First Order Retrieve-ability

[AGCB97]

This morning when I was looking for a short piece of bar stock in the cabinet of that sort of thing, pieces were falling on the floor and the item wanted was not found. Decided to do a cleaning to make it nicer.
Aaron

Before


After

 

[Shotgun]

How long did it take?
-and-
How often will you have to do it?
-vs-
Sifting through the original mess?

I've settled on "semi-organized". For instance, 1/4" bolts go into one container, but no attempt to sort by length or thread pitch. When I need a 1/4", there is one bucket to search through, but there is still a search. I "feels" that is the right amount of organization to find what I want as quickly as possible, without spending all day organizing.

 

[Batmanacw]

Screw sensible and efficient retrievable order. You are never happy and then you move things around, again. In any case, first order is everything goes back where you got it, always and as soon as possible. If I don't, I'll never find it again without a lot of "Where did that friggin' thing go?" episodes. So, don't ask why the parallels are next to the lathe, but rest assured, I know where to get them.

I hate leaving things out. I clean up religiously and put things away. An ordered shop is an ordered mind.

 

[Batmanacw]

How long did it take?
-and-
How often will you have to do it?
-vs-
Sifting through the original mess?

I've settled on "semi-organized". For instance, 1/4" bolts go into one container, but no attempt to sort by length or thread pitch. When I need a 1/4", there is one bucket to search through, but there is still a search. I "feels" that is the right amount of organization to find what I want as quickly as possible, without spending all day organizing.

Lol. All day! I've had a lot of time at home recently to obsess. Sorting is my zen place. Reaping the benefits makes me honestly happy.

 

[Headhunter Pipe Co]

I only organize the shop when I can't find a tool

 

[Boswell]

Most of my tools have a place to be when not in use. Sometimes I go for days before getting the tool back to that place. I'm a little more intense on hardware and other consumables. I like to have my unused screws sorted and organized at all times.

 

[Batmanacw]

I finally moved the rest of my bolts into my shop. This shelf was mostly empty. Now it's got 2 more shelves and its packed full. My 1/4-20 and 5/16-18 are in a plastic drawer divider. This is my 3/8" through 1" bolts.

So much wasted space now tightly packed.

 

[motormech1]

Speaking of F.O.R (First Order Retrievability), Who is an advocate of bolting tooling racks to your machines and why? I'm asking as a neophile wanting to avoid wasting time with trial and error. My first thought was machine mounted racks but have since second guessed that in favor of a vertical tiered rack in between the mill and lathe on top of an old bottom tool box. I know there's no wrong answer, just want to start a conversation.

 

[Batmanacw]

Speaking of F.O.R (First Order Retrievability), Who is an advocate of bolting tooling racks to your machines and why? I'm asking as a neophile wanting to avoid wasting time with trial and error. My first thought was machine mounted racks but have since second guessed that in favor of a vertical tiered rack in between the mill and lathe on top of an old bottom tool box. I know there's no wrong answer, just want to start a conversation.

I only have a single r8 rack on my mill. Everything else is so close that it's only a few steps to grab it. If I'm doing repeat operations I just grab everything and stage it on my bench next to the mill.

 

[hman]

My general practice is to install some kind of rack at each machine tool, and populate it with the adjustment/setup wrenches I use for that machine. Collets, etc. are generally kept in/on a rolling cart that stays next to the tool.