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Tool Organization tips?

fizux

I'm New Here
What do folks end up doing to organize the ~$2900 of tools and widgets on the various recommended lists? Do folks just end up buying another roll cab dedicated to RV tools, or is that overkill?
 
That’s what I ended up doing. I have a roll cart for the auto side of my tools and a separate cart for the aircraft. I’m a tool hound so for me having things organized that way makes it much easier. I’m building my 10 at my shop at home. Once I move the AC to the hangar the aircraft tool chest goes with the plane.

Keith
 
Some People

Some people use shadow boxes where every tool has a form fitted place. If I did that, my whole wall would be nothing but tool boxes.
But I do have two sets, one for my mistress (plane) and one for home. Of course, the mistress gets the best tools.
 
For Everyday use around the plane

I set up a cart that has just about every tool needed for daily airframe and engine maintenance.
Larger box has all the building/metal/cutting/wiring etc.

I think you are now asking about building tools, but you'll eventually want a setup something like this to roll over by your project and everything is in easy reach. Also, if there's an empty space, you've misplaced something around the plane..

Tool Cart.jpg
 
I set up a cart that has just about every tool needed for daily airframe and engine maintenance.
Larger box has all the building/metal/cutting/wiring etc.

I think you are now asking about building tools, but you'll eventually want a setup something like this to roll over by your project and everything is in easy reach. Also, if there's an empty space, you've misplaced something around the plane..

View attachment 18193

Looks nice Jerry! But I have a question - how do you get by with only 6 rolls of safety wire? :D
 
I have a cart for aircraft tools. Another for automotive. And one dedicated to avionics and wiring.

If you go this way the best piece of advice I could give is to make sure your boxes are no higher than waist or belly button high. So don't stack all the different types of chests on each other the way they like to market automotive tool boxes. Once they get taller than that they become a liability in an active shop as they interfere with wings, tails, struts and many other expensive items. The top also makes a great work bench so try to avoid any carts with lift tops or other trickery on top. When tool carts are too tall many times they end up against a wall instead of rolled out to the job with the resulting lot of inefficient walking back and forth. The legacy SnapOn "Taco" cart is perfect for an aircraft hangar.

Two or three low boxes are better than one goliath against a wall.
 
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In my shop, I made a bunch of drawers to fit under two of my three workbenches. I have something like a dozen drawers, and could use a couple more.

When I take it to the hangar, I plan to buy a fleet of Harbor Freight tool chests. It's not so much the drawer flat area that's important, it's the whole drawer volume, and some of the HF drawers aren't very high. This one is one of the possibilities, and this is another. I won't be just shopping price, but usefulness and perceived durability. I think I'll need something like two or three of these.

Dave
 
In my shop, I made a bunch of drawers to fit under two of my three workbenches. I have something like a dozen drawers, and could use a couple more.

When I take it to the hangar, I plan to buy a fleet of Harbor Freight tool chests. It's not so much the drawer flat area that's important, it's the whole drawer volume, and some of the HF drawers aren't very high. This one is one of the possibilities, and this is another. I won't be just shopping price, but usefulness and perceived durability. I think I'll need something like two or three of these.

Dave


I have a US General tool chest at home and will buy one for my hangar (as soon as hangar space opens up). Quality is very good.
 
Not mine, but I wish I had one. I think I saw it posted here on VAF

20719315348_4d886126f5.jpg

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I'm up to four rolling tool chests now. Way back when I started the build I got what, at the time, seemed like a massive 6' high chest from Harbor Freight. (They don't seem to offer this same set any more, but it looks like this roller and this top chest are the current equivalent) I thought I'd never have issues with space...WRONG.

Nowadays the big chest is dedicated to "generic" tools (sockets/wrenches/screwdrivers/drill accessories/etc), and I have three of these tool carts. One of them has automotive specialty tools, another aircraft specialty stuff, and the third is entirely electrical tools and supplies.

I'm fortunate in that my hangar is also my home, so I don't have to cope with deciding what tools live at what location.
 
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I think tool organization is in large part dictated by your shop setup. I prefer to have my frequently used tools in the open vs having to dig for them in a drawer. That being said, I hate clutter, so drawers do help. I put some French cleat tool racks on the wall for things I commonly grab. I cleaned out the top drawer of my rolling tool cabinet and replaced many automotive tools with my aviation specific stuff (squeezer, rivet gun, die grinder, etc live here). Then I have a tool box for various and sundry tools. All of these are within arms reach of each other, as well as my main benches. My power tools are on the opposite side of my work benches.

