the drawer and grab the right one. In fact, the sizes have worn off all of my Gear Wrenches long ago.
I'm curious about the thickness of the plastic and how durable they are, but they do look good in the pictures.
The seller also has a socket organizer that I like - it has slots so you put all the sockets of one size (regular, deep well, etc.) together. Their pliers organizer looks good, too.
^amazon photo host attempt^ Anyone figure this out?
I use a couple different styles. The rack on the left is nice if you need them mobile. The other type is good for customizing to your specific wrenches or box.
I've been using these for 20 years now. They make me happy. You can obviously get them little to big and big to little so you can do your drawers up however suits you.
DWNSHFT wrote:
I love that this is considered "Organised".
In reply to Trans_Maro:
Metric in one organizer (on top), SAE in another organizer, and ratcheting in the blue one. Leftovers wrenches that I don't use often or are big and easy to find are loose. Hex wrenches are in the roll except I keep the common metrics loose in the drawer. I don't have much trouble finding them. :-) Of course, I want a set of t-handle ball-end hex wrenches but they won't fit in the toolbox so I haven't figured out that solution yet...
My dad drummed it into me to leave it where you found it. It works well when things are a mess. Almost too well. Things were always a mess.
pinchvalve wrote:
Am I the only one who can look into a drawer of jumbled wrenches and grab right one by sight? Maybe its a savant-type thing, but I just look at the nut, then look in the drawer and grab the right one. In fact, the sizes have worn off all of my Gear Wrenches long ago.
When I was young I could spot the 8 and 10mms wrenches several feet away.
I was inspired, and:
Those are the Ernst organizers. I can see what Jumper K Balls was talking about - I might have to switch to the Snap On organizers. These are graduated in size and have to make that "N" layout and it makes them much less flexible and less efficient. I bet Ernst makes the Snap On organizers and aren't allowed to sell them directly, too. They're about 2-4x as much as the Ernst ones.