Adam Savage Explains What to Do When You Drop Gobs of Loose Hardware
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- In this excerpt, Adam kicks off a live stream with two stories about shop organization, including one very unfortunate story about a gajillion of drywall screws and lugs going rogue. Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam a question:
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I won an auction for what I thought was a pallet of various fasteners, Twelve 5 gallon buckets full of nuts, bolts, screw and more. Won the auction for $36. When I paid the cashier told me my lot was inside the warehouse. Found my lot, it was not 1 pallet, it was 5 of them. I only looked at the outside stuff. I hauled home 39 buckets of stuff. Spent little over a year and sorted the stuff I would use. Gave the rest to a guy that had a second hand hardware store.
Jesus Christ. 36 bucks for that? Genuine question, where do you find auctions like those? Even if I'm not going to get a deal like that I'm curious how I could even approach it. Seems like it could be a smart move.
@@YukonHexsun yeah how do you find things like this?
@@YukonHexsun i work at Lowes as a reset crew member and the amount of screws that I pull from behind the hardware bays are ridiculous. When bringing them to my manager he said they would sell the buckets as is to someone to reduce shrink, so it could be from companies that just send them back to manufacturers or trying to reduce their yearly loss. Also you could check out at all local hardware stores where they may do the same.
Boy I paid $200 for six buckets! They were full, but for you sounds like a deal of a lifetime. I'm planning on building an automated sorter for mine to save time. There are few videos out there on them.
At my work (mobile/temp HVAC company) we recently bought about $6000 in various air filters, a pallet of shop tools, and racks full of misc metric bolts; all of it cost about $100.
We added all the filters that we could use to our inventory and ended up selling off a chunk of them for about $1000, added the tools to our shop, and traded the bolts to a supplier for hockey tickets (box seats!!).
It is crazy what you can get on auction if you are willing to take the time to dig through and do a little research.
As an electrician I spend two hours every Sunday re-organizing my hardware . As a kid my father a mechanic would have me organize his bolts then he would quiz me on the sizes thread size thanks Adam for posting this subject there are so many about tools very little about this subject.
My father was a mechanic too, but if I spent two hours organising my nuts, I was just told to take my hands out of my pockets! lol
Apologies for the appallingly bad dad joke :-)
Watching Adam morph into Doc Brown over the years is entertaining
Adam, someone showed me years ago, a trick that may help if that ever happened again. He showed me that he color coded the threads per size. He put them on a baking sheet and did light vibrant paint, so at a glance, everything could be sorted in a fraction of the time. I hope this helps you, and I have been of your unique ways of going through a problem and how you solve it.
Safest solution I've found so far is to put the items in a small ziploc type coin bag, closed, then keep that bag inside a plastic tupperware type container/box. I'll leave a few of the bolts/nuts/parts outside of the bag, but inside the plastic box for easy access when I just need 1-5 items. If the plastic box falls off the shelf and hits the ground, the plastic bag keeps most of the items from getting out. If the whole shelf falls down and all of the plastic boxes spill open, the bags are still closed and they keep most of the items from making a mess. The bag is an extra step, but it's saved me from having a giant mess for over 10 years now.
That is well worth considering.
I keep zip lock bags on a clip, which fits the slide out drawer. I take the bagged drawer to the job.
One of my coworkers had some little magnetically clasped ziploc bags for that, it was way easier to keep the bags closed when it’s closed by default. Also helped when he accidentally dropped a bag.
I use 2"x2" bags that fit in my organizers. Still organized to be easily visible and retrievable but also unspillable
m2 after two messed up situations
It is such a relief that someone as significant a human being as Adam is still subjecting themselves to such menial efforts. It makes me feel so much better about my place in the world that it's still worth it to him.
Lol. I like Adam but significant? I'll stick with the ideal of all men being created equal. Adam himself seems very humble.
I did the exact same thing, I have a Sortimo box with screws in ranging from 12mm to 100mm (33 different sizes). I picked it up by the handle having forgotten to close the clasps and the entire bloody thing emptied onto the floor in front of me. I scraped it all into a bucket and spent about 4 evenings re-separating them which was a long process. I also sat working out how much they had all cost and considered just binning them all but couldn't bring myself to be so wasteful. I now have a real complex about the clasps on the box and am forever triple checking them before I will pick one up!
