Storing small parts and materials, esp drill bits

[Joshua Merrow]

Hi everyone

Anyone have a good solution for storing / keeping organized small items that come in several sizes? Drill bits come to mind. We usually buy a drill bit index from Harbor Freight ( http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=drill+bit+index ), which degenerates into a shoebox of 100+ drill bits over time, requiring endless hunting for certain sizes. We've found that tools don't get lost when there's a color-coded outline for them on a wall rack - this works well for say, box wrench sets - kids make the racks by hanging the wrenches then spray painting them while on the board. Drill bits remain a stumbler though. Have only three sizes and paint them somehow, with a colored bin for each? Looking for ideas.

Thanks

Josh 

[Clint Johns]

I know this is less ideal, but I teach my kids to use digital calipers to know where to put it back. They don't always, and I plan on adding the paint coloring scheme next year. Maybe a cnc stencil of some kind...? Color sticker dots ?

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[Alicia Testa]

While I don't know if this will work for all the Drill bits.  Smart Jars might work.  http://www.smartjars.com/  The jars are about 5 inches and can be color coded easily with stickers on the jar itself. 

[Kenton Hoover]

A piece of wood with the drill bits used to make the holes, then masked and spray painted in color bands? It would take up more space, but what you seem to be optimizing for isnt overall space usage. If you used the structured cabling color scheme you could get to 50 bits in any type-class (eg metal cutting, wood bits, specialty)

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[Andrew]

Second this idea. Using the bits to drill their storage slot is a great plan. It sounds like you have a big collection, so I might even choose to do mono-size blocks. A scrap piece of 2x4 with a 5x5 grid of holes. Paint the wood and the bits the same color. Put a square of that color onto the counter/rack space along with the silhouettes of pliers/wrenches.

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[Angi Chau]

We have one of those storage boxes with litttle drawers, usually used for electronic components, that we label with drill bit sizes. We put a drill bit index gauge (like this) on top and ask kids to use the gauge to figure out which drawer the bit should go back into.

Not a perfect solution but works well enough for us. And then once or twice a year, I get a TA or someone from our robotics team to reorganize the drill bits and tell me which ones we need to order more of.

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Angi Chau, PhD
Director of Bourn Idea Lab, Faculty Advisor for Robotics @ Castilleja School
650-470-7756 (direct)
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WOMEN LEARNING  |  WOMEN LEADING

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[Adam Singer]

I have a similar system to

Angie's with small containers for each size, but I do not trust students to put them back in the correct bin. Instead there is a general "return bin" and it is one student's job during clean-up to use the drill bit gauge to properly put away all the bits in the correct bins, so students at the start of each period have the full supply of bits available to them. I also do the same with grits of sandpaper.

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[Joshua Merrow]

Thanks all for the good ideas.

Best

Josh

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 6:41:37 PM UTC-4, Angi Chau wrote:

We have one of those storage boxes with litttle drawers, usually used for electronic components, that we label with drill bit sizes. We put a drill bit index gauge (like this) on top and ask kids to use the gauge to figure out which drawer the bit should go back into.

Not a perfect solution but works well enough for us. And then once or twice a year, I get a TA or someone from our robotics team to reorganize the drill bits and tell me which ones we need to order more of.

-- 

Angi Chau, PhD
Director of Bourn Idea Lab, Faculty Advisor for Robotics @ Castilleja School
650-470-7756 (direct)
ac...@castilleja.org

WOMEN LEARNING  |  WOMEN LEADING

On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 2:27 PM, Andrew <andre...@gmail.com> wrote:

Second this idea. Using the bits to drill their storage slot is a great plan. It sounds like you have a big collection, so I might even choose to do mono-size blocks. A scrap piece of 2x4 with a 5x5 grid of holes. Paint the wood and the bits the same color. Put a square of that color onto the counter/rack space along with the silhouettes of pliers/wrenches.

On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 11:31 PM, Kenton Hoover <kaho...@tehiyah.org> wrote:

A piece of wood with the drill bits used to make the holes, then masked and spray painted in color bands? It would take up more space, but what you seem to be optimizing for isnt overall space usage. If you used the structured cabling color scheme you could get to 50 bits in any type-class (eg metal cutting, wood bits, specialty)

On Sunday, June 7, 2015, Joshua Merrow <jme...@riverdale.edu> wrote:

Hi everyone

Anyone have a good solution for storing / keeping organized small items that come in several sizes? Drill bits come to mind. We usually buy a drill bit index from Harbor Freight ( http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=drill+bit+index ), which degenerates into a shoebox of 100+ drill bits over time, requiring endless hunting for certain sizes. We've found that tools don't get lost when there's a color-coded outline for them on a wall rack - this works well for say, box wrench sets - kids make the racks by hanging the wrenches then spray painting them while on the board. Drill bits remain a stumbler though. Have only three sizes and paint them somehow, with a colored bin for each? Looking for ideas.

Thanks

Josh 

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