Separating extras from your primary use tools, though, is a good way of clearing up the mess and making your workspace a lot more manageable. Hang some pegboard in your workshop and hang either hooks, for easy-to-hang tools, or hang little baskets for things like screws and other smaller items.
Keep them visible, but out of the way on the board. Buy some organization trays for miscellaneous stuff. In general, it's a good idea to invest in a few little storage trays at the hardware store to keep things like screws, nails, and other tiny fasteners you might not want to part with.
It's great to have that stuff on hand if and when you need it, but finding a place for it is a challenge. Alternatively, save old milk jugs, coffee cans, and other little containers for keeping screws and other fasteners in. Make sure you mark them clearly. If you keep them small enough, you can even pop them into your portable box when you need them for a job. Clean up tools after using them. Imagine your grandfather's coming to visit tomorrow and will want to look through your toolbox.
Avoid the lecture and always remember to put your tools away clean. If they work for you, work to take care of them. Use a rag to wipe oil and grime off of tools, then place them in their assigned places.
You don't have to scrub them, but cleaning them up a bit will keep your tools from rusting and losing life. Put tools back immediately. When you're done using a wrench, don't just toss it on the ground to worry about later. Put it away if you're done using it.
It's easier to clean up as you go along rather than trying to clean up a big mess at the end of the day. That's when it gets tempting to just throw a wrench wherever, toss a file in with the screwdrivers, and start making a mess. Don't let yourself recreate the mess you got rid of. Head it off at the pass. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Place duplicate items on a pegboard in your garage.
Large items or ones that are seldom used can go here, too. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Keep your tools clean and vacuum out your toolbox occasionally. Tools that are well-cared for will last longer. Start with a toolbox that's somewhat bigger than what you think you need. The extra space will be eaten up in no time once you start organizing tools. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published.
Related wikiHows How to. How to. More References 2. Organizational Specialist. Expert Interview. Co-authors: Updated: November 12, Categories: Tools. Article Summary X To organize a toolbox, try separating your tools into piles based on their function. Bahasa Indonesia: Mengatur Kotak Peralatan. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 74, times. Now I know where to start and finish. I was so lost as how to get started. Can't wait to do this. Thank you so much.
Did this article help you? Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. About This Article Co-authors: In many cases, the best tool box organizer is the one you customize yourself. Toolboxes and tool chests are all a little different, and the ways people use tools and the frequency with which they use them vary. The first step to getting organized is selecting a foam tool kit or other tool foam product. Then you can tailor this foam to fit your needs.
You can create a single tool tray organizer or drawer organizer. You can also cut foam for every drawer in your tool chest. To help you find the perfect tool organization solution, we've put together a list of 19 tips and hacks to inspire you. These tool box organization ideas include advice for making the most of your foam, tips for cutting foam, and hacks for using foam in unique ways.
Keep reading to find out how you can create the tool organizer you're looking for. No matter what type of foam liner you're working with, you'll likely have to cut it to fit the drawers of your tool chest and to fit your tools. To maximize your foam and achieve the best possible layout, don't start cutting until you have a plan. First, lay out every tool you want in a drawer on top of the foam.
Stop and consider what the best arrangement will be. Try putting tools you use together near each other. You might want to place tools you use more frequently closer to the front of a drawer were you can access them more quickly. Once you have the layout you want, trace all the tools using a pen, pencil, or marker.
Then you can start cutting. This tip sounds simple, but it's some of the best advice about cutting tool foam. If you start cutting without a plan, you're more likely to space tools poorly and end up wasting material.
Toolbox foam comes in several styles, sizes, and colors. These foam tool organizer kits with two colors have a dark top layer of foam usually black or blue and a bright bottom layer.
When you cut out the shapes of your tools on the top layer and place it over the second layer, that bright second layer shows through. This arrangement functions like a shadow board which people tend to associate with hanging on walls ; whenever a tool is missing from your drawer, you'll know immediately it's not where it belongs. Tool box shadowing foam takes tool organization to the next level by calling out what you're missing. This is especially useful if you take your tool box with you to more than one location.
At the end of the day, you can pack up and know you have all the tools you came with. If you work in an area where foreign object damage FOD is a concern, shadow boards can make a big difference. These shadow foam kits are also ideal for facilities using Lean manufacturing practices such as 5S. When you outline small tools, drawing straight lines probably won't be a concern. You can easily trace the tool itself. If you need to draw long, straight lines to cut a piece of tool foam to size, though, a straight edge such as a drywall T-square can make the task a lot simpler.
Align the short end of the T-square with the edge of your foam and cut along the length of the device. Your edges will be perfectly straight, so your tool box foam inserts will fit snuggly into the drawers of your tool box. Most foam tool organizers and tool foam sheets are made from cross-link, closed-cell foam that's resistant to water and chemicals. They're made from durable materials, but that doesn't mean cutting the foam will be too difficult. You just need the right tools.