Give 'em away! Somebody has the time and a use for them!
Replace what you need if you need it for work or right away. But...
Keep the mix, it will:
A: give you something to do after you pissed off your spouse/SO and you need to keep out of sight for a while
B: help pass the time when you are procrastinating on something else
C: be there when you need just one more of 'some part' and it will be in the mix
D: give that guest with you something to keep their fingers busy and off your tools
@@michaelvanbogaert7888 Can also sell for scrap. Won't be much, but it'll make a tiny dent into re-purchasing! Depending on a set build we do that with 'used' screws...only used once, but make the call whether it's worth it or not to sort and re-use. ...or donate to a smaller theatre...
The amount of perfectly serviceable, immediately recyclable, and/or chemically problematic stuff American CZcamsrs put straight in the trash on camera expecting it to magically disappear from the world is beyond me... Wastefulness and passing the buck are the true American way.
@@1SweetPete yup, it’s hard to watch. Even if I could afford to trash something and replace it for convenience I don’t think my conscious would allow it
I sew, crochet, weave, etc. I used to be hard on myself when it got to be a huge mess. I would get frustrated at the time it took to redo things all the time. Thanks for the reminder to enjoy it.
Oh the pain of having your organizer spill out! I've felt that. Anyone that invests in organizers should have a action plan for the day when they do accidentally spill. Take a deep breath and then start picking things up. The thing I'm doing lately with my Systainer Organizers is storing the crimper in Kaizen foam in the same organizer case next to the bins with lugs.
I would add to that, you should see it as an opportunity to revitalize your organization system and fix any problems with it. Never succumb to the sinking feeling.
+1 for systainer, but soooo expensive. also raaco handybox is great for electronics components when combined with the stackable green component boxes.
@@millenniumf1138 that's what i would probably do. i mean i'd definitely cry a bit first, but yeah, it's a great chance to fix the issues you've found with the old system.
Just to quote some of what I found most direct and useful from what Adam said: "I hear a question in all of this... that is 'How do I organize so I can be done organizing?' and the answer is you can't. The thing about organization is it is not a task. It is a process...And if you embrace that, then I feel like organization is less of a 'losing game' or what feels like a Sisyphean task of constantly doing the same thing over and over, and it becomes part of the normal practice..."
I remember when I was a kid going to visit an uncle that loved to work wood, he would make all sorts of stuff in various sizes.
He would buy at fleamarkets containers ( buckets/jars/bags... ) of mixed screws/bolts/nails and use magnets he chose for their lift power and with that was able to drastically save hours to sort it all.
What is obviously needed is sorting boxes with lids that simply won't open unless the box is fully supported with all four corners on a flat surface.
That seems like a huge annoyance if you're not on a flat surface or you're short of workspace and you're balancing it with only 2/3rds of it on the edge of your bench.
or just have the discipline to close the box when you walk away from it. thats what i do, sometimes i am outside working and no flat areas to put box down so i am holding it and finish by closing it and putting locks on it.
Totally know the pain involved, as I recently knocked my 18-compartment organizer similar to yours, occupied with probably 250+ transistors, off my workbench while it was open. 15 different transistors with numbers and letters legible only with a magnifying glass. I was still finding orphans in nooks and crannies around my workbench a week later...
Yes!! There’s some awesome cognitive psychology research about seeing fields of large numbers of similar shapes. Once the brain-eye system gets tuned to “see” a target shape, they jump out. But … for some choices of mixed shapes there is no jumping out at all.
I used exactly the same technique to sort 4 workshops’ worth of mixed fasteners: prime you brain to see a certain size or shape, and just let them come to you.
I've actually trained my brain to do this but for Colours as well, so I can go "look for red" and the reds become just the tiniest bit more foreground
It works great for screws and such, but imagine trying to sort a pile of resistors or chips this way... they all look identical except for the tiny makings!
@@renakunisaki This is partly why, as an electronics hobbyist, I greatly prefer those "sample books" of SMD resistors/capacitors/etc in cut tape inside plastic wallets in little A5-size books, instead of any kind of "loose components in dozens/hundreds of tiny containers" system.
For a start, you can buy the books pre-populated (and labelled!) in a range of component types, physical sizes, and tolerances. You can also buy books containing empty wallets and extra empty wallets for two different widths of tape. And EEVblog sells large, A4-size ESD-safe wallets more suited to larger components and ICs (or at least he used to sell them; I've not checked recently).
