Shopsmith Forums

Out of curiosity, how much did this "bin" project cost?

I'm curious about your "filing system", Ed. First of all, what is targeted for the bins? From the size, I suspect fasteners, and probably a bunch of other stuff as well.

Second, assuming fasteners, how do you organize them? My ideal would be "everything in it's own bin", families of stuff together, like the hardware organizers at ACE. But realistically, I don't think I'll ever have the space to do that. But I need to do better than I am at present.

Finding the right fastener in my shop is usually faster than driving four miles to Ace, but slower than it should be.

Just a bit of history here to bring this into perspective. Back in early July I was working out the details for this build. Part of this was started by viewing what Adam Savage has for his "collection".

That post is here:
http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 8&p=216132

Part of my problem was that I had a bunch of mismatched smaller parts cabinets that were in several locations including one that I had limited access to in real time. The other issues with these cabinets is that blown dust gets in them, they are not easy to move around and it is easy to have bins come open and dump just when you don't expect it. They also don't allow a good view of content. I made the decisions to part with this style storage. You can see that posting here:

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/commu ... 18696.html

This style of shelf unit is not new here. I posted this back in 2012 when I built my first two of these:

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/gener ... 10568.html

I also believe I did a post on the sister shelf unit to the one I just built but can't find it...........

As to cost, this is a ballpark estimate based on the last unit I put together. Wood, less then $50. Casters somewhere in the $16 range, drawer hardward $11, screws(wag) $4. This puts the cabinet a something less then $81.

I've been buying the cabinets for a while now and the price varies so based on today price the 29 of them would come to $412. Total cost of $493. Now that might sound high but if you look at the system Adam Savage used this is way cheaper.

As for what is stored in them, lots of good stuff, yes there are some nuts, bolts, washers, screws, nails and the like but there are also repair parts, electronics, connectors, adapters, future project parts and things like electrical part, plumbing parts, smaller tools, and well a lot of stuff. I'd say as a guess on the low side $3000 and the high side $5000. As they say on the antique road show, replacement cost maybe $6000 mostly due to packaging strategist deciding on how many of something is a minimum purchase.

Some of the things are reasonably organized as in they came out of parts drawers the had similar parts. Still others are less then wonderful. My plan is to not worry about that now. I want to photograph each cabinet then do a visual of the photo to locate potential parts. I haven't tried this yet but I have high hopes for the idea.

Ed

Well Ed that answers that!!! I like the camera idea, kinda like Home Depot.
Enjoy another picture perfect late summer day

ERLover wrote:Well Ed that answers that!!! I like the camera idea, kinda like Home Depot.
Enjoy another picture perfect late summer day

You go to Home Depot and look at pictures of stuff?

No, they have an App and all the isles are numbered off in segments, just go to the app, shoot in the number and tells ya what all is there, or something like that. I never used it but I think that is how it works.

ERLover wrote:

reible wrote:This latest cabinet is quite similar to one I built before. The openings are designed to fit either two of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000 ... =UTF8&th=1

or one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G ... =UTF8&th=1

or one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004E ... UTF8&psc=1

The first shelf unit can hold up to 30 of the smaller ones or 15 of just the larger ones. As it is I have 10 smaller container and 10 larger.

Adding a shelf to the new unit cost me a bit, it can hold only 29 smaller units and that is what I have in it.

So at this point I have a total of 39 smaller ones and 10 larger ones.

The 39 smaller units have 25 bins each for a total of 975 bins, the larger ones are 10 bins so that adds 100 more.

This is called a start.

Ed

With all those Ed, you got way too much stuff, time to minimize.
When my garage got full, I was thinking about making a shed, back in the mid 80s, I figured a grand, gravel or cement base, then about 12 or 14 ft by 8 ft. I then had an inspiration, what do I do when that is full. No shed, I got rid of the junk in the garage and organized a bit.

ERLover this time I agree with you. I have a two car garage and when I moved into the house I resolved in my mind to always park the cars inside. For the most part I have been able to do that.

About 15 years ago my neighbor built a really nice shed I was envious. Around then my next door neighbor moved in and filled his garage with junk.
so after two year he built a shed just like the first neighbor. I was really envious. Then two years ago the first neighbor built an extension to his shed. This summer the next door neighbor built a second shed.

Long story short all the sheds and extensions are now filled and their cars are still in the drive way, their garages are packed to the ceiling, while my cars still go in the garage every night.

Yes it takes going through the junk about once a year and throwing away stuff I haven't used in 25 years. Interesting I can't recall ever going for something that I had thrown out.

Ed in Tampa wrote:

ERLover wrote:

reible wrote:This latest cabinet is quite similar to one I built before. The openings are designed to fit either two of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000 ... =UTF8&th=1

or one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G ... =UTF8&th=1

or one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004E ... UTF8&psc=1

The first shelf unit can hold up to 30 of the smaller ones or 15 of just the larger ones. As it is I have 10 smaller container and 10 larger.

Adding a shelf to the new unit cost me a bit, it can hold only 29 smaller units and that is what I have in it.

So at this point I have a total of 39 smaller ones and 10 larger ones.

The 39 smaller units have 25 bins each for a total of 975 bins, the larger ones are 10 bins so that adds 100 more.

This is called a start.

Ed

With all those Ed, you got way too much stuff, time to minimize.
When my garage got full, I was thinking about making a shed, back in the mid 80s, I figured a grand, gravel or cement base, then about 12 or 14 ft by 8 ft. I then had an inspiration, what do I do when that is full. No shed, I got rid of the junk in the garage and organized a bit.

ERLover this time I agree with you. I have a two car garage and when I moved into the house I resolved in my mind to always park the cars inside. For the most part I have been able to do that.

About 15 years ago my neighbor built a really nice shed I was envious. Around then my next door neighbor moved in and filled his garage with junk.
so after two year he built a shed just like the first neighbor. I was really envious. Then two years ago the first neighbor built an extension to his shed. This summer the next door neighbor built a second shed.

Long story short all the sheds and extensions are now filled and their cars are still in the drive way, their garages are packed to the ceiling, while my cars still go in the garage every night.

Yes it takes going through the junk about once a year and throwing away stuff I haven't used in 25 years. Interesting I can't recall ever going for something that I had thrown out.

LMAO!!!! That made my day!!!
I have 2 ERs, a SS Grayling, Jet big cabinet saw, a large router table/cabinet, a 2x4ft bench with my planer and CPMS on it, a machine work bench 2x4ft, a wood workers bench 22x60", plus in the front of the garage cabinets and shelving. I readjusted the wood working stuff, and should be able to to get the BMer 740iL, LARGE CAR,in here for the winter. of course all are on castors, except the work benches.
Ya Dusty, pics to come!!!

ERLover wrote:BMer 740iL, LARGE CAR,in here for the winter. of course all are on castors

So how did ya get the BMer 740iL on castors?

The latest harbor freight flyer has a 20 compartment parts bin that looks like it would fit in my "stack". See it here:

http://www.harborfreight.com/19-bin-por ... 93928.html

Normal price of 8.99 is a good deal cheaper then what I've been paying and that price has been going up over the last 2 years to where it is now. Current price for the Stanley 25 compartment is $13.77.

My shelving is full for this year but for those interested you could save a few $$ if these are well enough made to work. And the flyer has a coupon that lets you get 7 of them at $5.99. That might be a good deal or not depending on how well made they are.

So there is a heads up for some of you if you are interested. No time better then now to get started.

Ed