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Posted: 4/25/2021 9:28:15 AM EDT
What do you guys use for organizing your screws, washers, nuts, and bolts? In the past I've had the little plastic drawer caboodles, but the one I have now has outgrown my vast collection of random fasteners I've accumulated from various projects over the years. Any better options out there?
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Several drawers
I have a cheap plastic fastener holder thing with all the little drawers...it's still empty and I just dig through the drawers Speed |
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Empty Muscle Milk jugs.
I enjoy the hunt I guess. I keep left overs and random pieces, they have come in handy many times. |
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Moving the trashcan closer to the hardware is probably the best solution overall.
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Save the aggravation. Junk them and get the right fasteners for the job when you need them. A decent organization system that breaks down nuts by size, fasteners by size, screws from bolts from machine screws, washers by size, will cost more than all that shit is worth. Keep a couple trays of everyday small screws about and donate the rest to the landfill.
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Ha..it's that time of the year isn't it?
I just purged 20 years of screws, nuts and bolts. I'm down to a manageable three parts caddies now. I still have more than I'll ever use, but at least I have some more shelf space. I just use an 8 drawer caddy with several dividers in each drawer. I have several rigid plastic boxes from home depot that have divider cups in them. I guess you can also count the two service van sized drawer cabinets too, but the actually have parts and pieces not just nuts and bolts. |
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Buy a bolt bin that's bigger than you think you'll need.
I live in the woods so for me it's worth having hardware on hand. |
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I bought some small parts organizers. They stack on top one another and open on both sides with clear plastic doors.
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Coffee containers. Write the bolt and nut size on the top.
For small and oddball nuts and bolts depending on your garage setup, you can collect peanut butter jars and the like with wide mouths and nail the lid to a rafter or some other 2x4 you can reach and then screw the jar onto the static lid. The coffee can things works great for bigger oddballs things also like hose clamps and the like that don't fit in drawers well. |
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I threw out almost all the random shit my grandfathers, my dad and I had collected over the years. Specialty stuff I kept but 5 pounds of random length phillips dry wall screws some used some new? In the trash. Same with all the random 10-24 nuts and 10-32 bolts and all sort of other mismatched shit. Slightly bent nails that were "still good"? Tossed.
Spent a couple hundred bucks on different SAE/Metric fastener sets, o-ring sets, clamp/pin sets and other shit, at Home Depot and Northern Tool and am much happier for it. A lot of the "just in case" stuff was dragging me down wasting time finding an odd screw or washer when I could just go buy one or replace the whole fastener with new and be done. Now, everything I buy stays in the package or bag, if I use partial from a bag I tape it closed with clear tape and hang it on the pegboard. My workshop now looks like a tiny home improvement store |
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harbor freight bins
Sorta Sortimo Small Parts Rack & Sorting Station |
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Glass jars with lids screwed to rafters etc ..... you can see whats in there and their out of the way
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Quoted: Save the aggravation. Junk them and get the right fasteners for the job when you need them. A decent organization system that breaks down nuts by size, fasteners by size, screws from bolts from machine screws, washers by size, will cost more than all that shit is worth. Keep a couple trays of everyday small screws about and donate the rest to the landfill. View Quote With all the shortages and high odds that it'll get way worse, the last thing I'd do is throw away hardware. |
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4 buckets
one for bolts one for nuts one for washers one for other stuff... |
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Quoted: Glass jars with lids screwed to rafters etc ..... you can see whats in there and their out of the way View Quote The two joists on the west side of my garage had babyfood jar lids the previous homeowner nailed to them, I finally took them down last year. I always wondered what he covered all those jars with when they moved out. |
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I like Mason jars of various sizes. I buy them at the end of the canning season for cheap. Clear so I can see what in them, top keeps them clean & dry.
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One of the more difficult things to deal with, decide what you really need and limit your "collection " to a reasonable amount( I violate this all the time)
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The little plastic tubs that pre packaged deli meat comes in stack side by side in 5 gallon buckets.