So I can easily find the majority of my SMD parts by grabbing, e.g., the "Resistors 0603 1%" book and flipping to the right page. I have another book for LEDs, one or two for capacitors, another for misc small parts, then a big A4 folder for ICs and larger parts in tape (SMD electrolytic capacitors, inductors, etc.)
I'll admit that grabbing parts from tape isn't as fast as picking loose parts from bins, but at my scale that's really not a problem, and I personally value the organisation and safety of parts on tape :)
One warning regarding the pre-populated capacitor "sample books" from AliExpress and the like: while the parts are labelled, they sometimes don't list the temperature coefficient (X5R, X7R, C0G, Y5V, …). Some of mine do; some don't. Whether that matters depends on your application, but it's worth bearing in mind! :)
I found that skill as a kid playing with legos. I would get lego sets for Christmas or birthday or whatever, but after building the set it would eventually get harvested for some other project. So I ended up with a big rubbermaid tub of mixed legos. When looking for a piece, I could focus on a shape or a color, and the excluded shapes or colors would fade into the background a little bit.
I suspect it's an evolutionary thing that helped us find edible bits on the ground or berries on bushes.
I use the super powerful magnets out of my old HDDs to hang my chucks, drivers, and other items that I need for certain tools in my shop. They are powerful and will hold a 16 oz hammer or more.
Using your kids to sort screws always works too... "here's $5 to sort this bucket in an hour"... put on a movie on in the shop and away you go.
Gravity always is good at randomization of sorted small objects!
There are a number of solid brands: TE Connectivity, AMP, Tyco. Each has a range of products. The key is to buy from an authorized distributor. Also, if you don’t want the spill possibility, you can get the connectors on a tape reel if the quantity is enough (typically 1000 pc)
I agree, I usually buy my connectors as needed from DigiKey and they carry all the premium brands. It’s still not easy the ones you want due to shear amount of choices, so I might order few different ones and decide which one fits the application best once I receive it.
I've been building things and fixing things since I was a young boy of about seven. The system that has evolved for me is like my tools: The hand tools that I use the most are up on the tool board with all the other hand tools are place in miscellaneous tools light and miscellaneous tools heavy. With hardware I keep special items to themselves such as drywall screws are kept in a five-gallon bucket in which I've combine two other bottoms which are cut at three inches high and have plywood separators in them to give me four pockets per bucket bottom. The two bucket bottoms are removable and have handles built into them. For the rest of my hardware, I've embraced the miscellaneous storage of large medium and small. It's not like a hardware store, but I don't have the space to separate all of my hardware into distinct containers. Great video Adam thumbs up.
Adam's two questions for you all: What is a good, thorough assortment of lugs, that are copper? Should Adam get rid of the lugs he thinks he won't need? Give your advice below!
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Uh id say no to getting rid of the lugs if copper and a good assortment is probably getting them in person
I'm a user and big fan of TE Connectivity's PIDG (Partially Insulated Diamond Grip) series, I think it's the OG of nylon-insulated these things? I have crimpers 47386 (for red) and 47387 (for blue), both available in economical vintage form on eBay for not too much at all. Or generic crimpers can work. Quick disconnects is a topic that gets complicated fast if you want them to be fully insulated. Fractally more variations than most kits ever cover.
Anchor brand marine terminal ends we can get them with heat shrink ends and standard nylon ends in numerous sizes and also in blister packs of 5, 10, 25 and 100 and also in bulk
Wago connectors. German standard
This literally just happened to my coworker.
He dropped his bin of various tiny electrical connectors. It was horror scene.
Argh!
Organizing the shop is a number one Mission when moving into a new building/shop, my shop that is constantly reinventing it self. So I’m changing the shop around over and over through the years. I wish I could send you my photos of my comparable organization different’s. No matter what size of a shop I have - it will never be big enough.
I’m not a big fan of tattoos and have never considered getting one but having an accurate ruler on the inside of the forearm is genius!
I've used this exact same method, but in a different context. I used to work at a university cafeteria, and my job was to handle and clean the utensils. I would pull a crate full of dirty ones, send them through the cleaning machine, sort them, send them through again, flip them around, and send them through again.