In most cases, a simple tool such as a utility blade or X-Acto knife can cut your tool foam. These blades are fairly small, which allows you to cut small shapes without too much trouble. You can also use a heavy-duty foam hot knife for foam cutting. You can make clean, precise cuts with these knives. They're helpful for large cutting projects and for cutting through thick foam. If a tool fits snugly into tool box foam, it can be difficult to pick it up quickly. You don't want to leave too much space around a tool because it could slide around, though.
An effective way to fix this problem is to cut a semi-circle on each side of a tool's handle that lets you reach in and grab it. You can cut this circle with a knife, but it's even easier to do so with a hole punch the metal kind you would use to cut perfect circles in plastic, leather, wood, and other materials.
Before you punch the hole for a tool, though, make sure you cut out all the shapes on your foam sheet. This way you can assess the space you have and figure out the most logical place to put the hole for easy tool pick up. In some situations in makes more sense to cut a strip through all of the tools in a drawer so you can pick any of them up easily.
This works if you have a drawer of wrenches, for example, where you have wrenches of many sizes placed close together. The wrenches might be too close together to use the hole punch method, and the horizontal strip method will likely create a cleaner finished product. Consider using a straight edge to trace this line and cut the foam so it neatly bisects your tools.
Tool box foam sheets work great for organizing smaller tools that would otherwise be thrown together in a drawer. When these tools are neatly arranged using foam, you can find the size you need without digging through a jumble of tools.
This method is useful for creating DIY wrench organizers, socket organizers, and screwdriver organizers. You can see an example of a pliers organizer below. When you lay out your small tools on the foam, you can maximize space by fitting the tools close together. Either place them next to each other in a line facing the same direction or fit them together like puzzle pieces.
You may want to try several layouts before settling on the best option. Another method for organizing drawers with small tools is to alternate the direction of tools to maximize space. This works well for pliers, screwdrivers, and other tools with a narrow end and a wider end with a handle. It's often a good idea to maximize space this way, but you don't have to cram everything into a drawer if that doesn't make sense for you.
Sometimes spacing tools out among multiple drawers will be more logical for your application. Select a layout that gives you the organized tool box you're looking for. When you plan tool box foam layouts for power tools , don't forget to make spaces for cords and batteries.
Cutting out spaces for these accessories will prevent them from getting lost and it will prevent damage to cords. Cutouts for cords don't need to be perfectly shaped, but they do need to be big enough to fit the cord. Make sure to lay the cord out and trace it so you'll be able to fit it into the space without trouble in the future. Foam tool kits work well for small to medium-sized tools, but for larger tools such as drills you'll probably need thicker foam.
It also makes sense to use this thick foam in the deeper drawers of your tool chest so tools don't sit too low in the drawers. Thick tool control foam is often constructed of thinner layered foam sheets glued together, so you can cut out several of the layers and fit a tool into the foam without cutting all the way through the foam. This means your tools will be protected from damage on the bottom, too.
Using a retractable blade to cut thick foam will help you cut out the exact depth you need without cutting through the foam. Before you start cutting, measure the blade against the side of the object you want to place in the foam. Make sure the blade depth matches the depth of the object. If you fit the object into the foam and it sticks out too much on top, you can always go back and remove another thin layer of foam from the bottom of the section you've already cut out.
It's best to be conservative when cutting foam so you don't accidentally cut out too much right away. For some tool shapes, it will be easier to cut out the foam in sections rather than cutting out an entire shape at once. This is usually wise when you're cutting out large shapes. It's also useful when you cut out intricate shapes and want to be careful not to tear the foam. To begin, try cutting out small sections at a time. Move slowly along the shape in a way that makes the most sense.
Whatever method you use, avoid trying to remove shapes too quickly, as doing so can cause damage. You can purchase foam tool kits or foam drawer liners sized to fit the drawers of your tool box. If you plan to use foam in many drawers, though, it's often more economical to buy a large foam sheet or foam kit and then cut it to fit several drawers.
You'll probably have some foam scraps left over after your project, but you'll also probably spend less money. If you go this route, use a tape measure to find out the exact sizes of the drawers you want to organize.
Then measure these out on your foam in a configuration that utilizes the space in the best way. Find a straight edge such as a ruler or the T-square mentioned above to help you neatly cut your foam. Once you've cut your sheets, drop them in your drawers to make sure they fit before proceeding with your tool layouts. Depending on the type of tool box you have, you may be able to purchase tool box drawer organizers specifically for Craftsman , Husky, Snap-On and other brands.