For the most part everything with the same thread size fits in one. So I only need to grab one per size for a project. Amazon had the bucket sorters cheap, I bought enough of them for two buckets. The work a little better for nails than the tubs do. |
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Quoted: Glass jars with lids screwed to rafters etc ..... you can see whats in there and their out of the way View Quote My Grandpa did this with glass baby food jars, but screwed the lids to a piece of 14 inch cedar 4X4 with a hole drilled thru the middle and a bracket on each end, then mounted each bracket to a ceiling joist. The jars spun between the joists. My Grandfather and a gentleman by the name off Pete Caswell started Caswell Target Carriers in my Grandfathers basement. I still have left over parts for the smaller size carriers that were run by a hand wheel and used a length of clothesline cord. Gramps had one set up in his basement. |
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Quoted: Save the aggravation. Junk them and get the right fasteners for the job when you need them. A decent organization system that breaks down nuts by size, fasteners by size, screws from bolts from machine screws, washers by size, will cost more than all that shit is worth. Keep a couple trays of everyday small screws about and donate the rest to the landfill. View Quote Ridiculous. The more hardware on hand, the better. Who wants to stop work and go to the store for a bolt? When I do have to go, I buy extra and throw them in the bucket so that I'll have them the next time. |
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Quoted: With all the shortages and high odds that it'll get way worse, the last thing I'd do is throw away hardware. View Quote Smart man. Say nothing about time spent going to search for what you need. I'm still working on it but I bought the Durham cabinet and took all the bigger bins out and replaced them with smaller 3"x4"x7" Akro bins, Set up like this, in between bins on the doors and the bins on the back wall, there is 8" of dead space. I am putting three Durham bins stacked on on another, bolted together in a frame, that will slide right/left on a track. These will hold some of the nuts and washers. I also have another big steel cabinet with removable drawers that I use for some hardware. That cabinet also has the 3"x4"x7" Akro bins in about half of the drawers, The others drawers are filled with pharmacy pill bottles with small hardware. I'm trying to get rid of the open bins as they collect "stuff" over time on the hardware. :( https://www.zoro.com/durham-mfg-bin-cabinet-inds-14-ga-227-bins-red-ssc-227-1795/i/G2200040/?recommended=true Stacking three of these and building a frame around them is where I am now with this project. https://www.zoro.com/durham-mfg-prime-cold-rolled-steel-pigeonhole-bin-unit-4-34-in-d-x-gray-314-95/i/G2180342/?recommended=true ETA.... Entire big bin which is about 600 pounds empty, is on a steel cart with six wheels under it so it can be moved within the shop if absolutely necessary. |
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Get a couple of the plastic bins.... then start tossing out the garbage.
https://www.mcmaster.com/ can have pretty much any fastener to your door tomorrow. It might even be faster than looking through 50 old coffee cans of used fasteners. Remember the hoarder thread from a couple of days ago? Your kids are going to toss them out anyway. |
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I put them all in random places so I can’t find them again and forget about them. get stuck go buy some new ones
The next day then find them when I go to put the left over new ones away. |
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Quoted: Get a couple of the plastic bins.... then start tossing out the garbage. https://www.mcmaster.com/ can have pretty much any fastener to your door tomorrow. It might even be faster than looking through 50 old coffee cans of used fasteners. Remember the hoarder thread from a couple of days ago? Your kids are going to toss them out anyway. View Quote Sure. $12 shipping for $5 worth of hardware. |
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Quoted: Ridiculous. The more hardware on hand, the better. Who wants to stop work and go to the store for a bolt? When I do have to go, I buy extra and throw them in the bucket so that I'll have them the next time. View Quote I get it. Need 4 four use 3 of this and 1 of that,. I stash plenty around- but I've been scraping a lot too. I have some plastic cases with clear lids and inserts full of semi sorted stuff. What hurt was hauling 2+ tons of leftover structural bolts nuts and washers to the recycling center. |
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I use big coffee jugs.
