How do you organize your sockets?

I recently picked up a new a toolbox for home and I've been trying to set it up in the most logical and organized way possible. I've hit a big stumble with my fairly large collection of sockets. I've taken an inventory of my sockets and I have 18-1/4" drive sockets (not that many, I don't use 1/4" that often), 69-3/8" sockets, and 75-1/2" drive sockets (almost all of these are impacts). These are all in the obvious assortment of metric and SAE as well as some hex and torx sockets. I also have other special use sockets that I'm not counting because they don't really fit in with any sets, like my 14mm 12 point 1/2" drive socket for my honda flywheel bolts. My special lug nut sockets fall into this category too.

The problem is that they are all still attached to their original plastic holders which basically means they can only lay on their sides. This wastes tons of space and I do not like it. Currently at least 1/3 of my toolbox is wasted on just sockets laying on their sides. I will most likely buy a bunch of the cheap socket rails from harbor freight and customize them for sets and tie the ends together with some kind of framework or something to hold multiple sets together and standing up. If I knew I was never going to add any more sockets to my collection I would design up some nice trays and have them 3D printed, but my tools are constantly evolving...

The main question I have is how do you it? What do use for holding sockets? Do you organize by SAE/metric and then have all drive sizes together? Or do you have it separated by drive sizes and then metric/sae?I'm really struggling over the best way to do this. I'm thinking about having a drawer for metric and a drawer for sae. Within each drawer the sockets would be organized into drive size. And then maybe a third drawer just for all the oddball stuff like torx, hex, homemade special sockets, etc. So how do you do it? Bonus points for pics.

Metric is in the pile on the left of the drawer, standard is in a pile on the right, an the 10mm are lord knows where. 

I have considered drilling holes in a scrap 1x4 for organizing them so they stand up right, and separating them by drive size, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

My hammer drawer is very tidy though.

Mine are on rails, organized with like size and drive type, in order. I like this because I usually just grab the whole rail of whatever type I need, no eyeballing and guessing, running back and forth to the toolbox (even though I can generally eyeball nut and bolt sizes with micrometer precision .)

I use these:

In the open top of the tool chest for all the 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 sockets.

- One drawer for sockets, torque wrenches, extensions etc.

- One drawer for Metric wrenches

- One for Standard wrenches

I organize them by leaving loosely around or near whatever project I'm working on. The hard part of this type of system is remembering what I was working on when I had that 13mm...

I was feeling flush at the time and sprung for westling machine organisers 

I would probably go with the Hansen trays were I to do it over.

I rely on being able to see if my tools are all there at the end of a job. I haven't lost a socket or wrench in 6 years. I can also grab the correct tool in one second rather than dig though a pile.

Furious_E said:

Mine are on rails, organized with like size and drive type, in order. I like this because I usually just grab the whole rail of whatever type I need, no eyeballing and guessing, running back and forth to the toolbox (even though I can generally eyeball nut and bolt sizes with micrometer precision .)

+1

Craftsman socket racks in 1/4, 3/8, 1/2" They live in tool box drawer, carry to job site or drop in bucket for the PnP. They stay put.

Should we do a live show on toolbox organization some night?

Hansen trays suck, they rack the sockets with the open end down.

Harbor freight trays are actually far better and rack them with the open end up. They're a lot cheaper too.

Trans_Maro said:

Hansen trays suck, they rack the sockets with the open end down.

Harbor freight trays are actually far better and rack them with the open end up. They're a lot cheaper too.

What's wrong with having the open end down?  The bases are the right size so that they just fit over them.  The pegs with the sizes on them are easily visible, you can tell at a glance if you're missing a socket, and it's very space efficient in the toolbox.  I love them.  I have one drawer for metric, another for SAE.

I prefer open end up. 

I usually grab them by using my calibrated eyeball and I'm almost never wrong.

I do this all day long, every day. 

Every mechanic has a system that they prefer and they seem to stick to it. 

I tried Hansen trays and hated them, I find the shorter pegs on the HF trays much more workable.

I also have 12 point and 6 point for different jobs, having the open end up is easier. There's also no good reason to have the drive end up.

For the misc, single sockets and oddballs that you will accumulate, I like the magnetic rails.

The thing I don't like about those commercially available trays is that there's always some pegs left over making it look like you're missing a socket or two. It looks like most of them are 12 pegs but most of the socket sets I've seen and that I have are 10 or 11 pieces. With the harbor freight rails I could remove the extra pegs so I could easily see if they're all accounted for.

For a portable tool container, I use the Craftsman rails.  For my tool chest, I use the Hansen racks.  I also keep a few sets in their original plastic case for portability.  I like knowing what goes where, and what is missing.  It drives me batsh!t crazy having sockets in a pile!  

I'm an organization nut when it comes to my toolbox. In the end I have settled on Hansen trays over the other brands. 

I use rails from H-F. The handle on the Craftsman version takes up too much space in the drawer.

If I ever have garage space for a larger box with a larger socket drawer, then I may try something like Hansen trays, but I tried and ditched them for the same reason. Sucked because they were a Christmas present. Oddly, some of my 1/4" sockets didn't fit over the Hansen pegs.

