So I'm starting to reconfigure my shop to try to be more organized and productive. I've got plenty of tools (more then I have the space for keeping set up) and many interests. I've got alot of peg board hung and 10 or 12 of the stacks of drawers for little things. I've got around 50 feet of base cabinets. A respectable amount for sure, but I'm quickly outgrowing it. Anyway, I just thought I'd ask for ideas from others perspectives as to what you do to organize your own tools. I know it's more art then science and it's mostly a matter of taste, but I'm open to any idea that might gain me a little time/productivity/space.
I already keep my drill bits in the drawer closet the vise. I have 4 angle grinders hung near the vise (Wire wheel, flap disc, grinding wheel, and cut off wheel in case you wonder why 4). I've got 3 dremels with another on the shopping list (wire wheel, cut off wheel, etching tip and the next a grinding bit). People that don't understand only laugh until they have a job to do and see just how convenient and time saving it really is. I've mounted the harbor freight removable plastic bins at my carb station. Makes it quite easy to keep things separated by carb. I always work left to right as mounted on the bike. Spare wheels, dresser, and the like for the twin bench grinders and buffer are in the drawer below them. Course wheel, fine wheel, wire wheel and 3 stages of buffs. The belt/disc sander has a drawer, one for saw blades and so on and so forth. For the most part I'm fairly organized. I've seen better and I've seen many worse, much worse. As I said though, I'm always open to anything that might save me some time or money etc.
LOL sounds like my shop .... golden rule is ... you will ALWAYS have more tools than places to put them lol. Drawers and bins are great, but I have 3 times the stuff I can find a home for (got a ton of old stuff moved in from my inlaws place). Im a bad pack rat and im hard pressed to chuck anything on the "maybe need it one day" basis, but over the years I have been getting a WEE bit better at chucking things I dont use. I try to go on the "if I havent touched it for 5 years then it should go" principle, but easier said than done lol.
Best thing is to try to use up "wasted space" to use as a home for tools (walls, area's to small for anything else) and try to leave as much "floor space" open as you can. The biggest problem I have is all of a sudden I will have 0 floor space as i step over and around things. Last clean I free'ed a lot of floor space up and Im trying to keep it that way (helps to have a 16' x 24' shed lol).
At least all or yours are inside. I've got 15-18 in my main shop (a 30x70 if you count the bathroom space and only about half are mine) another 10-12 (none mine, I'm storing nearly 20 for a friend) in a one car dettached garage, and another 20-25 (all mine) sitting outside with sad faces waiting for space to come in. I've also got an 8x10 (full of fairings and car/truck wheels and tires) and a 10x12 (this one doesn't count cuz it's full of gardening tools and mowers and other nonimportant crap). Huh, I just realized, most of my space shortage is because I'm storing so many bikes for my friends. Oh well, sucks to be popular doesn't it. If I didn't have to have a full time job I could make some progress too. I'm only 37. Though by the grey in my hair and the mass of crap I've accumulated you'd think I was older.
Wow. I'm jealous big time. My wife an I almost bought an older farm 7 years ago. I'd have had 15,000 square feet of storage if it had worked out. I'm still bitter about how and why we didn't get it but that's another story. It's just so easy to get too many projects going and POOF you're buried.
"Well, against my better judgement (I'm embarrassed of the current mess) here's an idea of what I'm dealing with."
Well, have to echo Murrayf here ..... $&#$ Wish mine was that clean and that much space. I think you should run right out now and buy 22 project bikes for making the rest of us feel bad
I hesitate to give you any tips, as I have not acquired the skill of planning and organizing my shop and probably never will. Things and tools move around constantly, depending on what I'm working on at the time. I've watched the hoarder TV shows and have tried to avoid their situations, lol. However, I was fortunate to find a compatible biz partner and we bought a commercial warehouse type building 7 years ago and we rent out several artist work-spaces to cover the costs.
I've run across the old "oh I just threw one of those out last week" scenario many times here too. My solution is A) I try hard not to scrap or discard ANYTHING that has any life left in it, and B) I'm planning a 30 day shelf. If I come across something I've had for years and feel I should/could chuck it, I'll put it on the 30 day shelf with the date on it. If after 30 days I haven't needed it and I still think I should dispose of it then I can do so with a clear conscience.