This method of purchasing a large sheet of foam will allow you to make organizers for any kind of tool chest, though, regardless of brand or model. You might have small objects you store in your tool box that don't need their own cutouts and can be stored as a group. Maybe you'd like a small square section of a drawer where you can keep screws or nails while you work.
To create a divided space, try using foam scraps. Cut thin strips of foam and turn them vertically so they serve as dividers. These DIY tool chest drawer dividers will serve a unique function and use up some of those foam scraps you otherwise wouldn't have a use for. Another way to save space in your tool chest is to turn both foam and tools on their sides and create an upright tool organizer.
This works well for smaller tools such as wrenches, as you can see in the image below. It can even provide the extra space to store both your metric and standard wrenches. To do this, measure the depth of your tool drawer and your tools when they're on their sides. Make sure the tools will fit in the drawer at this angle. Next, measure strips of foam that are the length of your drawer and whose width matches your drawer's depth.
Now you should cut slits into the foam to fit your tools into. Cut the slits deep enough that the tools fit snugly. You will probably want to measure this depth and test it with one of your tools.
Before you cut all the slits, count how many tools you have and space the slits evenly. When you're finished, you will be able to fit many more tools in one drawer than you would if the tools were laying flat. When you store more than one kind of tool in a drawer, you might want to consider using different colors of tool box foam inserts for the sections where you will store different tools. For example, you could use blue foam for screwdrivers and black foam for pliers.
If you use foam tool kits with two layers, the entire top layer could be black and the bottom layer could incorporate several colors of foam such as red and yellow. That way people can see even from a short distance away whether a screwdriver or pliers is missing from the drawer.
Alternatively, if you don't store more than one type of tool in each drawer, you can still color coordinate by using a different color foam or different color backing in separate drawers. Color coordination is especially useful for 5S programs or for workplaces where people share tools.
It allows everyone to quickly find what they need and then return it where it belongs when they're done with it. Less wasted time and wasted motion. You might encounter foam for sale under the name 5S foam sheets, but any colored foam can be used to help color coordinate for 5S. Just make sure to educate everyone in your facility about the color scheme you choose. If you have a Dremel rotary tool with a depth accessory, you can turn it into a plunge router to carve out spaces in your tool foam.
This will take you beyond having a foam cutting tool to having a foam shaping tool capable of more detailed work. This is useful when you want to carve into thick sheets of foam or when you want to have a very snug fit for you tools.
When you use your Dremel as a plunge router, you can cut varying depths into the foam so it molds to your tools, making for a very custom fit. To do this, install a multipurpose bit in your Dremel and then screw a depth accessory over it Dremel rotary attachment part number or , depending on which model Dremel you have.
By adjusting the depth accessory as needed, you can then carve out foam using the bit. To achieve the best fit for your tools, carve slowly to get the shape and depth you want and test out how the tool fits the shape as you go along.
While this method of cutting foam is ideal for thick layers of foam, you can also use it to cut into two-layered foam tool kits. You might want to do this to get a snug fit for taller tools while still having the shadow board effect with a bright background layer.
This might sound bizarre, but if you don't like tracing, here's an alternative for outlining tools on foam that involves an oven. Keep in mind, this only works for tools without rubber or plastic parts. First, mark where you want your tools on your foam even if you don't trace them, at least indicate their general position. Carefully remove the hot tools one by one and place them on the foam sheet. The tools will melt the foam beneath them, creating indentations.
If you don't have access to an oven, you could also try using a toaster oven or heat gun to heat up the tools. The methods we've described above for using bright colored foam to highlight missing tools help people identify where tools belong. It can also be helpful in shared tool storage areas to add small labels next to each tool's cutout naming the tool.
This can make finding and returning tools even faster, especially for people who may be less familiar with the current tool arrangement or the tools used. Labels of this nature can also be placed on the outside of tool drawers, tool chests, and tool storage cabinets so people can find the type of tool they're looking for. An organized space tends to be a more productive space where fewer mistakes are made, and organizing your tools is a simple way to make your space an easier place to get work done.
All spaces are unique, though, which is what makes a customizable organizational tool like tool box foam a solution that can work for almost anyone. To get started, find appropriate foam products. We recommend checking out foam tool organizers which come with two sheets of contrasting colored foam , foam drawer liners a single sheet of foam , and thick foam tool organizers for deeper drawers or larger tools.
For safely storing items that could be damaged by electro-static discharge, take a look at ESD anti-static thick tool foam organizers. Have questions about selecting or using tool foam organizers?
Get in touch. We're happy to help you find organizational tools for your project. Whether you run an auto mechanic shop, a manufacturing facility or any other business that uses tools, you know that organization is absolutely essential. Having your tools properly organized can help everything to operate more smoothly, reduce the risk of lost or stolen tools and even help ensure tools are not damaged.
