A few folks mentioned getting things out of drawers, like the quick change tool holders. While I agree there are efficiency gains there, I prefer to keep things in drawers for easier cleaning. Things that are out on racks quickly collect chips and become dirty, which for me makes it more difficult to work. Things that are difficult to clean will never get cleaned. Also, someone noticed that everything (including the walls and shelves) is white. I paint everything white because it’s like installing 10 extra lights in a space. You’d be amazed what it does for visibility in your shop!
The Adam Savage look isnt for everyone. I'm highly torn between having a (few) drill index(ices), on display vs neatly stored + out of sight; until I need to use the item. Your system probably best reflects how you want to approach projects where Adam’s is about waste not a second to get something going. Like you want physical and visual freedom to spread out with a project; then cleaning up to a neutral clean work area. The return state being as or more important for future projects (contrasting several people who just add to their work bench so they may have 75cm x 120cm bench but work within a 20cm x 30cm footprint because of the stack of ‘crap’ around them. That said and if naturally you are spending the bulk of your time with one or two machines, there is a reason to have your top 10 tools as instagrabs. And definitely not some drawers on the other side of your garage if you can avoid that.
I'm with you! For years I had stuff on racks "out where I could reach them easily". The stuff got chips or wood dust (combination shop) on everything and it was hell to clean. My new digs have everything put away in drawers or upper kitchen style cabinets other than the barest amount of stuff. It's so much easier to keep things clean. And it's not like pulling open a drawer slows the process down by any noticable amount. I tend to pull out what I need for a job and afterwards put it away. The small "staging area" is then left clear of all but the chips or shavings. And that's easily swept away.
Light bulbs ? That reminds me . Q.....How many Texans does it take to change a lightbulb? While your thinking about that I have to say that your neat and tidy shop puts me to shame. My big problem is hanging on to junk that might just come in handy one day so a ruthless clearout is in progress. Thanks . A.... I don't know but sure as hell there'll be one around soon to mansplain it to us.
Observation from a damp pennisula of rain swept land. The rate of corrosion is pretty well proportionate to the vertical free space above the plan area of the metal. Think condensation as rainfall. Hang wood saws vertically--good. Keep shelves as close to each other as possible. Use drawers and cupboards for the valuable or less used items. Going away on holiday, drape polythene over cast iron beds and tables. Get four playing card sized pieces of steel, wire wool them bright. Place one on the floor, one on the bench, one on a high shelf and one in a small drawer. Leave for a month whilst the autumn weather systems pass by. Compare, YMMV.
I keep my spice/herb drawer sorted alphabetically. "How do you fine the time?" Between the tarragon and turmeric. Great organization and love the labelling. I use 6 sterilite bins that I have labelled WIP 1-6 (work in progress). This way I can put all bits related to one project away quickly, switch to another project and everything I need is there. This helps with my ADHD style of doing projects. One of these bins is my steam engines from found parts which you have inspired me to dig out again.
As for alphabetical sorting, how do you deal with things that go by different names? Not exactly a spice but scallions vs green onions. Or for tools you could have Vise-Grip or Mole wrench or locking pliers.
I love the shop tours! Been wanting this vid a while. Things I've found useful (seeing as nobody's asked) are: - Magnetic tool rails on the wall. - Custom fit welding cart for my little storage space. - Writing "Not Booze" on my brake cleaner spray bottle. - Store spray cans horizontally on sub divided shelves, writing what they are on the caps. - Putting more cat into my videos.
I have drawers on my toolbox labeled things like "too complicated to explain", "not labeled because you can't read it anyway", "I forgot" and "tappy things" ... I mean... Yay, it's Blondihacks time!!
To access the items that came in late to class and so didn’t fit within their category - place an index card in the drawer where they would belong. On that card you write the item’s name (so you know you already own it), and it’s actual location where you got it to rest. As old programmers we’d recognize the indirect pointer being deployed when your struct ran out of fields.
If you buy a tool with an extraordinarily long name and use an index card, part of the name ends up on the adjacent object in the drawer. Buffer overflow. :D
Glad my shop-hound husband sent me the link to your video. As an organizer I can see a lot of similarities to working through a kitchen organizing project. Working in an organized space is much more relaxing and productive. Great video!
As someone who finds it impossible to organize things, this video was immensely helpful. And I cannot overstate how impressive it is what you manage to make with such a limited space!
just doing that organisation-magic in my shop. First few days mess gets bigger but then the effect of finding stuff quicker kicks in,so much fun from then on.
Oh Quinn... The nanometers ties in perfectly with where I just did a layout at work in mainly SAE and my boss told me to switch to metric and buy the crew that would do the work new tape measures if needed. The crew didn’t like the idea and told me they wanted it in Angstroms just to be cheeky. Told them that was too simple and I was going to do it in light seconds next time...
My favorite tape measure has inches on one side and centimeters on the other. It is a bit short, but is helpful when I don't want to mess with conversions. I use two different scales. One is fractional inch and decimal inch. The other is metric. They travel with me in the car (so I always have the correct one with me).
""Organizing is a process, not an event"".. That is the best characterization I have heard. Beautiful. As I use my workshop, I am constantly learning how to organize my toys. I suspect I will never be done, but some of my work areas are getting there. For my small parts drawers, I 3-D printed many bins...hundreds of custom parts sorting drawers. john
Quinn holds and points to coffee cup; Me - Look at my cup and notice that it is empty; get more coffee! Nice tour of the shop, first that I recall seeing. Looking forward to more work on the steam engine!
Taxonomy is everything. I use Tom Lipton's system for my 7-drawer Kennedy box, so I have a "pointy things" drawer. It makes me smile every time I need a deburring tool or a scriber or a pencil. :)
This is an EXCELLENT video for any small shop designer. Doesn't matter if it's for machining or woodworking or model building or any other activity. If it's something that has lots of various bits and things then it's solid gold. A very hearty WELL DONE! It took me a good 40 years to learn the full extent of what you have given the world in a 20 minute video. In particular the heirarchy idea for drawers or shelf spaces. That's solid gold right there. And a nicely well paced video it is too. There's nothing that anyone should skip over. Kudos on getting the message across really well with only enough back story to make the points. But that's something I like with all your videos anyway. I'm on a model airplane forum and there's frequently threads on how to organize small shops. I'm going to post a link to this video there. It should be "must viewing" for anyone setting up or improving a small shop space.
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for explaining in detail your shop organizational reasoning! At every step, I found myself saying....THAT IS EXACTLY MY THINKING PROCESS....a process that I have “apologized for”.....or kiddingly justifying my blatantly obvious “over the top organization” as “being my obsessive compulsive personality” ......when I observe wide-eyed visitors to my shop! With very limited space in my downsized retirement home compared to my full sized home shop space....I also used floor to ceiling...every square inch storage systems. Your video gave me the courage to “come out of my closet and really feel good about my talent for organization....EXACTLY AS YOU DESCRIBED YOUR THINKING PROCESS!” I STILL AM THE HOARDER....as my wife will describe me to visitors......but NOW I am proud of my square inch use of space! My organizational tasks include my two workshops, my converted closet work desk for scratch building model railroad rolling stock and structures using metals, wood, plastics, small screws, nuts & bolts, paints, many small tools, electrical, and scenery materials. Numerous accumulated building materials are classified in various storage containers under the model railroad layout....for ease in locating when needed at a moments notice. IT FELT GOOD TO HEAR YOU SAY THAT YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEM HELPS YOU REMEMBER WHERE TO LOOK FOR A TOOL!!! Now I am much more forgiving of “my forgetfulness” when I can’t find something...or even forget that I have something stored in such a manner that I “will NOT forget where I stored an item rarely used” WATCHING YOU.....I WAS WATCHING MY MIRROR IMAGE....AND I THANK YOU...FOR GIVING ME A MUCH NEEDED BOOST OF CONFIDENCE....THAT I / WE HAVE A TALENT....THAT MANY PEOPLE WRONGLY CRITICIZE AS ONLY A QUIRKY OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVENESS. I have also enjoyed learning the shop techniques described in your excellently produced videos.