As for the "critter" that's too funny. Spoiler alert: It's the 2 fluorescent lights viewed from the end.
mice are not the big problem it is wasps and mud daubers infesting things they have taken over 2 of my semi trailers and i am not sure how they even get in
Funny you should mention the wasps. I just yesterday (and this morning) dealt with the largest ground nest I've ever seen in person. They had burrowed in under some leftover firewood I had. When I pulled the log on top of it I nearly crapped. The hole was nearly big enough to put a 5 gallon bucket in. I used a whole can of spray yesterday. This morning I checked on it at around 4am and there was around 2 dozen live ones on the top. It was frosty cold so they were moving plenty slow so I used a shovel and caved it in. Turns out the hole I saw was just the start. Once I got everything caved in the outside of the hole was nearly 3 feet across. I know I'm not done dealing with them, I'm sure the live ones will dig out eventually. In the mean time I'm working on my next course of action.
Back to the storage, I just started adding vins to my parts boxes. If I'd have know 20 years ago when I started where I'd get to I'd have started labeling and putting vins on them from the beginning. I'm debating on if I've got enough to justify separate shelves by make (Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and "other") We'll see how ambitious I get when I get to cleaning.
I had my first (and second) wave runners this summer. One was a 90 the other a 92 but identical. I got them cheap enough, but they weren't any good for my intentions. I thought we were going to be able to ride 2 up on them like we do on the 2 quads we have. HA. We tried 3 times (my 15 year old daughter and I) and we never made it out of the landing. Very tippy. They are fun by yourself but useless to me since my wife didn't even want to try them and my 17 year old didn't like them cause she couldn't fish of them so I got rid of them.
Well, I made a little progress. I got my parts bikes in less then 24 hours before the snow. Then I filled any room I had left with the "new" escape (needs fixing but I need a decent vehicle and the price was right assuming I can get it fixed)
I had to build a lean to to cover some.
And I'm choosing to pretend I don't know that this mess exists right now.
Nearly impossible to get anything done at the moment. But at least I got the important stuff in before the snow. Now I can (hopefully) get this straightened up so I can get some actual work done.
Step 1) Purge all broken, dull, someday spares.
Step 2) Build another shop
Step 3) New wall art in new building.
Step 4) Move active projects to new building
Step 5) Padlock previous shop
Step 6) Ignore previous shop.
Be happy. My shop is a multi-purpose space. Garage for LOML's ride, motorcycle, lawn equipment. Woodshop. Motorcycle/car repair shop. Paint shop. Storage facility.
A royal PITA because there is always projects competing for the space at the same time. Something is always being pushed into the driveway, covered, dug out from under........
I am so jealous Paul. I only have a 2 1/4 stall garage plus a mini barn. With two vehicles and 3 bikes inside there is barely any room. Right now everything is situated so the snow blower has easy access to blow out the driveway. The fairing I bought is currently drapped over the air compressor.
Yeah, that's affectionately known around here as "The Wall". I had to set the racks up in front of it just to get them up in a hurry. It's "temporary" which the way things have been going means it'll be 5 or 10 years before I get to dig them out again. I'm amused at some of the comments from visitors. My favorite is "My wife would NEVER let me have that." I'm pretty lucky to have the wife I have. She knows she's got nothing to worry about. And as the wife of one of my friends from work said "It doesn't matter where you work up the appetite as long as you eat at home." My old shop used to have one whole wall full of posters I made from sports illustrated swimsuit magazines.
When we first bought this place and the shop was empty my kids set up a race track in there. They'd ride in do a lap and race back out the door. Now I'd have a hard time finding a place to PUT a bicycle in there that wouldn't be in my way.
According to Snopes.com that quote is not by Audrey Hepburn.:dejection:
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Honda CX 500 Forum
613K posts
34.8K members
Since 2010
A forum community dedicated to Honda CX 500 motorcycle owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about modifications, parts, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!