While at first glance it may not seem like it, one of the best ways you can improve the organization of your tools is by using a foam organizer. In fact, there are an almost endless number of ways that this item can help you and your facility. Take a moment to read through the following great hacks for getting the most out of your tool foam organizers in your facility.
Missing tools are much easier to see when they have a bold yellow background. As you can see from this picture, every tool has its own predetermined place. The bright yellow backing behind the tool box shadowing foam will help you to immediately identify which tools are in use or missing.
One of the hardest items in the shop to keep track of is all your sockets. These small pieces can easily get misplaced or forgotten about over time. With a foam socket organizer like the one seen below you can quickly identify which pieces are missing and either track them down or get them replaced.
The foam will also hold them securely and organize them based on size to ensure workers can get the ones they need without any delay. Many people associate foam organizers with hanging on the wall , but that is not always the case. This tool chest drawer divider can go in just about any drawer to help keep it nice and organized.
Foam organizers can come in almost any size so placing them in your tool chest is a great way to keep the chest neat and clean. When added to your chest you will have different sections for each type of tool, which also makes it much faster and easy to locate exactly what you need.
If you have specific tool chests dedicated to specific types of tools, or even individual drawers for each tool type, a tool chest drawer organizer is a great option. Using this type of organizer your tools will always be exactly where they belong. The foam is cut to snugly hold each tool, which helps to ensure only the right tools can fit in each slot for further organizational help. Combine this great item with a label on each drawer to show what type of tool is in it and your employees won't waste another minute looking for the tools they need.
Tool shadowing foam uses a high contrast color background with a dark typically black main foam with the tool outlines. One of the best things about this type of organizer is that in addition to keeping everything in its place, it also allows you to see what is missing from a distance. Employees can, for example, glance up at the foam organizer from across the shop and see whether or not the necessary tool is available for use.
This cuts down on wasted motion , which is one of the key components to 5S implementation so this item can help with that type of initiative too! When it comes to tools, few names are as well-known as Craftsman. They don't, however, stop at just making your favorite tools. Thy also make a variety of Craftsman tool chest organizers that you can add to almost any of their high quality tool chests. These organizers are made specifically for their tools, but can work on others as well making them an ideal solution for your facility.
Whether you have just a few sockets or you've got hundreds, a toolbox socket organizer is a great option for when you are taking your tools with you on the go. Sockets can quickly get all mixed up in a toolbox if you're not careful, and that's why this type of organizer is the ideal choice for plumbers, carpenters, general contractors and many others. Your sockets will be in the right spot every time you need them so you don't waste any time while you're on the job.
This will also help you to quickly confirm that you have them all before you leave a job site so you don't accidently leave some behind. Keeping your toolbox organized is essential for working efficiently while out on the job. Having toolbox shadow foam in place will not only keep everything looking nice and clean, but will also help you to see if any tools are missing or out of place with just a glance.
This can help you to quickly confirm you have everything you need before you leave the shop so you don't have to make an unnecessary trip back because you forgot an important tool.
As mentioned above, sockets are difficult to keep organized if you are not intentional about it. When you are working in a shop with many people, having them properly organized by size and type is critical. There are many different socket drawer organizers available, most of which will allow you to separately organize metric and standard versions for even easier use. For many tool chests and other storage areas you don't need to have too thick of a piece of foam to keep your tools in place.
A simple foam drawer liner will be sufficient to ensure the tools don't roll around while people are opening and closing the drawer. Even with its thinner design it will still ensure all tools have their own spot for exceptional organization.
You can have custom tool box foam inserts made for your tool box, or you can even make your own at home. This is a great way to help organize your tool box, obviously, but it can be much more too. You can select whatever color foam you want for a customized look or to further improve organization.
No matter what type of tool box you have, or what tools you're using, it is quick and easy to have your own foam insert made to keep the tools safe. There are many different ways to learn how to organize tools in a tool chest. One of the most effective options for most people is going to be using foam tool organizers. While there are many pre-made foam options out there, some people will want to do it on their own.
This is quick and easy with high quality foam that you can cut on your own. Creating your own foam drawer organizer is far easier than most people would think.
When making them, however, you want to get the most out of every inch of drawer space that you have. Take some time to plan out what you are going to do so you can get the best results the first time.
Whether you only have one drawer, or many, using an organizer like this will help keep everything in its proper place. If you're like many people, organizing a tool chest consisted of little more than pushing your tools around until the drawers would close. If you want to become more efficient, and keep your tools safer, make sure you learn some important tips on how to organize your tool chest.
The first step is to get the quality foam organizers you need. Next, plan out exactly where you want your tools to go. Take the extra time needed to really think through your organization system and make sure that it works with your needs and space.
There is no one-size-fits-all organizing magic when figuring out how to organize a tool box, but with the tips above you should be able to start organizing your toolbox or workspace in a way that will serve you best. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
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