I wind up moving my tools around a lot, so I've tried a number of different things.  The metal rails don't seem to hold too well, I like the Lisle red magnetic "portable" trays because I can stick them on things for easy access to sockets:

I used a paint market to write the sizes on the socket holder and that made it pretty easy to access.  The problem is that the magnet isn't strong enough for any sort of real portable use - throwing them in my junkyarding bag or my other toolbag just results in sockets everywhere.  They also take up way too much space in a toolbox or chest.

For a while, when I went mobile, I would use an old boot lace to thread through all the sockets and then tie it off.  That kept them all together and made them very compact.  But it's hard to work the lace with gloves on, so I gave up on that.

Recently, I settled on the plastic rails from The Hammer Store:

They were super cheap, so I decided to give them a try.  I bought a few sets so that I can keep my Torx bits, E-Torx bits, impact deep well, impact regular, 1/2 non-impact, 1/2 impact SAE, 3/8 SAE, 3/8 metric, 3/8 deepwell, E-Torx deepwell, and various wobble, u-joint, and extentions together.  The clips are very stiff, so even throwing them into the toolbag doesn't cause them to go everywhere.  They're pretty compact, so they fit in the tool chest without any complaint.  By exercising my OCD bone a little, I can make sure that when I put a socket back on the rail, the size markings are all facing the same way.

The only downside is that because they're sold in sets of 3 (one each of 1/2, 3/8, and 1/4), I have a ton of 1/4 rails that I have no idea what to do with.  But they're cheap enough that if they ever break, it's not going to bother me.

The biggest organizational change that I made, though, was forcing myself to put the socket back on the rail as soon as I was finished using it.  Even if I was only setting it down for a minute to use a different tool before going right back to it.  I spend so much time looking for the tool that I LITERALLY HAD RIGHT HERE IN MY berkeleyING HAND FIFTEEN SECONDS AGO that moving to a strict use-it-return-it policy has saved me so much time and aggravation as to make any job actually pleasant.  

In reply to wae :

Ha! I was out taking a picture as you were typing that. I got mine at Sears.

codrus said:

Trans_Maro said:

Hansen trays suck, they rack the sockets with the open end down.

Harbor freight trays are actually far better and rack them with the open end up. They're a lot cheaper too.

 

What's wrong with having the open end down?  The bases are the right size so that they just fit over them.  The pegs with the sizes on them are easily visible, you can tell at a glance if you're missing a socket, and it's very space efficient in the toolbox.  I love them.  I have one drawer for metric, another for SAE.

 

This is what I use but I put them on the top of the tool cabinet not in a drawer. Keeps me from storing junk up there.

I use the plastic HF rails. They come in black and grey, so black is SAE and grey is metric. Makes it really easy to see what you're reaching for. I have a pegboard wall in my work area and they're arrayed along that. Compact and really quick to grab what you want.

The nice thing about them is that you can mix and match the mounts so you can put 1/2", 3/8" and 1/4" sockets on the same rail. Thus all my hex sockets or extensions can be grouped together. This also lets you make sure you have the same number of mounts and sockets so you can do an eyeball check for completeness.

I don't think I've ever lost a 10mm socket.

I have an old peice of 1/2 inch plywood cut too fit the top of my box with rails screwed down too it. Worked for years but now I'm over full so I recently purchased a few sets of the Sears socket holders too try. Hopefully stop me from having stuff randomly piled in my box. My biggest issue is storing extensions some were I don't lose them.

Not. At. All.

Toss them all in the top of the toolbox.

In reply to NOHOME :

Pretty sure cousin eddie just fainted

MazdaFace said:

In reply to NOHOME :

Pretty sure cousin eddie just fainted

I had to walk outside and snap a picture of my top drawer just to try and get that image out of my head. Like Keith, I haven't ever lost a 10mm socket. I'm not sure I've ever lost any tool. 

Pictures are kind of deceiving. It's a giant drawer so it swallows up a lot of tools. This is my metric drawer. SAE drawer is similar.

Nick Comstock said:

I organize them by leaving loosely around or near whatever project I'm working on. The hard part of this type of system is remembering what I was working on when I had that 13mm...

Pretty much this. I figure if I leave my tools where I last used them, that's where they'll be. But I tend to forget which project was the last one I worked on. 

I have the HF trays, still sitting in their box after 8 months. I have rails, and every now and then I organize everything but that only lasts the first few times I need them. I got that for the mishmash of random sets scattered together in my big toolbox drawer, but since I hardly work where it is, keeping it organized has not been a priority. 

The big set in my main work area I have been trying to leave in its box. I'm missing 2 so far but not sizes I ever really need, at least in the box and on display I can find them. I am much better organized now, but the socket set still lives on top of a set of tires easily accessible and with the ability to see what's missing. 

I've also slowly been putting together socket sets for specific purposes, such as stuff to fix easy problems on the truck with the truck, tools the quad needs with the quad, big E36 M3 for the well pump with the pump. I figure even if it means buying multiples, I should always have what I need when I need it.