MikeJ 7A said:
If I wanted a small bin/drawer/container for every different type of rivet, nut, bolt & washer that is required for building an RV-7A, just how many bins would I need? (Approximately...)
Mike
LOTS.
Here's what I did. I got a couple of bins for rivets:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93928
The inner bins are removable so you can take them with you to wherever you're rivetting.
I got one of these for large parts:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93198
Here's the key. For nuts and bolts (and miscellaneous fittings, nutplates etc) I ordered these in assorted sizes:
http://www.bagsplus.com/zipclose.html
The ones at the bottom of the page have a little hole in them to hang on pegboard hangers (you do have pegboard, yes?). And they're CHEAP. It's like having a nice store display right in your shop. It's also easy to see when you're running low on a particular size of something.
Finally, for temporary storage when I'm working on something and don't want to loose the bolts or other hardware, I got an assortment of these:
http://www.bagsplus.com/drawstring.html
Put the hardware you took off in the bag and loop the string around the part.
10 years working robotics, semicon and aerospace taught me a thing or two about organization and FOD control.
In answer to your original question, here's the hardware boxes I shipped my RV-7 hardware in:
http://www.rvspeed.com/rv/20061208.html
This is the gentleman's website I sold the kit to. There was probably 1 extra box of rivets there I sent him. In addition, I shipped a bunch of hardware that I had been storing in one of these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94375
Nuts and bolts and things. I kept the bin and just repacked the hardware in plastic bags before shipping (all nice and labelled, of course).
This was just the hardware from the Wing kit. There's a lot more when you get the the fuselage.
Everyone has their own system but man you can't beat plastic bags on a pegboard for quick, flexible and economical (organize them by diameter...all the AN3's bolts on one peg, AN4's on another, etc).
I hope this helps. I haven't tried the cloth bags yet so I don't know how durable they are but they're so cheap I don't really care.