You certainly get a great deal of 'machining mojo' in a very meager space. Really liked the drawer organization. Yes on the horizontal surfaces -- ONE never has enough. Even though I have 3 large workbenches, I still put circular flat covers over the garbage cans, and wood sitting lids on 5 gallon buckets and so forth. It is kinda funny that those not having such as wide variety of different categories of elements do not understand. You did a great job of explaining the issues.
Waiting for your videos on Saturday morning reminds me of Christmas morning as a kid...just can't wait for it to get here!! Love your channel!! Really hope to be a patron real soon!! Thank you for everything you do!! Happy machining!!
Once again, useful tips and tricks. I understand your problem completely as I forge, fabricate, weld, grind, turn in a 300 square feet space. Every time I need new tools my first thought is: where can I put it in a way that it's efficient to use? I recently bought a metal storage cabinet to put my lathe on: best purchase ever. Took the wheels off and bolted it to the wall to increase stability. That allowed me to get rid of a huge wire shelving unit that was occupying more space than it should have. Tool Hierarchy is a must. Thank you again.
Thanks for showing your workshop storage. Mine is a similar size and you have given me some great ideas. Your written note about storing your taps upright in holes is a good idea and would allow the various threads to have their own tray and be stored above each other, something I will do. I have arranged my dies on their side from smallest measurement to largest, separating each group of threads. Again they can have their own tray and stacked above each other. My other problem is having too much "might be handy one day" stuff which you didn't get to😉
looking at your fixing draws makes me thankful that I work in metric, as it is so simple to set things out by M3, M4, M5, M6, M8, M10 ect and then breaking down to size from there :)
Cardboard dividers are a great idea! Easy to source and shape, and won't damage the items stored within. I am surprised (and impressed) that you've managed to keep them free of oil. Doubt I'd do as well, and it'd become a fire hazard. For holding screwdriver bits and hand tools (side cutters, needle nose pliers, etc) in a drawer, I opted to 3d print pieces. I went modular so that I could replace a part that broke or didn't work without having to print the entire thing again. I printed an "angle iron" piece with two dovetails running the length of one side, and matching negative dovetails in the bottoms of the tool holder modules. The "angle iron" sits in the drawer, screwed into the side. On top of that I have a 1/4" honeycomb block to hold long screw bits vertically, followed by 3 modules for pliers etc. The first two pliers modules are the same dimensions, while the last has larger holes to accommodate things with a wider head, e.g. a wire stripper. The holes have an oval cross-section, and are angled back and to the side. The angle to the side is so the modules can sit closer to the side of the drawer while still leaving clearance for the handles. The former angle is to reduce height, so the handles of the longer tools do not hit as I open/close the drawer. (hope that's explained well enough, in the event that someone attempts to reproduce...)
The hardest part about organizing is knowing when to stop. The more granular you get, the harder it is to find spaces for new items, especially if they are a little bit larger than existing ones. Years ago I had 6 reamers I had purchased as needed and they had a nice space to live in, then I went to an estate sale where I bought about 120 of them for a song. A few auctions later I probably have 400, from extremely tiny to 2.5" diameter, chucking, hand, adjustable, tapered, morse, etc. Most will never get used, but are there just in case. The storage went from a nice fitted box to multiple locations from close at hand to "got to take a walk" storage. Labelling is KEY!
Really enjoyed this shop tour. I think it might be one of my favorite videos so far. I do RC models and am fortunate to have lots and lots of space in my shop. In the last several years I came to realize that I probably enjoy being in the shop and working there more than the actual RC flying it provides. So, I began investing in making the shop look and feel as cozy and pleasant as possible. I put in a kitchen and a garden, which my wife and our dogs thoroughly enjoy (my wife is into gardening in a big way). It's great to be able to have my family also enjoy being there with me. I suck at organizing my tools, though. This look at how you organize your shop was very enlightening and entertaining. The concept that organization is a system / process was also super helpful. I have often thought about getting a small hobby lathe, but so far I have felt intimidated by the learning curve. Watching your videos (and also This Old Tony's) have been a mild revelation. I will probably snatch up a lathe in the next few years. Btw, you and Old Tony are such incredibly gifted teachers. I'm so happy that I found your channels (although my wallet certainly disagrees). Best regards from Brasilia, Brazil. PS: did you watch Old Tony's videos on cutting gears? I'm still smiling days later. They are sooo funny! However, I couldn't help myself and wrote a sarcastic comment saying that his videos were very useful for us foreigners practising hearing English. I also mentioned that even though the subject matter was mildly interesting, it would certainly help make his presentation less boring if he included a joke or two in the video. He apparently never picked up on my sarcasm and apparently deleted my coment LOL. I'm so going back there to periodically thank Old Tony on his great English-as-a-second-language content. Question: if I get banned from Old Tony's channel, will I still be able to watch his videos??
This level of organization really pays off. In a university lab we keep a list of contents of every drawer physically attached to it at all times plus a copy of the list with directions to find said drawer in a folder pinned to the door. It really helps when a student is assigned to us to work on their project.
Thank you for this video! I have tried (and failed) to develop and maintain a system like this. Hearing about your motivations, successes, and failures is super useful.
During my apprentice days, each machine had its own tool board, fixed to the wall behind it. For example, the lathe had the 3 jaw chuck key, the 4 jaw chuck key, spanners, Allen keys, Jacobs chuck key and tool post square socket all mounted. Behind each one was a silhouette denoting if the item was missing. Just a thought to free up draw space and utilise empty wall space.
This was definitely a wakeup call for me, since I just moved into a new workshop and have the opportunity to really get organized. A very necessary can of worms I hate to open!
Looks like my toolbox! The largest draws on the bottom are filled with hand held power tools (drills, sanders, hot glue guns), and large C clamps. Next drawer up has boxed tool sets (ratchets, taps, hole saws) and MORE C clamps!
You're timing for this video is perfect, I'm in the middle of organizing my shop and the vector thing is spot on. I quickly learned that some items need to be grouped together vs by size or length. It's really tough to decide sometimes and my guesses have been wrong a few times... Anyway, this has to be one of the most time consuming processes to go through but as you said it will pay back in spades. Thanks for the great video Quinn!
Thank you for showing what you did well and also your "failures". Too many people would only show the "good" parts, setting unrealistic expectations for everyone else.
Wow Quinn, in an earlier video you removed your shirt to show us the periodic table of elements. Now you give us a look in your drawers. Is it any wonder this channel is so popular! :-) Seriously though, you've given us all some great ideas on organization and the effort that it takes to maintain it. Wonderful video!
I've been watching your stuff for a little while now. I do not do any machining. I just enjoy watching the process of stuff being made, and you have an exemplary method of explaining and describing everything that's going on. This video may be the first one that I can immediately put into practice. Thanks for making this knowledge first order accessible. :-)
Being 64 years old and having been hobbyist of some sort since I was a fetus, I find this video quite interesting. I have been organized in this manner since my early twenties (I have no clue what sparked it). It's nice to hear someone explain it so well, thank you !
