What do you guys do with your power tools

I finally got my dream garage mostly cleaned out so I can actually begin using it. I filled it full of household stuff while I was building the house and so could only stare at it and dream of the day it would be useful.

It's 34 x 55 x 12' high with an office and a full bath in the front and a loft over that.

I've been in insulating it and adding OSB walls and now it's time to put stuff up to do my organization. But I'm hitting a dead end. The dead end is my brain. I can't figure out how to set it up.

I have an L shaped set of kitchen cabinets and formica counter top in the back left hand corner where the lift will one day go and a series of 3 sheets of mostly empty peg board that begins just past the lift area. It is amazing how few peg board hangers Home Depot and Lowes have.

I cut in some recessed shelving down one wall to keep all my oils and fluids in.

Where do you guys keep your power tools? They are all jumbled up on shelves and too hard to get to and find what I want when they are in the kitchen cabinets. All I've found for the peg board are drill motor hangers.

I have a large heavy metal cabinet that I keep my power tools in, it is lockable also

How large and how many tools can you fit? Skill saws, drill motors, dremels, etc.

Do you find it to be convenient?

The walls in my garage are about 11" back from side of the garage door opening. This is space my car really cant use without requiring bodywork Since my car cant use the space, I built some shelves about 10" deep and 8' long to where my car wont hit if I pull straight in. Its 8' high, with 3 shelves. 10" deep shelves dont sound like much, but they allow me to "park" my miter saw, my circular saw, my wet/table saw, a pressure washer, my electric trimmer, a leaf blower, my toolbox of tools I dont use too often, and various other stuff (junk). I purpose built a few extra shelves in there to organize the tools so they dont look like a mess. I also plan to put a set of shelves above the garage door opening to put the stuff (junk) thats on my existing shelves, to make room for more of my tools and other gardening/lawncare stuff. That way I have tool only storage, and then storage for other things like paint cans and plastic bins of old stuff (junk), to help make the organization even more apparent.

I "found" two metal cabinets that are made for the backs of vans (plumbers, carpenters etc.) that I bolted to the studs against one wall.

They hold pretty much everything that I need them to, and some of the compartments are lockable.

all of the above, it is about 5' x 5" by 18" deep, I can fit all my hand held electric tools, except my dremel which has its own toolbox. it is very heavy duty.

I build stuff with mine....

For storage, most of mine live on the shelves of a E250 van.

Lathe and mill are next to each other in my shop. All the other junk and little used tools are on a set of 4X8 shelves.

For having a lot of space I'm having a lot of trouble getting a spot for everything. I really had intended to have a full time table top saw and chop saw set up, but I'm not having the room. I'll end up with a lot of open space in the middle with the walls crammed all the way around.

That is how it works mate, I have bays for 14 cars yet still have trouble finding space for the equipment

I used to keep most portable power tools in their cases on a sheft under the work bench, lined up book-style. Since a dozen or so cases start to all look alike, I write the name of tool inside on the end of the case with a silver or black sharpie. Also helps when you ask a helper to "go grab the recipricating saw..."

I don't care for wall-mounted tool systems. Too inflexible and not portable enough for my needs. I like as many things on wheels and inclosed as possible. I like the idea of a large wardrobe type cabinet on wheels with tools inside.

As far as a table-saw and chop saw are concerned, I would say it depends on how often you plan on using them. IMHO, wood-working and auto-work are two tool sets that you really want to keep separated for dust reasons. Depending on how much woodworking you plan to do and the number of tools you have, I would consider partitioning out a dedicated wood shop. Mainly because whatever dust-control set-up you use will be more effective.

Old dressers with the drawers removed converted to shelves worked for me in the past. Also, the original cases but in cabinets with no doors has worked. My current method is an old bookeshelf headboard I modfied.

They are stashed around the house based on how often I use them. Power drill stays in the hall closet, while the Sawzall is in the garage. Pretty much they stay in their cases on different shelves depending on how they are used.

I keep mine in a van down by the river...

Chuck has a decent system set up with industrial shelving (although non-industrial grade shelving would work fine), with the cases all labeled on the side in either black or silver sharpie. In a single 4 foot wide footprint he has nearly 30 tools within reach and out of the way. All of the tools that have cases live here.