Throw salvaged nuts/bolts/washer in jug. When random nut/bolt/washer is needed dump jug on shop bench and sift through pile like shuffling dominoes until needed part arises. When finished hold jug under lip of bench and shovel pile back into jug. |
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View Quote Did this. Have a few organizer Tupperware from Costco I got on clearance for project specific stuff (spare stuff for the snow blower or play set or whatever). I use the larger organizers for more general stuff (screws/bolts/nuts/anchors) and I have two smaller organizers for my more specific tasks (one is used for electrical parts so I can just grab it and fix an outlet or change out a switch). Then I have big 5 gallon totes filled with other specific tasks like painting where all the mixers, trays, liners, drop clothes, etc go. |
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Quoted: I get it. Need 4 four use 3 of this and 1 of that,. I stash plenty around- but I've been scraping a lot too. I have some plastic cases with clear lids and inserts full of semi sorted stuff. What hurt was hauling 2+ tons of leftover structural bolts nuts and washers to the recycling center. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Ridiculous. The more hardware on hand, the better. Who wants to stop work and go to the store for a bolt? When I do have to go, I buy extra and throw them in the bucket so that I'll have them the next time. I get it. Need 4 four use 3 of this and 1 of that,. I stash plenty around- but I've been scraping a lot too. I have some plastic cases with clear lids and inserts full of semi sorted stuff. What hurt was hauling 2+ tons of leftover structural bolts nuts and washers to the recycling center. If I had 2 tons, I'd scrap them, too. But I'd hang on to a lifetime supply. I actually get great satisfaction out of having exactly what I need to do a job. |
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I buy the plastic cases with a clear top from harbor freight and put them in there. I use a label maker to label the front so when stacked I know what’s in the case.
For example: wood screws, nuts, washers, metric bolts,... Still have to do some digging as they are not finely sorted, but just grouped into bins at a high level Once in a while, I accumulate enough to get more cases and then do a more refined sort and re-org |
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Quoted: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/455820/33045F7A-D938-449C-BD4E-3DE87B66E8C8_jpe-1918283.JPGhttps://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/455820/3E1F1C6B-BD70-42A2-9087-C32BC805B4E9_jpe-1918284.JPG View Quote Why are you in my garage? Right down to the labeling, this is what I do... |
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I made a small bin system out of some old wood. I made 15 bins and it fits on the end of my work bench. 1/4 thru 3/4 bolts. Bolts/nuts/washers of the same size go in the same bin.
Extra bins have lag bolts of all sizes, and misc style stuff. I dont keep any metric bolts, buy as needed. As I dont work on much metric stuff. This covers 95% of what I need without taking up 50 times the room to cover every bolt you could ever need. I always wanted one of those hardware store style spinning bins with multiple levels. But they just take up too much room |
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I organize them right into my short steel bucket.
Then I dump them at the scrapyard. I love it when people save them all in handy containers for me though when I do a cleanout. Super easy to dump then. |
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Quoted: Ha, that's been the method for many other items. Maybe you're right. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Moving the trashcan closer to the hardware is probably the best solution overall. . Ha, that's been the method for many other items. Maybe you're right. I was looking at the mess in a cabinet this morning. I can probably toss the Lycoming engine lifters. On the other hand a wrist pin made a dandy handle for the rope on an attic stair. . |
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View Quote Those require a clear flat place to open. Drawers are better. . |
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My hardware bin has saved my countless times. I have a wooden bin segmented into 8x8 inch bins. I separate nuts/washers, bolts, screws, assorted brackets and SAE and metric for both.
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View Quote Yup. This is what I use. Makes it easy because you can take the yellow bin with you to whatever project space you are working at. |
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I'm thinking about one or more of these cheapie bin systems like this from china freight. Only difference I'd build a heavy duty shelf and attach it to a wall or under a bench so as not to take up valuable bench top or floor space. I've a lot of hardware from my old car hobby that I've accumulated over the years and its both better quality than typical box store hardware and, more importantly, has the correct look for the eras of cars I'm working on. So I really don't want to get rid of it but it needs to be better organized.
https://www.harborfreight.com/30-bin-wall-mount-parts-rack-63151.html https://www.harborfreight.com/24-bin-bench-top-parts-rack-69572.html |
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