First off, I don't want to get all gushy and stuff, ok . You have a pleasant voice and and a smooth delivery. You have a way of explaining process/procedure, not dry and dull yet very instructive and strait forward. The equipment you use is what most "serious" (I hate that word) hobbyist might have in their home shop. As an aside, I really enjoy the way you say "Blondiehacks" in the intro. (Not PC, sorry)
i loved this! I'm just a humble weekend woodworker (with aspirations of someday doing machining) and i've been struggling with how to keep my stuff organized when i don't yet have enough Things to build an entire organization schema around. this gave me some great ideas! I think I know what i'm going to do with my woefully empty screws and fasteners drawer now :)
For the hardness gauge, it helps to leave a note-card ‘pointer’ in the right drawer that reminds one of the wrong drawer where the tool lives. That way the tool can still be found, and returned, easily
One of the other tricks we use in the Race car trailer is a sheet holder on the side of every bin with the contents. The 'topic' of the tote is in big letters on the end, but everything in it is listed on the inventory sheet. If you use it, it goes on the WB on the wall. Bring the trailer home, part of post race work is resupply everything used. requires discipline to write it down and not just dump the trailer until next time, but it does work well.
I think if you love your work, you can make the most out of your space. The greatest feeling is buying your own place and building on it. I know you can do it!
I absolutely love your approach. It is process-oriented and can be applied anywhere. I have recently been bequeathed a wonderful woodworking shop and am using a combination of your approach and Adam Savage's "first order of retrievability" system. Thank you for sharing. (p.s. this is an edit. Just as I Posed this and hit play again, you reference Adam's system. :) )
I really like how you talk about organizing from about 9:00. I am a super organizer. I have tons of tools, music equipment and instruments, computers, books, etc. in a smaller room than your shop. It's not optimal, but it's always a work in progress. I'm getting a drill press tomorrow; I have a vague idea about how to fit it in. All I know is that it has to fit in somehow and that I'm going to make it fit in! Sometime later I'm adding a small bandsaw. Also, I'm going to build an actual woodworking work bench--just shorter than normal--and fit it in too. I love organizing! :)
In Manitowoc Wisconsin there is a marinetime museum. The museum includes a WW2 US submarine . In its engine room is a good sized lathe tucked into a corner. To fit the space and still be usable the lathe is built left handed, the tailstock on the left , headstock on the right.
8:50 I did this at work. I repair consumer electronics (We also do retail and service) and consequently have two drawer stacks under my workbench. Most TVs come with a very thick and sturdy kind of cardboard in front of the screen to protect it, and as we sell quite a few TVs we have a few of those laying around. They make excellent drawer organizers, not at all flimsy. I'm always suprised how sturdy cardboard with hotglue can be :D
SO many wonderful ideas. For my small parts (fasteners, etc) I get the cheap plastic containers that have adjustable spacers included so you can design the storage the way you want. These containers are about 12”x10” about 1.5” thick, and are transparent. I sorted all my screws/nuts/bolts/washers. When I have several of something, they have their own space in the container. When I get down to “well, I only have 1 of these freem-thruster widgets, and only 3 of these reverse-threaded syncopated spindle widgets” then those last few items go into a “miscellaneous” compartment. So all my 8-32 screws of all lengths, heads, materials are in one container, all sorted and labeled, and the few one-offs are chucked in a corner of that container. I have about 20 of these containers, and I built a rack for them that stands about 6 feet tall with slots for each container. The containers are labeled on the edges, so I can see what is where. I can then pull out the container of all of the same type of screws and take it over to the workbench to see what I need.
I do likewise. Quinn sorts on a few criteria to avoid 60 bins with one item each. I find that using the 12x10 containers, you can file them like books in a bookcase. Very efficient.
I don't own any of this type of equipment with a few exceptions like the tap & die set, some calipers, and hand tools. I would love to own a small metal lathe for custom knurl knobs that I use in the woodworking accessories I make, such as knurl knobs or bolts for wood and brass or stainless steel marking gauges, scribes, marking knives, etc. I made a knurling jig from a PASK-MAKES video, but I have a hard time finding brass bolts that I can make into knurl-knobs. Your organization is top-notch as well as your humor! Thanks for sharing
Great video. I find shop organization is a good thing to do every few months when I’m between projects. Basking in the glow of the last one and not quite sure how to start on the next. Or something like that.
I love drawers and since I'm also a woodworker I make a lot of my own, but certain things I much prefer to have in plain sight such as screwdrivers, T-wrenches and pliers. I love having my box wrenches hanging up in nice neat fashion on a wall so I can see and grab them at a glance. That drawer under your mill is a great idea but I would want to retrofit it with heavier full-extension slides to handle the weight. I also hate to have things on top of other things because I sometimes forget that I have something (out of sight, out of mind). Also, certain items that come in blow-molded plastic cases end up out of the cases because they just take up too much room. The day I'm finished organizing and modifying my shop(s) is the day I draw my last breath.
Quinn is describing, and she probably knows it, the "most recently used" paging algorithm. Swap those unused pages to disk and increase your virtual memory. Keep the "working set" in cache.
It's weird that probably within my lifetime we've gone from using metaphors about workshops to describe how computer memory architecture works to using computer resource metaphors to describe how shops work.
I use a method something like this. My shop is big enough that I have a couple of carts , but even a small plastic tote works. Put what you are going to need, tool and materials wise, in cache, er the tote, and take it to the work spot. When complete, put it all back in the tote and return it to tape, er, where it belongs. Sometimes you may create a working set in which you pre-stage parts and tools for a particular job, e.g. oil filters and the filter wrench, into a small tote and keep that on the shelf.
As far as drawer molding storage. What I have done in the past is taken yoga mats or the foam camping sleeping pad cut to the size of whatever drawers it going in and them spray glue them together to build up the height you want or need. Then once the glue is dried just trace out your tool or tools and cut out and cut the depth you want it to sit and now you have a diy homemade Kazan foam knock out that works just as good at a fraction of the price. Like a 6 feet long by 2.5 wide by 3/4 thick for 6 bucks from shit mart. Glued together and had enough foam for multiple drawers in the tool box
Funny, my "organisational" system is very similar to yours, I even have an 'other misc stuff ' drawer, which as you said Quinn receives a lot of things, resulting in many "forgotten I had that" moments !! Keep up the great videos! greetings from the land down under..
love the "Grock" any way, the card board boxes for storage and re-organizing is very "old school" to me. I grew up in the appliance industry and my dad was a wonder at finding just the right box for any "new" stuff we had to add to our inventory. Dad was self made man and he just loved using cardboard boxes to organize with.
I'm scared. Everything you said makes sense. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!?! Good explanation of the process. I also like the drawer labels, stabby bits, squeezy bits, etc. I look forward to the guys in my shop at work shaking their heads yet again as they look at something goofy I have done at my desk and/or work bench. "Hey, got any linesman pliers?" Yeah, they're in the drawer marked "squeezy bits" on my work bench. Thanks, and Meow to Sprocket.
Love the cardboard dividers in your drawers! I have been "trying" to battle with organization off n on the last few months as well. Slowly I am winning, I think
I've seen the perfect T-shirt for you. It says, "I have CDO, it's just like OCD but in alphabetical order like it should be." Kidding aside, I wish I had the tenacity to organize to that degree. Kudos on a well organized shop space.
