There’s nothing that adds more time to building or repairing something than having to walk back and forth to grab the right tool for the job. “Wait, was that a 15/16 inch socket I needed? Nope it’s a 3/4 inch! Rats!”
[Brad Justinen] shares his solution to the problem in this very simple, but well documented tutorial on Instructables. He welded up a metal A-frame, then simply added pegboard to the sides and casters to the bottom. Our first thought was if something like this could be made out of lumber for a bit more of a DIY approach, but if you’ve ever moved a tool box full of tools, you know how their weight really adds up fast. So perhaps it might be best to bribe your welder-owning friend with a 12 pack of his or her favorite adult beverage.
If you haven’t used pegboard for organizing tools, it really can be a wonderful solution to getting organized. Pegboard has many more uses as well. Check out this pegboard cable organizer, or this modular soldering platform.
But the pegboard needs painted silhouettes of the tools, or you still won’t know which tool is missing.
Just spray paint the board while the tools are on there. Perfect silhouettes and color coordinated tools!
(don’t actually do this)
This^^
Could wrap the tools in Sarah wrap, mount them, paint them, and remove the wrap when dry.
Like something straight out of Adam Savage’s workshop. Here he would say something about first order retrievability.
He actually addressed a recent re-organization of his shop in a Tested podcast a few weeks back (6/30). I believe it’s going to be (already is?) given a feature of some sort
Just went up this morning, thanks for the reminder to check for that! I’ve been looking forward to it since that episode…
http://www.tested.com/art/makers/536348-adam-savages-custom-tool-storage-stands/
i like how everytime that other guy takes a tool, adams hand is hovering and trying to take it back.
I just don’t like pegboard. Not in my own shop. I have used it in a shared shop, primarily to reduce the `where does this go?’ and `what’s missing’ issues. But in my own shop, space is WAY too tight. Well organized cases, purpose built shelving and hangers, and cabinets are key. Ditto for my road boxes.
Plus, every time I look at pegboard, I see the outlines from shop class, and, worse, the outlines from the previous tenant at my first out of school house, with the outlines of a hammer, crescent wrench, etc.
@enl
The trick with old outlines is to take everything down and hit the board with some paint.
I’m with you on the custom shelving and cases, though not because of the old outlines – I don’t like dicking with all the hooks that wiggle around and don’t quite fit right, which seems to be most of them in my case. It makes it a lot harder to grab tools quickly with one hand. I find it much easier and cleaner to just drive screws into plywood and bend custom hangers out of wire 16-gauge steel wire – once the system is there I don’t re-organize much anyway, which is what pegboard is great for. The plywood gives a lighter surface that’s has better visual contrast as well, dark pegboard is kinda Meh.
That said, this is a really great way to have all your tools at point-of-use and First Order Retrieval! I’m a convert thanks to Adam Savage and LEAN production programs I’ve been involved in…
This month’s issue of The Family Handyman has some tips about pegboard. One is to hot glue the hook at the lower hole one you decide where you want it placed (it will remove when you need it) or to secure the hook with a zip tie before the board is mounted on the wall.
Yes, I will agree to use my decades of experience and several hours of work and not to mention my welding consumables as well for $10 of beer!
Why is it that people assume you can “bribe” welders that way but you never hear the same analogy applied to other professionals, like attorneys or surgeons or pilots?
I let my friends bribe me quite often with beer in exchange for simple tasks they don’t have the tools to do because they’re my friends and I’m not a total dickhole.
Because my friends know I’m an engineer, I get lots of requests to fix stuff. And even when I can’t, at least i get the joy of seeing what was inside.
Nice presupposition there! Why put it like that?
As a hobby welder, I like doing this kind of stuff for people. It gives me an excuse to get out in the shop and do something. But I always make them pay for a bottle of gas or something!
A lot of times human beings do things together in a way that is not necessarily purely dictated by financial motivation. This may come as a bit of a shock to you.