The most important thing is knowing where everything is. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but each tool should have a home, otherwise you’ll spend as much time looking for things as you do building. I know where every tool is, and I put them away after each building session. The same is true of supplies.
 
Yes I bought a used rolling tool cabinet and sorted all my special aircraft tools in it. I like to keep a dedicated spot for every tool so at the end of a build session I can place everything back in its place. Saves a lot of time..


For the airport I wanted also a dedicated tool cabinet to be able to perform a annual inspection. But as I am a tool addict I wanted certain brands and they are expensive. Thus I was searching during the last two years of building to find exactly the tools I wanted. Thus I could buy most of them used but in a very good condition and quite cheap. In the end I went ahead and made shadowboards for every drawer. Now I can`t loose my tools during a annual inspection.
I learned it the hard way in the military when we once lost a wrench in a helicopter... The airforce grounded all helos we worked on this week and we had to search it until we found it (it was in a turbine inlet)....

Since then I always check my tools at the end of every session.

Cheers Yves
 

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Nice Yves, though I'm not sure that shade of blue is an exact match to your RV-8 :D
And yes, you're welcome anytime to organise my trolley, thanks in advance :)

PS
VAF is an amazing place... just learned a new German word: Drahtwirbelzange
 
What do folks end up doing to organize the ~$2900 of tools and widgets on the various recommended lists? Do folks just end up buying another roll cab dedicated to RV tools, or is that overkill?

Yep, like others a nice large one with drawers that have a fastening method for building then a dedicated one for maintenance later. Do keep the humidity low on the tools at the airport or lots of them will rust. Or heat to reduce the relative humidity, just 10F over ambient will likely work.

I have Menards in my area and they have some pretty nice tool boxes. Surely made in China but nicely painted, heavy, urethane rollers, smooth ball bearing drawers and latches so all the drawers reach out to greet you with movement. They are quite cost effective, better constructed, and thicker gauge than the later generations of Craftsman (as reference).

Get sockets and box end wrenches with most thin walls you can find (Snap-On) and/or be prepared to heat/bend/grind (and sometimes weld) into the perfect tool for fitting spaces that are not suited for anything else. Not many, but some.

Welcome to building!
 
Second cart

Like others. Second roll around for airplane tools. Remember, it's not just the hand tools. You will collect a lot of electrics too.
 
Oxymoron

The words "Tools" and "Organization" just don't belong in the same phrase, or sentence!

Classic example of an Oxymoron! :D

At least in MY hangar, anyways............:eek:
 
Thanks for all the tips and pics folks, much appreciated!

I might necropost with an update when I finally figure out what I ended up doing.
 
My shop stays very organized. Common use, and most airplane specific tools are hanging on the wall. I put plywood on the wall specifically to ensure the strength to hang tools. Other tools are in the tool box or cupboards on the wall.

Most of my tools are "airplane tools", except for a cupboard, drawer and a shelving unit. Sometimes, a car project or house project is permitted to borrow airplane tools. On occasion, airplane hardware even makes it into the house. My headboard is held on with AN970 washers. Wife and I haven't broken it yet ;)
 
My solution is very different than those presented above. I am based at a small grass strip about 20 minutes from home and one of only two airplanes. The hangar is very basic, pole barn style, dirt floor, no electric, no lights and not very wind tight.

I really didn't want to purchase another set of tools since the airport isn't very secure and I'm the one who uses tools and I really hate it when the tool I want is not at the place I'm at.

My solution is a container, about 24" x 18" x 6" with two lift out trays. One tray is electrical items and a 1/4" socket set, the other is misc like safety wire, lubricants, mirror and magnet and an assortment of hardware. The main container has a drawer divider so there is a place for screwdrivers, pliers, metric wrenches, US wrenches and misc. The whole thing weighs about 20 lbs and is easy to move between home and the airport.

This has worked really well for me. When doing major work on the airplane like condition inspection, I take other tools (torque wrench, boroscope, spark plug rack, special lubricants, etc) but I have a list for them so I seldom are missing anything.

Jim Butcher
 

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I set up a cart that has just about every tool needed for daily airframe and engine maintenance.
Larger box has all the building/metal/cutting/wiring etc.

I think you are now asking about building tools, but you'll eventually want a setup something like this to roll over by your project and everything is in easy reach. Also, if there's an empty space, you've misplaced something around the plane..

View attachment 18193

I REALLY hope you set that picture up as a "photo shoot" of your tool cart.
 
No sir

I REALLY hope you set that picture up as a "photo shoot" of your tool cart.

That was six or seven years ago and other than a few more tools it looks just like that today.

It’s nice to know exactly where whatever tool you need is!
 
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