I take OCD to a whole new level when it comes to being organized. I work with lots of small parts and tools and if I can't find it I wind up buying another. My shop consists of 6 workbenches at the moment. 1) An 8 drawer Sears workbench in a closet in my house mostly for storage of sensitive electronics, 2) A small table for laying out the materials i am working with at the moment so they are easy to find, 3) A 4'x2' workbench top with lights and power that I set up on a 4'x2' table when needed to do hand assembly, 4) A large heavy duty workbench at the back of my garage with a large vise, drill press, power tool storage, and peg boards for hand tools, 5) Another 8 drawer Sears workbench on wheels in my garage for a lathe (I used to have an Atlas 6"x14" lathe but sold it about 15 years ago when I was recovering from a heart attack - I'm looking for another one now), 6) An 8'x4' table on my back patio (plywood and cinder blocks) used for painting, grinding, sawing and anything really messy. I'm going to build another 8'x4' table in my garage using one of those DIY kits that has two shelves underneath and redo my garage area completely.
Hey Quinn Thanks for sharing! I particularly love the cardboard and hot glue philosophy to be prepared for change. I had been admiring your organization and general shop tidiness which I have none of and it hurts me for every project. In the past I've had better and worse organized shops than what I currently have which is frankly obscenely capable but something of a disaster area. I'm shifting focus back to the shop after several years of other eclectic activities and I'm planning to deploy your quick hacks for organization flexibility. The timing of this video could not have been better.
Regarding taps and dies, I store them in with the corresponding screws. For example, if I need a 1/4-20 tap I simply go to the 1/4-20 screw bin. I am also space limited and it didn't make sense to store them separately. Cheers.
And to think my shop was small. Great informative video! I am building my own custom cabinets and work bench for my shop, because I have a rather small shop only 6'x20'.
Learned tool organization from my dad. He was a dentist. He never had to look at the tool to pick it up, it was always where he needed it. Separate trays of tool kits for each task.
I have a drawer of spare and rarely used things that cut (drill bits, saw blades, etc.) and another drawer of rarely used tapes, glues, etc. I considered labeling them and ->
Just a thought about items that aren't stored following the system, such as your hardness tester; put a label on the front of the drawer for that item. So the tap and die drawer has its label, but also a label that says "hardness tester". My setup is very similar to yours. I constantly struggle. Thinking vertically helps. For example, I have hooks on the front of the shelf above the mill where I hang my combination hammer and drawbar wrench. That puts it right where I need it and makes access very efficient. Following the same principal of efficiency, I have a wood block that sits on the bench next to the mill with the items used for almost every job (spotting drill, 1/4" stub drill, edge finder, 3 sets of parallels, 1/4 and 1/2" 2 flute and 4 flute end mills.
for the spanner drawer and other random parts drawers you should try temporary labels, something like like an adhesive dry erase label or or card holder that you can easily change the labels on as the inventory changes
Many great words (and lovely pink drawers!) in this video, my favourite is the adjective “zombiely” (or is it “zombily”?). Striving for perfection is a worthy goal, but true perfection can only be achieved in stasis, and I like you alive! :) I hope you can learn to embrace 侘寂, I don’t think that drawer is worth being so embarrassed about it! Either way, thank you for this video - I have a (comparatively) lot of space and use it poorly, you just gave me a good kickin’!
I'm having to lie down. All that space would make giddy. My spare room is my office, where I work (computer stuff), store all my photography gear, and all my electronics gear along with all my tools, cables, components...... Etc etc etc. If I'm dedicated to a serious tidy-up (hide stuff!) I can see the floor! Woooo! Loving your draws though 😂
At my old house, I had a big shed in the back yard which I had built, and it worked fairly well for me. When I moved, I built almost the exact same shed in the backyard at the new house, and I mostly put all of the same stuff in the new shed, in the same places it had been in the old shed, so I wouldn't need to remember the new locations for everything...
First order retrievability blew my mind first time I heard Savage mention it. Because that's exactly how I feel. If I can't get to my stuff, it doesn't exist and I won't use it.
Love videos like these. I was able to consolidate my old 6000 sq/ft shop into a 500 sq/ft shop while increasing my throughput. It’s crazy what proper organization and setup can do. Have you looked into 3D printing at all? Since you can do CAD it would be super easy for you to print custom tool holders and bins and all sorts of things.
Categories in my own rolling chest are go-roundie tools, scrapey tools, howbigizit tools, squeezy tools, hitit tools, torquey tools, and "stuff." As you might imagine, the "stuff" drawer is not easy to close.
Cardboard and hot glue for drawer divider is an excellent idea! Definitely stealing it! Also grateful for you sharing the failures in your system, hope I can avoid them in the future! (also also, sorry I currently can afford to support you)
I grok what you are saying about organization begin a process. Sometimes you have to 'live with' a setup before you decide on the best tetris-ing system
You do have a bit of a Russian doll storage system, I got rid of plastic shipping cases for things put in drawers that don't have enormous organizational value. Designed and printing collet trays that actually fit into my small tooling cabinet and tossed out the nice but oversized original. Just started designing and printing 40 taper tool holder holders(?) that will bolt to the sides of my designated rolling tooling cabinet. Morse taper drill holders are next on my hit list. The fantasy is rolling the tools to the milling machine rather than getting blisters walking around in my 20x20' garage shop labyrinth to get stuff. Cheers-Peter
My main gripe with my shed (Australians work in sheds, not shops. Shops are for buying stuff) is that it has to house all my machines and tools. That means when I have to grind or linisher metals, usually steel, the shed and everything in it gets covered in the metal dust. that nasty shit just gets into everything. I have a tarp over my lathe so it doesn't get covered, but you can't cover everything. I was thinking of building a small extension off the shed and have like a heavy curtain over the doorway, then carry out all the dirty grinding cutting operations away from the rest of the shed.
A few folks mentioned getting things out of drawers, like the quick change tool holders. While I agree there are efficiency gains there, I prefer to keep things in drawers for easier cleaning. Things that are out on racks quickly collect chips and become dirty, which for me makes it more difficult to work. Things that are difficult to clean will never get cleaned.
Also, someone noticed that everything (including the walls and shelves) is white. I paint everything white because it’s like installing 10 extra lights in a space. You’d be amazed what it does for visibility in your shop!
The Adam Savage look isnt for everyone.
I'm highly torn between having a (few) drill index(ices), on display vs neatly stored + out of sight; until I need to use the item.
Your system probably best reflects how you want to approach projects where Adam’s is about waste not a second to get something going. Like you want physical and visual freedom to spread out with a project; then cleaning up to a neutral clean work area. The return state being as or more important for future projects (contrasting several people who just add to their work bench so they may have 75cm x 120cm bench but work within a 20cm x 30cm footprint because of the stack of ‘crap’ around them.
That said and if naturally you are spending the bulk of your time with one or two machines, there is a reason to have your top 10 tools as instagrabs. And definitely not some drawers on the other side of your garage if you can avoid that.
I'm with you! For years I had stuff on racks "out where I could reach them easily". The stuff got chips or wood dust (combination shop) on everything and it was hell to clean. My new digs have everything put away in drawers or upper kitchen style cabinets other than the barest amount of stuff. It's so much easier to keep things clean. And it's not like pulling open a drawer slows the process down by any noticable amount. I tend to pull out what I need for a job and afterwards put it away. The small "staging area" is then left clear of all but the chips or shavings. And that's easily swept away.
Light bulbs ? That reminds me .
Q.....How many Texans does it take to change a lightbulb?
While your thinking about that I have to say that your
neat and tidy shop puts me to shame. My big problem
is hanging on to junk that might just come in handy one day
so a ruthless clearout is in progress. Thanks .