I also handled all the plates that came in and went out to the students along with returning all the clean pots and pans that got used in the kitchen, so I had to be fast. This is exactly the method that I ended up figuring out that went the fastest and easiest. On one pass I'd grab all the easy to get spoons, and then forks, and then knives, and then back to spoons.
This by far the best way to do it because by the time you go through all the different types you will have exposed enough of the first type to keep on sorting effectively.
The spill seems inevitable. My strategy is to get high quality versions of high use items and keep them organized. Also keep a "bucket" of random stuff (3/8 lugs, etc) to save a trip to the store on those rare occasions
I think that for shop usage these kinds of containers with the lid you have to open to access what is effectively otherwise just a drawer are really bad. In theory, the lid means that you could close the container so that if it got knocked off the bench it won't spill everywhere. But in practice as Adam demonstrates that doesn't happen. In fact, the lid's existence actually makes it more likely that it is going to get knocked off the bench as it encourages precarious piling of things. I bought some much cheaper storage units for Lego, and the first thing I did was cut all the lids off them. Now they are just drawers and I don't even have to take them out of the storage cabinet to access what I need, so there's no chance of them being knocked over. If you have to take those parts out of your shop then great, but otherwise the lid is just a liability.
One caveat.. dust gets on stuff if you only have shelves and no drawers, the boxes with lids are the only solution IMHO
@@joansparky4439 I agree with your comment. Dust and the like just loves to get into fastener containers. For LEGO in a clean environment having no lids is fine, but workshops and trade vehicles are notorious for dust and debris.
Adam mentioned making runners for these, where I presume he will remove the induvidual compartments as needed. At this point though seems better to just have draws with teh compartments in it. Then, If you need to take certain ones with you some where... have an empty box and fill it up with your selection.
In practice it does work, if you just close the lid.
For the last 2 years, I'm in the process of renovating the garage and building a woodworking shop, since it's a family property for 2 generations, there have been numerous boxes, old paint cans and other containers filled with various nuts, bolts, screws and other materials to sort. I think I spent at least one week sorting all of them and ended up with 5 sortimo boxes filled. It is actually very satisfying and not boring at all, with the right audiobook and some drinks. The good thing is, I actually know where the stuff is because I touched every single screw and washer.
Interesting, thank you for sharing.
As someone who has sorted through my collection of magic the gathering cards time and again(I have around 60,000 of them) your process with the screws is on point. Having a system to quickly go through and sort doesn't actually take as long as one would expect. For magic you can start with broad categories like color, multi-color, artifact and land. Then pair down to more specifics like creature, spell or enchantment. The amount of specificity is up to how much additional time you are willing to spend.
That being said the biggest hurdle in any process is getting yourself to start doing it. I think the the key is having your system of sorting set aside and readily available to use so you can do it for 15 minutes at a time over a week and get it done. Too often people will put it off cause they think they need to set aside an hour or hours to do it, and then it doesn't get done. It literally took you 30 seconds to have the tray and bins in front of you and that is key right there. 😁
Ahh, i miss browsing through my MTG collection.
I had a couple thousand cards as well, not as many as 60k though, but sorting them still took some time.
But after a while, the sorting goes almost automatically.
Similar to drawing a hand to start the game.
The cards tell you in which order you put them, unless you keep them in your hand randomly.
But, sticking with one system is the hardest part, as i sometimes also sorted cards on ability whenever i was looking to make a new deck and started making new connections and combo's.
There are always a load of cards that you hardly touch, those will usually stay the way they were, but the favorite cards end up in several piles of potential deck themes and whatnot.
You're never done sorting them, because after a while, you'll fall back in your usual style and try to make a deck with that, and then you notice that some cards are kinda in the wrong spot, and the sorting continues, it is a process, like Adam said.
What a brutal attempt at a brag
@@garycheevers2671 The games been out for 29 years. At 540 cards per box it doesn't take a lot of effort to get that many cards. I started playing in 1994 and bought cards for around 20 of those years. Me and my buddies would buy repack boxes of 500 or 1000 random cards for 10 or 15 bucks back in the day. It's a lot less investment money wise than you'd think.
You do basically the same I do for large puzzles. Sorting colors, then shapes and edges and special objects. :-)
I'm doing about 5k cards that I just recovered from my youth. This is exactly the method I'm using. I've found some cards that are worth serious cash, so even at an hourly rate it's worth it to dig through thousands of cards. I see you and I know the motivation, and all this without thinking of actually building decks!