Also, if you need decades of experience to tack something like this together, then your decades of experience must have been in washing dishes or maybe in making snarky replies on message boards, because they certainly weren’t in welding :D
I have literally hours of welding experience, and I could put something like this together in less than an hour if the measurements and cuts were already made.
Thanks for the comment though :D
So you bring over your setup, spend an hour and a half but wait, whoops one of the cuts wasn’t quite right so several parts don’t quite line up right and need to be retacked and oh, they forgot to do any weld prep because they didn’t know you needed to and their workshop really doesn’t have a good enough amount of flat space to set this up on to tack it up and they thought you were going to bring the clamps and they only have 120V power so you have to use your low duty cycle mode. So you recut one thing, do some adjusting and start to tack it all up as best as you can. Sure, it’s just doing carbon steel and it’s not like this is going to be xrayed stainless or titanium but it still takes effort and the welding setup and some skill and time to do it properly so it all lines up. Oh and better hope your grinder doesn’t decide to cutout partway through or you didn’t bring enough stick or your gas bottle runs out or any number of things that make this “quick little project” take several more hours than you thought.
Three hours of your time later it mostly works. Your “friend” hands you a room temperature case of mediocre beer and you two exchange this mostly non financial “real quick project” / favor with each other while you dream big of the next thrilling “quick job” you will get asked to “help with” as in do next.
Yes, I understand that not everything has to be purely financial but what I am trying to get at is why there’s this persistent expectation that welders or IT workers or handymen or other professions are almost expected to help others in exchange for a pat on the back and maybe a $10 case of beer. But other professions are not.
I understand that society deems that different professions are inherently “worth” more per hour in terms of their ability to request and be paid more per hour and there are even some very specialized, well trained and well paid welders out there too but why does the author and society perpetuate the somewhat offensive notion, even light heartily, that jobs like this are “worth” a few bucks and a pat on the back? That and the idea that a project like this only costs the material cost only but not the consumables, time or expertise are persistent but wholly incorrect assertions made here. That’s what I take issue with.
If you have the skills, tools, consumables, time and desire to help out a friend, go for it. I’m not saying don’t. I just want people to understand what actually goes into projects like this as it seems quick and basic to “just slap this together” but it’s actually a good bit more nuanced than maybe people might think at first glance and I am not sure people appreciate or value that as much as maybe they should. That’s all.
Nah, nobody tries to bribe lawyers and doctors… they just flat out ask them for free advice. I’d rather at least get offered a quasi-payment iin trade for my professional opinions, instead of being expected to dole them out for free.
Try being an IT professional of any variety… the demands and expectations are mind-blowing!
Totally! See also Photographers and other creatives “You’ll get great exposure!”
you are right, the first thing people say to me always start with “my computer has/did…” and not good morning or something. Its like we are in the world to serve people.
AHAA! Now we know your favorite adult beverage is beer!
I am a software developer who worked as a computer repair technician in college and friends bribe me all the time to fix their computers. I have no trouble having them cover the cost of physical parts required for me to help them or refusing to help if, for example, they ask me to write them a program that will take a significant amount of time to complete, which I never have enough of. I’m perfectly happy doing so because I am helping a friend in need and it helps strengthen the friendship, plus, I figure that means I’m free to expect them to help with favors that lie within their skillsets, even if that only include moving heavy furniture, helping with painting, or just watching the kids while I work on something myself.
Acquaintances or those “friends” that have a habit of not returning help when I need it are usually refused anything beyond basic advice unless I need/want some extra cash, then I charge market rates for me services and I would expect the same of them if I asked.
They said welder-owning friend, not welding professional.
How about this
http://www.shelving.com/SI-24-d-x-42-w-Chrome-Wire-Carts-p/trk244254-p.htm
and add pegboard to one or more sides.
The weight of the tools will be outside the footprint of the unit, so it’s going to fall over when you add too many tools or move it the wrong way too quickly. You can reduce that by putting pegboard on both sides, but if you have the ability to build one of these (either welded or out of lumber) the A-frame addresses that issue nicely.
Reblogged this on heavydiy and commented:
Okay, I’m going to build one of these…