A.... I don't know but sure as hell there'll be one around soon to mansplain it to us.
Have you ever thought of putting together a shop blooper reel? I’m sure there’s tonnes of fun flubs
Observation from a damp pennisula of rain swept land.
The rate of corrosion is pretty well proportionate to the vertical free space above the plan area of the metal. Think condensation as rainfall.
Hang wood saws vertically--good. Keep shelves as close to each other as possible. Use drawers and cupboards for the valuable or less used items.
Going away on holiday, drape polythene over cast iron beds and tables.
Get four playing card sized pieces of steel, wire wool them bright. Place one on the floor, one on the bench, one on a high shelf and one in a small drawer. Leave for a month whilst the autumn weather systems pass by. Compare, YMMV.
I keep my spice/herb drawer sorted alphabetically. "How do you fine the time?" Between the tarragon and turmeric.
Great organization and love the labelling. I use 6 sterilite bins that I have labelled WIP 1-6 (work in progress). This way I can put all bits related to one project away quickly, switch to another project and everything I need is there. This helps with my ADHD style of doing projects. One of these bins is my steam engines from found parts which you have inspired me to dig out again.
Bins labelled 1-6? ADHD style? Try again. I'd probably need at least 1-60.
As for alphabetical sorting, how do you deal with things that go by different names? Not exactly a spice but scallions vs green onions. Or for tools you could have Vise-Grip or Mole wrench or locking pliers.
I love the shop tours! Been wanting this vid a while. Things I've found useful (seeing as nobody's asked) are:
- Magnetic tool rails on the wall.
- Custom fit welding cart for my little storage space.
- Writing "Not Booze" on my brake cleaner spray bottle.
- Store spray cans horizontally on sub divided shelves, writing what they are on the caps.
- Putting more cat into my videos.
I have drawers on my toolbox labeled things like "too complicated to explain", "not labeled because you can't read it anyway", "I forgot" and "tappy things"
... I mean... Yay, it's Blondihacks time!!
Don't forget the "Bits of String Too Short To Save" box!
To access the items that came in late to class and so didn’t fit within their category - place an index card in the drawer where they would belong. On that card you write the item’s name (so you know you already own it), and it’s actual location where you got it to rest.
As old programmers we’d recognize the indirect pointer being deployed when your struct ran out of fields.
@@Tensquaremetreworkshop My left arm is a SATA cable and my right arm is optical fiber?
my whole shop is random access
@@yorinov2001 My lumber is on the stack, and my cutoffs are allocated to the heap.
If you buy a tool with an extraordinarily long name and use an index card, part of the name ends up on the adjacent object in the drawer. Buffer overflow. :D
Thanks for this great tip, this will come in very handy for this old man with no memory left.
Glad my shop-hound husband sent me the link to your video. As an organizer I can see a lot of similarities to working through a kitchen organizing project. Working in an organized space is much more relaxing and productive. Great video!
I love your sense of humor, thanks for sharing.
I have spent 60 adult years organizing my garage and work bench, have never gotten more than 80% of the way there.
As someone who finds it impossible to organize things, this video was immensely helpful.
And I cannot overstate how impressive it is what you manage to make with such a limited space!
just doing that organisation-magic in my shop.
First few days mess gets bigger but then the effect of finding stuff quicker kicks in,so much fun from then on.
Oh Quinn... The nanometers ties in perfectly with where I just did a layout at work in mainly SAE and my boss told me to switch to metric and buy the crew that would do the work new tape measures if needed. The crew didn’t like the idea and told me they wanted it in Angstroms just to be cheeky. Told them that was too simple and I was going to do it in light seconds next time...
I happen to have a tape measure that's marked out in picoseconds. It could be useful for optics work.
My favorite tape measure has inches on one side and centimeters on the other. It is a bit short, but is helpful when I don't want to mess with conversions.
I use two different scales. One is fractional inch and decimal inch. The other is metric. They travel with me in the car (so I always have the correct one with me).
It's a shame no one sells a framing square calibrated in Smoots.
I have an extraordinarily useful tape measure I use all the time @ work. It is in inches and RU - Rack Units.
Should have gone with Plancks length of unit (ℓP)
""Organizing is a process, not an event"".. That is the best characterization I have heard. Beautiful.
As I use my workshop, I am constantly learning how to organize my toys. I suspect I will never be done, but some of my work areas are getting there.
For my small parts drawers, I 3-D printed many bins...hundreds of custom parts sorting drawers.
john
Quinn holds and points to coffee cup; Me - Look at my cup and notice that it is empty; get more coffee! Nice tour of the shop, first that I recall seeing. Looking forward to more work on the steam engine!
Jim Korman I don’t think it would be a blondihacks video without some precision finger pointing.
Another great, practical video, with some good tips for the small shop! Time to add the project "Reorganize entire shop" to my list...
Crazy eyes or not, we keep coming back for more. Thanks for the tour and the insights into efficiency in your small shop.
Saturdays are always better with a Blondihacks vid. Thankyou for your videos.
Taxonomy is everything. I use Tom Lipton's system for my 7-drawer Kennedy box, so I have a "pointy things" drawer. It makes me smile every time I need a deburring tool or a scriber or a pencil. :)
Yeah- I really like this labeling style. Seems it would make things a bit more fun.
This is an EXCELLENT video for any small shop designer. Doesn't matter if it's for machining or woodworking or model building or any other activity. If it's something that has lots of various bits and things then it's solid gold. A very hearty WELL DONE! It took me a good 40 years to learn the full extent of what you have given the world in a 20 minute video. In particular the heirarchy idea for drawers or shelf spaces. That's solid gold right there.
And a nicely well paced video it is too. There's nothing that anyone should skip over. Kudos on getting the message across really well with only enough back story to make the points. But that's something I like with all your videos anyway.
I'm on a model airplane forum and there's frequently threads on how to organize small shops. I'm going to post a link to this video there. It should be "must viewing" for anyone setting up or improving a small shop space.
I have all of my machines on rolling carts. You would be AMAZED at how versatile that makes things.
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for explaining in detail your shop organizational reasoning! At every step, I found myself saying....THAT IS EXACTLY MY THINKING PROCESS....a process that I have “apologized for”.....or kiddingly justifying my blatantly obvious “over the top organization” as “being my obsessive compulsive personality” ......when I observe wide-eyed visitors to my shop!
With very limited space in my downsized retirement home compared to my full sized home shop space....I also used floor to ceiling...every square inch storage systems.
Your video gave me the courage to “come out of my closet and really feel good about my talent for organization....EXACTLY AS YOU DESCRIBED YOUR THINKING PROCESS!”
I STILL AM THE HOARDER....as my wife will describe me to visitors......but NOW I am proud of my square inch use of space!
My organizational tasks include my two workshops, my converted closet work desk for scratch building model railroad rolling stock and structures using metals, wood, plastics, small screws, nuts & bolts, paints, many small tools, electrical, and scenery materials.
Numerous accumulated building materials are classified in various storage containers under the model railroad layout....for ease in locating when needed at a moments notice.
IT FELT GOOD TO HEAR YOU SAY THAT YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEM HELPS YOU REMEMBER WHERE TO LOOK FOR A TOOL!!!
Now I am much more forgiving of “my forgetfulness” when I can’t find something...or even forget that I have something stored in such a manner that I “will NOT forget where I stored an item rarely used”
WATCHING YOU.....I WAS WATCHING MY MIRROR IMAGE....AND I THANK YOU...FOR GIVING ME A MUCH NEEDED BOOST OF CONFIDENCE....THAT I / WE HAVE A TALENT....THAT MANY PEOPLE WRONGLY CRITICIZE AS ONLY A QUIRKY OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVENESS.