I recently sorted all my computer screws (of which there were far, Far too many) by placing them with the bolt-end Up on the table. The bottoms were the best identifier of which type they were, and I could get eye-level with the table to confirm heights for these .5 inch (or less) screws.
Still took...two hours, I think? But I was taking it slow. Hopefully the rest of the sorting went well!
genuinely - discussion about how to sort things like a bucket of screws is so good.
even if just for the feeling that we all face the same problems and there are solutions.
also it's always 2x as useful to know where things went wrong for another maker, than just hear success stories.
sharing mistakes means we can learn without repeating the same mistakes.
Adam, thanks for the insight. A lifetime of making shows you the value of the right part/tool for the job but production shows you the value of refining the options to expedite the process.
I saw the thumbnail and instantly knew what happened. My condolences for your loss.
At least you didn't lose yours in the middle of a customer's parking lot while walking to their job after lunch.
I share your pain and experience 😑 we where done at site, running a bit late, packing up tools and common parts, closed the assortment cases. When visiting customers we have this modular toolboxes you can stack vertically, basically endless until they are too heavy or too tall. Because we where three people there was alot of traffic to this system. Most are side accessible but the largest and most heavy duty only opens on top. To access the heavy duty box on bottom you need to unhinge that section by twisting a lock on each side and remove/lift off the top sections. Somewhere in the rushed flurry of packing someone only secured one side of one of the center sections. The next guy hurrying back with tools from other room just click-clack left right side of bottom section and yanked the stack off... Of course the section started the upward motion but then the single side lock gave out because of the extreme load and swings... and out flops the assortment cases of washers, every dam washer from 2mm up to 8mm, in flat, wavey, toothed, and notched. Probably around 5000 washers just rolled all over the floor making a symphonie of clinkety plinkety noises. Friday... late afternoon... 3 hours of driving to do aswell.... "F! This! I'm plugging in the vacuum cleaner and we are done". I bet the cleaning crew there still finds washers now and then creeping out from joints in the floor, from beneath cabinets etc 😂😂 they bounced and rolled everywhere!!
I share your pain and experience 😑 we where done at site, running a bit late, packing up tools and common parts, closed the assortment cases. When visiting customers we have this modular toolboxes you can stack vertically, basically endless until they are too heavy or too tall. Because we where three people there was alot of traffic to this system. Most are side accessible but the largest and most heavy duty only opens on top. To access the heavy duty box on bottom you need to unhinge that section by twisting a lock on each side and remove/lift off the top sections. Somewhere in the rushed flurry of packing someone only secured one side of one of the center sections. The next guy hurrying back with tools from other room just click-clack left right side of bottom section and yanked the stack off... Of course the section started the upward motion but then the single side lock gave out because of the extreme load and swings... and out flops the assortment cases of washers, every dam washer from 2mm up to 8mm, in flat, wavey, toothed, and notched. Probably around 5000 washers just rolled all over the floor making a symphonie of clinkety plinkety noises. Friday... late afternoon... 3 hours of driving to do aswell.... "F! This! I'm plugging in the vacuum cleaner and we are done". I bet the cleaning crew there still finds washers now and then creeping out from joints in the floor, from beneath cabinets etc 😂😂 they bounced and rolled everywhere!!
"Organisation is a process not a task" is the best advice I'd ever heard. I have ADHD, perfectionism and get easily overwhelmed (great fun) so this advice makes me feel far better about things
Hello Adam, long time fan. My tip for organizing electrical terminals and butt connectors etc... is to keep them in a tool box shallow drawer in orginizer bins ( I actually use the package they come in mostly ). That way you cannot drop them. When I work on a project far away I just pack some over there and bring back what I dont use.
One time as I was walking down the stairs I dropped an organizer with assorted machine screws ranging from #0 to #5. It was like slow motion watching that case hit the stairs and explode with thousands of tiny screws. That took a while to get sorted.
Organization is a process, not a task. I'm a jeweler, my problems are your problems, just smaller pieces. That hit me with a clarity stick so hard.
Organization is really the process of deciding / realizing which objects in your life are worth something to you, and of setting priorities. It can be a very emotional process. I really felt that statement, too!