For tools that are not used that often, or ones that are used outside because of noise, space or mess, we keep on a big ass roll around cart. Things like the chop saw and table mounted router live on the cart.

I found a metal cabinet 3' wide by 6' tall with a roll up door that goes the whole way top to bottom. It won't hold them all, but it will hold most of them. It's amazing how much space those little buggers take up because they aren't cube shaped.

The only drawback so far is that the roll door can catch on the tools if they get pushed too far back. Closing the door isn't soo much of an issue that way but if it were to get caught just right I'd have the catch at the back of the top shelf and only a small opening at the front bottom to try to reach the jam. I guess I'll have to pinball it and make the whole thing say TILT every now and again.

What can I do with all the old plastic cases? I thought they would be so neat to have, but the odd shapes and with most of them being oversized, they just don't fit anywhere either full or empty.

I have a workbench at the back of the Garage Majal and I built a shelf above that. It's about 22" from the ceiling, there are overhead lights for the workbench mounted under it. The shelf holds all my power tools (I try to get cases with them, much easier to store). Up there: Sawzall, 3 different drills (rechargeable, 3/8" and 1/2"), chop saw, orbital saw, paint spray guns, two sheet metal brakes (an 18" and a 30"), all kinds of crap.

Those cases are what is giving me the most grief. Not only are they oddball sizes, but they aren't really made for opening and closing repeatedly. Plus if things aren't back in there JUST SO it doesn't fit.

I'm tossing all my cases.

What with drills on the peg board and most other power tools in the case I bought I have found homes for most of them. How did I ever accumulate 9 drills?

that's a lot of drills... For awhile I had a bunch as well... until I decided to unload the ones I never used...

Hmm... storage withOUT the cases... in that case, I direct you again towards the woodworking world... where tool storage seems to be as much of a passion as actually building stuff... the options are endless... but often center around home-made cabinets with slots and cubby-holes for each tool.

Off the top of my head... one idea I saw: a guy built a work bench... on the front edge he placed power strips... under the power strips are tilt-out bins containing various tools... plugged in and ready to go. There is a slot in the top of the bin to allow for the cord.

i get hot girls to use them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWEISlPn_FM

Keep a couple of those empty cases around, especially the ones that don't have a tool-specific shape molded into the inside. They are great for other things, like storing that brake bleeder that didn't come with a case.

Ian F wrote: Off the top of my head... one idea I saw: a guy built a work bench... on the front edge he placed power strips... under the power strips are tilt-out bins containing various tools... plugged in and ready to go. There is a slot in the top of the bin to allow for the cord.

That's for guys without a life. I'm just trying to get stuff organized enough that I can get onto my car projects quickly.

Now to find one of those sub $500 Miatas for sale in the north Texas area?

I've always felt pegboard was a huge waste of space, (although properly done, it looks good in a shop).Shelves are the way to go. Lately I've been using canvas shopping bags to hold my hand tools. Power tools live pretty much wherever I set them down.

If you're dead set on pegboard, you might try visiting an independent hardware store. They get some cool displays for tools, and often don't use them. I used to work at one, and I copped a lot of pretty nice pegboard tool racks. This is one of those cases where dumpster diving can pay off,

if you want peg board check out northern tools.. they have metal peg board that will actually hold E36 M3 and the attachements to help make it so.

I gave up on old kitchen cabinets a longtime ago. I can't stand loosing stuff in the back of a 2' deep base cabinet with doors on it.

I use open shelving for almost everything, so I can see the stuff.

I wish I could help. All I can say is that I can totally relate. I'm very good at visualizing a lot of things, but give me a big pile of tools and cars and parts and E36 M3, and tell me to organize it all? Psshh. I'm worthless.

poopshovel wrote: I wish I could help. All I can say is that I can totally relate. I'm very good at visualizing a lot of things, but give me a big pile of tools and cars and parts and E36 M3, and tell me to organize it all? Psshh. I'm worthless.

If I didn't know better, I would have thought that I wrote that. And I've got pics to prove it.