I have also enjoyed learning the shop techniques described in your excellently produced videos.
You certainly get a great deal of 'machining mojo' in a very meager space. Really liked the drawer organization.
Yes on the horizontal surfaces -- ONE never has enough. Even though I have 3 large workbenches, I still put circular flat covers over the garbage cans, and wood sitting lids on 5 gallon buckets and so forth.
It is kinda funny that those not having such as wide variety of different categories of elements do not understand. You did a great job of explaining the issues.
Waiting for your videos on Saturday morning reminds me of Christmas morning as a kid...just can't wait for it to get here!! Love your channel!! Really hope to be a patron real soon!! Thank you for everything you do!! Happy machining!!
A great overview of organization principles, valuable in the shop, but also the kitchen and the study!
Once again, useful tips and tricks. I understand your problem completely as I forge, fabricate, weld, grind, turn in a 300 square feet space. Every time I need new tools my first thought is: where can I put it in a way that it's efficient to use? I recently bought a metal storage cabinet to put my lathe on: best purchase ever. Took the wheels off and bolted it to the wall to increase stability. That allowed me to get rid of a huge wire shelving unit that was occupying more space than it should have. Tool Hierarchy is a must. Thank you again.
And, I am already being haunted in my sleep by the problem that will arise when I will buy a milling machine and a surface grinder...
Thanks for showing your workshop storage. Mine is a similar size and you have given me some great ideas. Your written note about storing your taps upright in holes is a good idea and would allow the various threads to have their own tray and be stored above each other, something I will do. I have arranged my dies on their side from smallest measurement to largest, separating each group of threads. Again they can have their own tray and stacked above each other. My other problem is having too much "might be handy one day" stuff which you didn't get to😉
looking at your fixing draws makes me thankful that I work in metric, as it is so simple to set things out by M3, M4, M5, M6, M8, M10 ect and then breaking down to size from there :)
Cardboard dividers are a great idea! Easy to source and shape, and won't damage the items stored within. I am surprised (and impressed) that you've managed to keep them free of oil. Doubt I'd do as well, and it'd become a fire hazard.
For holding screwdriver bits and hand tools (side cutters, needle nose pliers, etc) in a drawer, I opted to 3d print pieces. I went modular so that I could replace a part that broke or didn't work without having to print the entire thing again. I printed an "angle iron" piece with two dovetails running the length of one side, and matching negative dovetails in the bottoms of the tool holder modules. The "angle iron" sits in the drawer, screwed into the side. On top of that I have a 1/4" honeycomb block to hold long screw bits vertically, followed by 3 modules for pliers etc.
The first two pliers modules are the same dimensions, while the last has larger holes to accommodate things with a wider head, e.g. a wire stripper. The holes have an oval cross-section, and are angled back and to the side. The angle to the side is so the modules can sit closer to the side of the drawer while still leaving clearance for the handles. The former angle is to reduce height, so the handles of the longer tools do not hit as I open/close the drawer. (hope that's explained well enough, in the event that someone attempts to reproduce...)
The hardest part about organizing is knowing when to stop. The more granular you get, the harder it is to find spaces for new items, especially if they are a little bit larger than existing ones. Years ago I had 6 reamers I had purchased as needed and they had a nice space to live in, then I went to an estate sale where I bought about 120 of them for a song. A few auctions later I probably have 400, from extremely tiny to 2.5" diameter, chucking, hand, adjustable, tapered, morse, etc. Most will never get used, but are there just in case. The storage went from a nice fitted box to multiple locations from close at hand to "got to take a walk" storage. Labelling is KEY!
I just finished organising my tiny shop today two hours before this video. Metric fist shake!
Thank you for this. I'm going to be setting up a very tiny area in my apartment for ring making and these pointers have given me some great ideas!
Really enjoyed this shop tour. I think it might be one of my favorite videos so far. I do RC models and am fortunate to have lots and lots of space in my shop. In the last several years I came to realize that I probably enjoy being in the shop and working there more than the actual RC flying it provides. So, I began investing in making the shop look and feel as cozy and pleasant as possible. I put in a kitchen and a garden, which my wife and our dogs thoroughly enjoy (my wife is into gardening in a big way). It's great to be able to have my family also enjoy being there with me. I suck at organizing my tools, though. This look at how you organize your shop was very enlightening and entertaining. The concept that organization is a system / process was also super helpful. I have often thought about getting a small hobby lathe, but so far I have felt intimidated by the learning curve. Watching your videos (and also This Old Tony's) have been a mild revelation. I will probably snatch up a lathe in the next few years. Btw, you and Old Tony are such incredibly gifted teachers. I'm so happy that I found your channels (although my wallet certainly disagrees). Best regards from Brasilia, Brazil. PS: did you watch Old Tony's videos on cutting gears? I'm still smiling days later. They are sooo funny! However, I couldn't help myself and wrote a sarcastic comment saying that his videos were very useful for us foreigners practising hearing English. I also mentioned that even though the subject matter was mildly interesting, it would certainly help make his presentation less boring if he included a joke or two in the video. He apparently never picked up on my sarcasm and apparently deleted my coment LOL. I'm so going back there to periodically thank Old Tony on his great English-as-a-second-language content. Question: if I get banned from Old Tony's channel, will I still be able to watch his videos??
In Inspiration.
I'm sorting new packs of SMT components into little drawers (oops) while I watch!
Loved the education about sorting vectors.
Buying the same tool twice really resonates. Excellent video, so many good ideas. Thanks!
This level of organization really pays off. In a university lab we keep a list of contents of every drawer physically attached to it at all times plus a copy of the list with directions to find said drawer in a folder pinned to the door. It really helps when a student is assigned to us to work on their project.
Workshop design is all about efficiency, being able to work with limited frustration is key. Think you've nailed it.
Thank you for this video! I have tried (and failed) to develop and maintain a system like this. Hearing about your motivations, successes, and failures is super useful.
I too have limited area. This video will help me organize. The frequency of use factor is a good thought. Thank you.
During my apprentice days, each machine had its own tool board, fixed to the wall behind it. For example, the lathe had the 3 jaw chuck key, the 4 jaw chuck key, spanners, Allen keys, Jacobs chuck key and tool post square socket all mounted. Behind each one was a silhouette denoting if the item was missing. Just a thought to free up draw space and utilise empty wall space.
This was definitely a wakeup call for me, since I just moved into a new workshop and have the opportunity to really get organized. A very necessary can of worms I hate to open!
Looks like my toolbox! The largest draws on the bottom are filled with hand held power tools (drills, sanders, hot glue guns), and large C clamps. Next drawer up has boxed tool sets (ratchets, taps, hole saws) and MORE C clamps!
You're timing for this video is perfect, I'm in the middle of organizing my shop and the vector thing is spot on. I quickly learned that some items need to be grouped together vs by size or length. It's really tough to decide sometimes and my guesses have been wrong a few times... Anyway, this has to be one of the most time consuming processes to go through but as you said it will pay back in spades. Thanks for the great video Quinn!
Some great ideas here. You explained some things that I already knew, but hadn't realized.
Thank you for showing what you did well and also your "failures". Too many people would only show the "good" parts, setting unrealistic expectations for everyone else.
Hi Quinn,
This is particularly useful to me currently as I am setting up my workshop… Effective and inexpensive logic. Thank you.
Take care
Paul,,
My God... I love your conversions.