As an engineer with an OCD, the one time my organizer fell off the shelf and everything spilled out was the only time my coworkers hear me cursing like a sailor.
I really appreciate these videos, there is a lot of really practical advice that has been very helpful. I don't make a lot of stuff or do fabrication, I don't have a lathe or table saw even (yet), but I do have a growing collection of hand tools in the garage and will occasionally modify something I've bought to make it better for my use. These videos have inspired to do that more often and think critically about not only how I'm using my tools but the type of tools I have and what I may want to get later, and new kinds of projects I might aspire to do. Your advice is incredibly useful not just for craftsmen/women whose livelihood is making things, but also for those who will occasionally need to fix something in their house or take on a DIY project. Thanks Adam for continuing to teach me, I learned from you as a teenager during mythbusters and still learn from you as an adult building my life and maintaining my house and my tools.
For crimps, Raychem crimp terminals are pretty premium.
What I've done typically is sort the assortments by colour - different sizes to fit the wire I'm crimping. It's a natural first level sort - find the colour (red, blue, yellow) that correspond to your wire gauge, then root around in there to find the ring/spade/blade terminal of the flavour that you want. Only if I'm working on lots of a single crimp for replicate wiring harnesses on projects would I bother to dedicate a single container towards it for storage.
My 30/30/30 rule for dropping a bunch of small parts:
Swear profusely for 30 seconds, sigh and stare at it for another 30 seconds, then pick it all up and start re-sorting it out for the next 30 minutes (to 30 hours).
Thank you so much for the great advice Professor Savage.
Gotta love the practical tattoo...
Yeah I noticed it too.
Once I joked to my dad about getting a tattoo of a ruler
He does actually use it a lot!
Regarding your tools such as your chuck keys, try magnetic tool holder strips. We use them at the shop I work in. Just press the tool to the wall and let go
Chuck keys normally live within arm's reach of the lathe headstock. One setup I saw in a home shop a long time back had three keys in fitted holders on the back of the headstock with a microswitch at the bottom of each hole wired up as an interlock. The lathe motor wouldn't start until all the chuck keys were in their holders pressing down on the microswitches. This was very good at preventing the "start the lathe with the chuck key still in the chuck" sort of accident.
You have never sorted a mess like what is left on an electrical job after 4 year of emptying carts into a Conex. My first experience in commercial electrical and it absolutely changed the way I thought about keeping shit organized.
So right about the ongoing process of organization, worked in a shop and the changes happened every few months. Was a pain,but an enjoyable one.
Adam, I'm a technician in a post-graduate program to produce physician assistants. That "medical" stand is, in fact. a "mayo" stand. Thanks for all the helpful info!!
It’s interesting that Adam says organization is a process, not a task.
I’ve recently finally come to terms that I love getting organized but hate staying organized. I’ve decided that my best workflow is to organize and create systems, make a mess, and then reorganize and create new systems, and so on. I just need to do the reorganizing part more often than I currently do.
Interesting 🤔. As we speak, I'm trying to convince myself that if I organize more "sloppily," then I'll do it often enough. Then (theoretically), I'll have everything in my space slightly organized, and then move on to the most important things to doa better / more accurate job. I would like to develop three or four different "tiers" of organization, so that I can organize different groups of things which have different priorities to the right level of tedium / efficiency.
i noticed about 3 years ago that every place i looked at seemed to have eliminated the shorter drywall screws. it made feel like i was going crazy and remembering something that hadn't really existed. glad to hear it's not just me.
During Covid lockdown I sorted several plastic tubs and jars of assorted fasteners etc. into organised cases. It ended up being incredibly therapeutic. In addition, it now saves me more accumulative time finding things than it took to sort it all into 16 different organisers - so it was well worth the effort and will continue to do so forever more. Thanks for the idea and motivation Adam 👍👍
My current thought process for organizing relies heavily on 6-in by 9 inch Plano style clear sorting boxes. The size of them forces me to keep my inventory small and if I drop one it's definitely not the end of the world. I fashioned a relatively simple stack of shelves similar to what you would see an old-time architect's office using for holding blueprints. That and a brother label printer have made my life so much easier. It's modular, easy to keep clean and organized, and if it is well labeled it is very easy to find what you need in a very short span of time.
And added benefit to that is that if I have to take my boxes to someone's house to do some work I just throw them into a fishing tackle box with pre-sized shelves and I'm ready to go.
