Cool idea for a tool cart.

JoeyM wrote:

Trans_Maro wrote: Mine are just in a big pile on the bench. Shawn

The problem is that - as has been noted elsewhere on this forum - the 10mm units grow feet and walk away....Better to keep them in some sort of restraining system.

Sorry, no french bolts in any of my cars.

The 1/2" and 9/16" are constantly being stolen by the tool gnomes though. Always keep a good supply of those around.

Shawn

Now I don't feel so slovenly & uncouth. I see the rest of you keep your tools the way I do.

When I try to organize like that they look all pretty for about 10 minutes but it takes so much longer to do a job when I have to look on board, find the tool and then put it back.

I actually have a cart similar to that but moving it around on my smooth shop floor, must less take it down the driveway, caused the wrenches to fall off.

I really like these socket organizers:

They're dense, they hold the sockets securely, it's easy to take them out, and it's obvious at a glance which sockets are missing.

The only problem is that they only work for regular (well, plus deep or mid-length) sockets. Hex, torx, U-joint, etc specialty sockets don't fit on them.

In reply to codrus:

They also don't work with some sockets. The 1/4" dr Husky sockets I have won't fit over the posts.

Also, the tray is wider than two cheap, metal socket rails and takes up square inches in the drawer that isn't available...

I'm serious - I really do have very little open space left in the socket drawer... If I finally buy those Snap-On deep universal sockets I've been drooling over, I'm not sure where they'll fit. Might finally be an excuse to buy a new roll-a-way.

Here's a rough shot of my tool organization. It's an older pictures, it's been updated a bit since. There are several tool chests for screwdrivers, pliers, gooey stuff in tubes and the like, but anything I use on a regular basis lives on The Peg Wall.

Each of those two tool rolls is for wrenches, one SAE and one metric. The sizes of each is written on the roll, means I can grab a 14mm instantly without scrubbing around in a drawer. Tool rolls travel well, too. There are some other wrenches in little racks on the wall. The sockets are hanging below and a bit to the left of the rolls with the ratchets beside them. You can also see the big torque wrench, clamps, a rivet tool, rivnut setter, electrical crimping/stripping tools, tin snips, tire gauges, hammers, several sizes of pliers, vice grips, the common screwdrivers, t reamer, etc. Tapes are hung just off camera along with a bunch of Sharpies.

There's more pegboard on a wall at right angles to this one, it mostly holds drills, angle grinder, electric impact gun, measuring tools and - most important - ear and eye protection. It's not every tool, but it covers 90% of jobs

Here are the socket rails I use. http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-14-38-and-12-socket-rail-set-68101.html

I'm kind of hopeless. I don't have a garage. I do have a shed. So my tools go in the shed. To do a project, I pull the tools that I need to the driveway. Making different trips as needed. Several steps and uneven ground are what I deal with. I really need a garage.....but I have what I have. Combined with taking tools to events, I end up being a disorganized mess. What I really need is a tool robot that caters to my every whim. That isn't happening any time soon. I just suck at tool organization. I seem to re-do it every 3-6 months.

I have a similar set-up, except that I use 8" long peg board hooks for the wrenches and put all the ones of each size on the same peg.

I have a socket rail for each size sockets. I bought 15 or so 3-packs of 1/4-3/8-1/2" socket racks, slid off the clips, and made myself a rack for each size that has some 1/4, some 3/8, and some 1/2" on each rack. Makes more sense to organise by size first, then select type than to sort type first and select size.

I also started using up those cheapy wrenches and such in making dedicated-task tool boxes. For example, all my Freon tools, gauges, and adapters are in one tool box, along with the wrenches I need to use them all. If I'm working on recharging a system and have to go get another wrench, I grab a cheapy and leave it in the box. Now I can pretty much just grab that box and do everything without having to go back for more tools. Same goes for ball joints/ujoints and tire/wheel stuff.

one in the fish tank,

Metric fish?