Wow Quinn, in an earlier video you removed your shirt to show us the periodic table of elements. Now you give us a look in your drawers. Is it any wonder this channel is so popular! :-) Seriously though, you've given us all some great ideas on organization and the effort that it takes to maintain it. Wonderful video!
I've been watching your stuff for a little while now. I do not do any machining. I just enjoy watching the process of stuff being made, and you have an exemplary method of explaining and describing everything that's going on.
This video may be the first one that I can immediately put into practice. Thanks for making this knowledge first order accessible. :-)
Being 64 years old and having been hobbyist of some sort since I was a fetus, I find this video quite interesting. I have been organized in this manner since my early twenties (I have no clue what sparked it). It's nice to hear someone explain it so well, thank you !
First off, I don't want to get all gushy and stuff, ok . You have a pleasant voice and and a smooth delivery. You have a way of explaining process/procedure, not dry and dull yet very instructive and strait forward. The equipment you use is what most "serious" (I hate that word) hobbyist might have in their home shop. As an aside, I really enjoy the way you say "Blondiehacks" in the intro. (Not PC, sorry)
i loved this! I'm just a humble weekend woodworker (with aspirations of someday doing machining) and i've been struggling with how to keep my stuff organized when i don't yet have enough Things to build an entire organization schema around. this gave me some great ideas! I think I know what i'm going to do with my woefully empty screws and fasteners drawer now :)
For the hardness gauge, it helps to leave a note-card ‘pointer’ in the right drawer that reminds one of the wrong drawer where the tool lives. That way the tool can still be found, and returned, easily
Someone who labels drawers like I do! “Screwy things” “Cutty things” “Holdy things”.
My favorite part of the whole video is the labeling.
Me too :)
One of the other tricks we use in the Race car trailer is a sheet holder on the side of every bin with the contents. The 'topic' of the tote is in big letters on the end, but everything in it is listed on the inventory sheet. If you use it, it goes on the WB on the wall. Bring the trailer home, part of post race work is resupply everything used. requires discipline to write it down and not just dump the trailer until next time, but it does work well.
I think if you love your work, you can make the most out of your space. The greatest feeling is buying your own place and building on it. I know you can do it!
Good use of captions and color highlights in the video. You put some time into postprocessing the footage. Something to be proud of!
I absolutely love your approach. It is process-oriented and can be applied anywhere. I have recently been bequeathed a wonderful woodworking shop and am using a combination of your approach and Adam Savage's "first order of retrievability" system. Thank you for sharing. (p.s. this is an edit. Just as I Posed this and hit play again, you reference Adam's system. :) )
I'm currently organising my shop, this was very useful. Lots there I hadn't thought about.
Thanks for a new way of thinking about organization!
I really like how you talk about organizing from about 9:00. I am a super organizer. I have tons of tools, music equipment and instruments, computers, books, etc. in a smaller room than your shop. It's not optimal, but it's always a work in progress. I'm getting a drill press tomorrow; I have a vague idea about how to fit it in. All I know is that it has to fit in somehow and that I'm going to make it fit in! Sometime later I'm adding a small bandsaw. Also, I'm going to build an actual woodworking work bench--just shorter than normal--and fit it in too. I love organizing! :)
In Manitowoc Wisconsin there is a marinetime museum. The museum includes a WW2 US submarine . In its engine room is a good sized lathe tucked into a corner. To fit the space and still be usable the lathe is built left handed, the tailstock on the left , headstock on the right.
Great video. Enjoyed thoroughly. Reminds me of Keith’s Test Garage videos about his storage methodology.
I respect and appreciate your use of the word "Grok"
“actual size” hahaha lolololol Quinn you are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the well thought out tips on shop organization.
8:50 I did this at work. I repair consumer electronics (We also do retail and service) and consequently have two drawer stacks under my workbench. Most TVs come with a very thick and sturdy kind of cardboard in front of the screen to protect it, and as we sell quite a few TVs we have a few of those laying around. They make excellent drawer organizers, not at all flimsy. I'm always suprised how sturdy cardboard with hotglue can be :D
SO many wonderful ideas. For my small parts (fasteners, etc) I get the cheap plastic containers that have adjustable spacers included so you can design the storage the way you want. These containers are about 12”x10” about 1.5” thick, and are transparent. I sorted all my screws/nuts/bolts/washers. When I have several of something, they have their own space in the container. When I get down to “well, I only have 1 of these freem-thruster widgets, and only 3 of these reverse-threaded syncopated spindle widgets” then those last few items go into a “miscellaneous” compartment. So all my 8-32 screws of all lengths, heads, materials are in one container, all sorted and labeled, and the few one-offs are chucked in a corner of that container. I have about 20 of these containers, and I built a rack for them that stands about 6 feet tall with slots for each container. The containers are labeled on the edges, so I can see what is where. I can then pull out the container of all of the same type of screws and take it over to the workbench to see what I need.
I do likewise. Quinn sorts on a few criteria to avoid 60 bins with one item each. I find that using the 12x10 containers, you can file them like books in a bookcase. Very efficient.
Great episode!!!
I think you could add a rubber band to the tap OSB board and drill two holes into it and put the whole thing on one of your walls.
I don't own any of this type of equipment with a few exceptions like the tap & die set, some calipers, and hand tools. I would love to own a small metal lathe for custom knurl knobs that I use in the woodworking accessories I make, such as knurl knobs or bolts for wood and brass or stainless steel marking gauges, scribes, marking knives, etc. I made a knurling jig from a PASK-MAKES video, but I have a hard time finding brass bolts that I can make into knurl-knobs. Your organization is top-notch as well as your humor! Thanks for sharing
3D printing can be your friend. You can print custom drawers, storage boxes and racks then easily adapt them when needs change.
Great video. I find shop organization is a good thing to do every few months when I’m between projects. Basking in the glow of the last one and not quite sure how to start on the next. Or something like that.
I love drawers and since I'm also a woodworker I make a lot of my own, but certain things I much prefer to have in plain sight such as screwdrivers, T-wrenches and pliers. I love having my box wrenches hanging up in nice neat fashion on a wall so I can see and grab them at a glance. That drawer under your mill is a great idea but I would want to retrofit it with heavier full-extension slides to handle the weight. I also hate to have things on top of other things because I sometimes forget that I have something (out of sight, out of mind). Also, certain items that come in blow-molded plastic cases end up out of the cases because they just take up too much room. The day I'm finished organizing and modifying my shop(s) is the day I draw my last breath.
Quinn is describing, and she probably knows it, the "most recently used" paging algorithm. Swap those unused pages to disk and increase your virtual memory. Keep the "working set" in cache.
Very good metaphor! 😁
It's weird that probably within my lifetime we've gone from using metaphors about workshops to describe how computer memory architecture works to using computer resource metaphors to describe how shops work.
I use a method something like this. My shop is big enough that I have a couple of carts , but even a small plastic tote works. Put what you are going to need, tool and materials wise, in cache, er the tote, and take it to the work spot. When complete, put it all back in the tote and return it to tape, er, where it belongs.
Sometimes you may create a working set in which you pre-stage parts and tools for a particular job, e.g. oil filters and the filter wrench, into a small tote and keep that on the shelf.