Those little Plano organizers are great. I have some random 120V electrical stuff in one, some bike parts in another, another two with TIG welding consumables and probably more I'm forgetting. Super handy, and I love them being completely clear so I can look at one and quickly tell what's inside.
+1 on the Plano organizers - I'm up to over 50 of them with all my hardware and parts..... they also stack very compact.
Over my lifespan, I've attempted to "organize" my workspaces multiple times, and finally realized (as you have) that it is a never ending task.
There is never a time when everything in my work area is completely and correctly organized.
Whether it's at work, home shop, kitchen or (heaven help me!) my desk and filing cabinets in my office, it is, like you said, very much an ongoing process. It's something that changes from time to time to fit with whatever it is that is most important to me in that moment. Einstein was correct, everything is relative to your position in time and space.
Which definitely includes everything in my shop. Good luck and Godspeed, Adam!
I have sorted screws before. That is the same method for sorting that I used. It also helps to put something on the tv while doing it.
I have a couple of tips I use in my own home shop.
I've attached a magnetic rail to a broom, pick up any metal parts while you sweep the floor.
The second is a small (weak) neodymium magnet on a (chop)stick, to quickly pick up one or more parts.
While sorting i use the magnet to pick up isolated screws and quickly remove them with my other hand. I use the wooden end to isolate screw I want to pick up.
Both work like a dream
I also have a magnatic bowl for any odd bits, to be sorted later.
This lives near projects and I just chuck anything in there and don't need to worry about it getting lost.
And a container of unsorted crap, that often contains something I need but thought I'd run out off.
Both of these make organisation more relaxed.
I watched this during the live stream and just rewatched it again because I needed to be reminded that “organization is a process, not a task.” (T-shirt idea??). Thanks Tested for putting these mantras out in the universe!
His drywall screw sorting method is essentially how I sort cartridge brass. Surprisingly effective and quick.
Whatever is the opposite of a pet peeve, I have it for when Adam says "shite" 💚😆🍀✌️
I do it nearly the same way but I make 3-4 piles of different sizes. This way I don't have to them in my hand but instead can slide the to their designated pile. When the piles are big enough I put them in their designated boxes/places. It is a hell of fun and a absoult relaxing way of wasting time. I love it.
How odd that this should appear in my feed today. I spent about an hour this morning sorting around 1400 screws back into their own size tubs (10 different sizes) after I had recently knocked the open case off the bench. Oh, the joy! 🙄😒
I didn't see too many people comment on the crimp connector question. I recommend looking for Ancor brand connectors. They are tinned copper and have both nylon and heat shrink insulation options. The best place to look for them is typically marine supply places.
I've done the same thing a couple times. It's a pain when you drop em in piles of saw dust. Magnetic sweeps on wheels are great for picking them up. I just sort by hand after.
Good luck if they are stainless (I've done that before, ended up using a vacuum with a mesh to catch them).
Anchor brand marine terminal ends we can get them with heat shrink ends and standard nylon ends in numerous sizes and also in blister packs of 5, 10, 25 and 100 and also in bulk
Anchor with the stiky heat shrink are the only ones we use. When I started I got a small variety pack and whatever ones I used up first I then went out and bought the 100pack of that type.
That's exactly how I sort stuff in my shop. I think similar to you in that respect.
Dear Adam, as a German I would always go with German stuff. It might help you. For crimping I love to use Weidmüller pliers. All my connectors are made by Wago and for lugs I love to use Klauke. All made in Germany and high quality.
I hope that helps!
Regards,
Etna.
Organization is a process not a task. Truer words were never spoken. I just spent four hours re arranging and sorting squares, compasses and various measuring devices I “organized over ten years ago”. I’ve come to realize things change, needs change and what you have and use changes constantly. I agree with Adam’s statement whole heartedly. Good thing is as “makers” we have the ability to make and create things to make our lives easier and better. It’s not always cheap but I’d rather spend some money now to save a ton of time later.
I keep a bunch of stuff I use all the time. The wire nuts and such I use less frequently I keep a few of on hand in case. Saved me a ton of ever so valuable space
Just bought Adam's book, love all these tip videos, I could watch these all day!
