MIMF

Dear MIMF,

My resolution for the new years is to indulge in making stuff again.
However, my tool storage consists of a plano box where I stuff most things in.

Can you guys post pictures of your tool storage/organization/workshop?

I need some inspiration/ideas.
(Also, if you bought "off the shelf", if you could tell me where/what you bought.

-Matt

I posted a "shop tour" a few years back, there are some pictures of tool storage and such in there I think

http://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php ... =+workshop

Does all over the workbench count?

one thing to consider is how we store our tools may not be ideal for how you work and what you do. I'm not saying you won't get good ideas but you may find that what you think you want is not what is actually best for you. With that in mind, I suggest you collect ideas here and elsewhere but hold off on investing a huge amount of time and money for a little while. Get your stuff organized neatly enough to proceed, then do some projects. During these projects take mental note of what tools you are using most often and how your work style goes with what you have and what you do. I like to have stuff I will use often out in the open and am not great about putting them away. Open storage options for these things work well for me since it is easier for me to put a bunch of stuff away when I finally get around to straitening up. I have out of the way places for other tools that I don't use too often (very small shop). The downside of that is that I sometimes put off getting them out to use them. The good thing about that is that it encourages me to use hand tools more often. This works for me because I don't have to work against deadlines. My shop would probably be really annoying for someone else.

Also, expect that you will end up reorganizing several times as you really get a handle on what works for you. My first shop was just a small room (large closet) in the corner of the basement with a bench in it. I didn't really have a lot of options and the room dictated my working style more than the other way around. About a year after I got into this, we moved and I dedicated a part of the basement to make into a small shop. I had lots of ideas as to how I should set it up and it was head and shoulders better than what I had but not as good as I thought. Years later a large plumbing disaster allowed me to re-do the shop space on the other side of the basement. The space is still small but much better suited to what I do; I had a much better idea of what I actually wanted. Still that was not the end of it as I am currently undergoing a reorganization that will make even better use of the storage space I have available.

Whatever system you decide on try to make it modular and flexible. I have a low worktable with a shelf system that straddles the middle of the table so i can access the tools from either side. On my taller bench there is a recessed tool holding tray that's at the back and along one side. The idea is to keep the sharp and dent provoking items stay below the grade of the work surface. The benches are mostly job specific so the tools there are the minimum needed to accomplish those tasks. Needless to say "mission-creep" is a constant threat and an overabundance of tools is the result.

I started with pegboards but got tired of reaching over the bench and guitar for tools. So I bought a mechanics tool cart that I keep behind me so I just turn around to reach my most used tools.

I learned many years ago not to keep tools on a pegboard over the bench. My bench is in the middle of the floor with the pegboards on the walls. That way, I can walk all the way around the bench and nothing falls on the instrument.

And, here is the working and tool storage half of the shop. This works for me. I have to walk to the tools which are restored to position after every use. I need the extra walking, and everything I use can't be within reach all the time anyway.

Thanks guys!

Arnt. Your workshop has caused me to drool for years, since you posted it.
It's both functional, and has a bit of style to it.

As for not every style working for me, I'm not too worried about it.
Rather, I'd like to glean information and sketch it together.

Would it help if I post pics of my crappy workshop?


I plan to build in 2 places:
1. My garage/power tool room (band saw, drill press, table saw, router, shop vac).
2. My bedroom--planes and chisels mainly. Bit brace and cordless drill for minor stuff.

I got a pic from a pro luthier that was pretty amazing.
May I post it here?

Thanks Bob!

Matthew,

The item of your interest is the mobile tool rack in the left side of the pic. The base is ~60cm x 60cm with 75mm casters at each corner and two are fixed and two are swiveling. The height is about 170cm. To make it stable when it is moved around, the frontside (visible here) reclines 10 degrees, and back side 5 degrees. The front side has pegboard and storebought tool racks, and it holds many hand tools. The reverse side has been modified recently by removing the pegboard and installing shelves, some with bins for small items, and others are just open shelves. The total cost for materials s certainly less than $40US and probably <$30US, without the lamp.

I'm going to build a new one that can rotate around the vertical (Z) axis, by using a heavy duty chair lazysusan between the caster-baseplate and the tool rack superstruction. It will have a locking bar to stop the rotation, for when I want to move it around the shop.

Here is another pic. It's untidy, but the objects are visible and at hand.

Wow!

I like the dust collector too.
I'm making a mobile version of it for my fein.

The dust collector construction was posted some months ago. It works very well and the HEPA filter is collecting only the very finest dust, but it is noisy and at ear-level. I thought about putting the collector inside the closet (on the other side of the wall) to muffle it, but I didn't want to cut a hole through the pine boards. But now I'm reconsidering it.

My shop was a bedroom when I was building (....well, it still is) ... everything in there. Dust collector is in the closet space, along with wood storage and WIP on a shelf above. Looking the other way is a bandsaw and tablesaw/ drillpress along the window wall.

Here's just another storage idea. I've taken a liking to Asian style saws. I discard the plastic guards and make better ones. The one in the. middle is very convenient to use because of the magnet. I painted the. smallest bright yellow because it had a tendency to get lost in the clutter. Likewise the shopmade crank knob for the vise.

Bob, your tool rack reminds me of my clamp rack. It would be handy to convert it to a rolling tool rack, but then what would I do with my clamps?

I'm with Bob and Dave, I try to keep my work table away from overhead tools and anything that could drop on it.

I use a small vacuum table that is mobile for most all of the actual work, and can move it to where the tools are, and it's made to be level with the bandsaw and can be used as an extension for long cuts. It's intentionally too small to put the tools on also. If I need a larger surface on the table I just clamp an additional top on or I can use the vacuum of the table to clamp on a really big sheet of laminated ply.
I place what I'm working with tools wise on a bench to the side of the table.
I use a heavy duty shelving rack for clamps. Only takes up about 6 " by 18" of floor space, and I'm pressed for space. The bench to put tools on has shelving that extends farther out the higher the shelf which gives plenty of working room under it The best thing I've done by far is to get most of my smaller tools in one spot by building a cabinet for them. Life is incredibly easier since I've hung it up. and still lots of room to fill in it.

Randy, that's a classy traditional tool cabinet, good job! I keep most of my general woodworking tools in a similar, but not nearly as pretty one, right over my ancient woodworking bench. Most of my guitar making hand tools are over another bench, and between these is an island bench where I work on instruments. Good access all around, and no danger of tools dropping on it.

When I look at Randy's tool cabinet, I think the next model of my mobile rack with have such a cabinet.