As far as drawer molding storage. What I have done in the past is taken yoga mats or the foam camping sleeping pad cut to the size of whatever drawers it going in and them spray glue them together to build up the height you want or need. Then once the glue is dried just trace out your tool or tools and cut out and cut the depth you want it to sit and now you have a diy homemade Kazan foam knock out that works just as good at a fraction of the price. Like a 6 feet long by 2.5 wide by 3/4 thick for 6 bucks from shit mart. Glued together and had enough foam for multiple drawers in the tool box
Funny, my "organisational" system is very similar to yours, I even have an 'other misc stuff ' drawer, which as you said Quinn receives a lot of things, resulting in many "forgotten I had that" moments !! Keep up the great videos! greetings from the land down under..
love the "Grock" any way, the card board boxes for storage and re-organizing is very "old school" to me. I grew up in the appliance industry and my dad was a wonder at finding just the right box for any "new" stuff we had to add to our inventory. Dad was self made man and he just loved using cardboard boxes to organize with.
I'm scared.
Everything you said makes sense.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!?!
Good explanation of the process.
I also like the drawer labels, stabby bits, squeezy bits, etc. I look forward to the guys in my shop at work shaking their heads yet again as they look at something goofy I have done at my desk and/or work bench. "Hey, got any linesman pliers?"
Yeah, they're in the drawer marked "squeezy bits" on my work bench.
Thanks, and Meow to Sprocket.
Got a good chuckle and a few ideas for my shop out of this video, so 10/10 good video!
Love the cardboard dividers in your drawers! I have been "trying" to battle with organization off n on the last few months as well. Slowly I am winning, I think
I've seen the perfect T-shirt for you. It says, "I have CDO, it's just like OCD but in alphabetical order like it should be."
Kidding aside, I wish I had the tenacity to organize to that degree. Kudos on a well organized shop space.
I take OCD to a whole new level when it comes to being organized. I work with lots of small parts and tools and if I can't find it I wind up buying another. My shop consists of 6 workbenches at the moment. 1) An 8 drawer Sears workbench in a closet in my house mostly for storage of sensitive electronics, 2) A small table for laying out the materials i am working with at the moment so they are easy to find, 3) A 4'x2' workbench top with lights and power that I set up on a 4'x2' table when needed to do hand assembly, 4) A large heavy duty workbench at the back of my garage with a large vise, drill press, power tool storage, and peg boards for hand tools, 5) Another 8 drawer Sears workbench on wheels in my garage for a lathe (I used to have an Atlas 6"x14" lathe but sold it about 15 years ago when I was recovering from a heart attack - I'm looking for another one now), 6) An 8'x4' table on my back patio (plywood and cinder blocks) used for painting, grinding, sawing and anything really messy. I'm going to build another 8'x4' table in my garage using one of those DIY kits that has two shelves underneath and redo my garage area completely.
Hey Quinn Thanks for sharing! I particularly love the cardboard and hot glue philosophy to be prepared for change. I had been admiring your organization and general shop tidiness which I have none of and it hurts me for every project. In the past I've had better and worse organized shops than what I currently have which is frankly obscenely capable but something of a disaster area. I'm shifting focus back to the shop after several years of other eclectic activities and I'm planning to deploy your quick hacks for organization flexibility. The timing of this video could not have been better.
Regarding taps and dies, I store them in with the corresponding screws. For example, if I need a 1/4-20 tap I simply go to the 1/4-20 screw bin. I am also space limited and it didn't make sense to store them separately. Cheers.
And to think my shop was small. Great informative video! I am building my own custom cabinets and work bench for my shop, because I have a rather small shop only 6'x20'.
Learned tool organization from my dad. He was a dentist. He never had to look at the tool to pick it up, it was always where he needed it. Separate trays of tool kits for each task.
Oh medical people have the best tools and the best tool systems.
I have a drawer of spare and rarely used things that cut (drill bits, saw blades, etc.) and another drawer of rarely used tapes, glues, etc. I considered labeling them and ->
Just a thought about items that aren't stored following the system, such as your hardness tester; put a label on the front of the drawer for that item. So the tap and die drawer has its label, but also a label that says "hardness tester".
My setup is very similar to yours. I constantly struggle. Thinking vertically helps. For example, I have hooks on the front of the shelf above the mill where I hang my combination hammer and drawbar wrench. That puts it right where I need it and makes access very efficient. Following the same principal of efficiency, I have a wood block that sits on the bench next to the mill with the items used for almost every job (spotting drill, 1/4" stub drill, edge finder, 3 sets of parallels, 1/4 and 1/2" 2 flute and 4 flute end mills.
for the spanner drawer and other random parts drawers you should try temporary labels, something like like an adhesive dry erase label or or card holder that you can easily change the labels on as the inventory changes
Some great tips here
Many great words (and lovely pink drawers!) in this video, my favourite is the adjective “zombiely” (or is it “zombily”?).
Striving for perfection is a worthy goal, but true perfection can only be achieved in stasis, and I like you alive! :)
I hope you can learn to embrace 侘寂, I don’t think that drawer is worth being so embarrassed about it!
Either way, thank you for this video - I have a (comparatively) lot of space and use it poorly, you just gave me a good kickin’!
I'm having to lie down. All that space would make giddy. My spare room is my office, where I work (computer stuff), store all my photography gear, and all my electronics gear along with all my tools, cables, components...... Etc etc etc.
If I'm dedicated to a serious tidy-up (hide stuff!) I can see the floor! Woooo!
Loving your draws though 😂
At my old house, I had a big shed in the back yard which I had built, and it worked fairly well for me. When I moved, I built almost the exact same shed in the backyard at the new house, and I mostly put all of the same stuff in the new shed, in the same places it had been in the old shed, so I wouldn't need to remember the new locations for everything...
First order retrievability blew my mind first time I heard Savage mention it. Because that's exactly how I feel. If I can't get to my stuff, it doesn't exist and I won't use it.
Love videos like these. I was able to consolidate my old 6000 sq/ft shop into a 500 sq/ft shop while increasing my throughput. It’s crazy what proper organization and setup can do. Have you looked into 3D printing at all? Since you can do CAD it would be super easy for you to print custom tool holders and bins and all sorts of things.
This is a really cool set up. Really appreciate the ideas for shop layout
Categories in my own rolling chest are go-roundie tools, scrapey tools, howbigizit tools, squeezy tools, hitit tools, torquey tools, and "stuff." As you might imagine, the "stuff" drawer is not easy to close.
Cardboard and hot glue for drawer divider is an excellent idea! Definitely stealing it! Also grateful for you sharing the failures in your system, hope I can avoid them in the future! (also also, sorry I currently can afford to support you)
I grok what you are saying about organization begin a process. Sometimes you have to 'live with' a setup before you decide on the best tetris-ing system
Love the cardboard+hot glue drawer inserts, had not thought about that! Have used IKEA cutlery inserts though.
You do have a bit of a Russian doll storage system, I got rid of plastic shipping cases for things put in drawers that don't have enormous organizational value. Designed and printing collet trays that actually fit into my small tooling cabinet and tossed out the nice but oversized original. Just started designing and printing 40 taper tool holder holders(?) that will bolt to the sides of my designated rolling tooling cabinet. Morse taper drill holders are next on my hit list. The fantasy is rolling the tools to the milling machine rather than getting blisters walking around in my 20x20' garage shop labyrinth to get stuff.
Cheers-Peter
Nice shop setup
My main gripe with my shed (Australians work in sheds, not shops. Shops are for buying stuff) is that it has to house all my machines and tools. That means when I have to grind or linisher metals, usually steel, the shed and everything in it gets covered in the metal dust. that nasty shit just gets into everything. I have a tarp over my lathe so it doesn't get covered, but you can't cover everything. I was thinking of building a small extension off the shed and have like a heavy curtain over the doorway, then carry out all the dirty grinding cutting operations away from the rest of the shed.