I feel your pain Adam😂. My wife is always wanting me to get rid of stuff so I can work better. I have racks of steel most of which is used and can be odd dimensions and she’ll ask if I need it all. My answer is “probably not” so she’ll ask if I can get rid of some. Sure I say, which pieces? Her answer “which ever pieces you don’t need. And there in lies the problem, if I knew which pieces I was going to need I could get rid of the rest. And steel is expensive.
I had so many boxes, packets and containers of nut, bolts, screws, washers ect I couldn’t fine a lot of the ones I needed, so just before I had shoulder surgery I set up some temporary benches and stackable containers and while I was recovering I spent hours sorting them all out. It was a job that needed to be done and I couldn’t do much else so it was time we’ll spent. Cheers Stuart 🇦🇺
been there, done that. although taping a sample to the box is something i hadn't thought of.
As someone who lives in Scotland, it humours me completely to hear our Adam say- with much enthusiasm I might add, 'shite'! Love it! Never stop humouring us, Adam.
I do try to think of organizing as a changing fluid thing. I love being organized but I also love redoing and moving things to make more sense. Something might work good for awhile but I'll change something else and want to shuffle other stuff around. When I moved 9 years ago and setup my shop, I knew how I wanted it pretty much. A lot hasn't moved too much but over the years I've found myself saying why is this here, it should go over there, or I'll find 2 identical things in separate places. I realize some of it came from the rush of moving and things just got set down without much thought.
I had the displeasure of working with substandard lugs a while back while building a rotary phase converter for my new-to-me milling machine. I was using lots of 12 and 10 AWG wire with the yellow lugs (with a proper high quality crimper), and I found that the quick-connectors specifically, just wouldn't hold onto the wire - they wouldn't pass a tug test. The rings, forked terminals and butt splices all were fine, because they were made of thicker copper, but the quick-connects have to be thinner to give the right amount of spring force, and all three of my local brands (Napa, O'reilley, and Do It Best) , plus the ones on Amazon, just wouldn't hold. I ended up finding that Home Depot stocks some made by NSi Industries that have a double-thickness crimp collar that solves the issue.
It specifically affects only the yellow ones, and only the quick-connects, but man was that a pain to solve.
I work at a wood truss shop for chicken houses, swinging a 28 oz eastwing hammer all day. Building wood truss is that same process of organization. The recipe for a wood truss consists of various sizes of steel nail plates, 2x4 webs (2 to 8 on one side), 2x6 chords (8 chords to every size of truss) cut from ceder and pine. I work with a team of 3 or 4 most often in a team of 3. The table is stocked with webs, some chords on the bottom are pre-plated. One truss is built at a time, pressed with a table wide press that runs the length of the 75 foot long table, press width is 3 foot its a monsterish machine. A hoist lifts the truss from the jig (unusable webs from truss past nailed to the plastic topped table) carries it over our stock of webs to the bundle of truss (12 to 17 high).
Oh, I feel this one so very much! He is, obviously, truly human! And so much more clever and inventive than I would be (have been) when faced with that situation!
I once needed four matching 6-32 screws and nuts for a project which turned into an eight hour day of sorting around two dozen drawers of hardware. I don't regret getting sidetracked like that.
I paint all my new tools (sets mostly) and within a year it is obvious which gets used and not.
That makes it super easy to know what I use and to plan any "trays or racks" for them, using only the one that show wear on the bright green paint.
OMG! I’ve often wondered what Adam’s tattoo was on his left forearm, and never really got to see it properly in his vids. And at 6:57 I finally get to see what it is (without actually seeing it). It’s a ruler!! Adam, you’re a genius!
What I love in watching Adam's video, it is actually his IQ, EQ and own understanding of his experience that is life and therefore his self-development. By the way, I'm a terrible builder. What I do here is therapy in a way. And I found the right person that talks to my perception. I understand him so deeply but I just do something else than him. But our journey is the same. Just rambling. Thank for sharing your perception of things and your love to building Adam.
I find the process of sorting very relaxing. There’s something about taking that mess and organizing it that’s gratifying.
A quick suggestion, for the hooks that were holding the chuck keys and hammer, glue a small magnet onto the hook to catch the tool and help keep it in place. This will avoid bumping things loose or items falling from vibration. But they can still be grabbed and remove with minimal extra effort.
In my research I settled on Ancor for my crimp connectors. They come in nylon insulated as well as heat shrink insulated, tinned copper with a welded seam, lots of hole size variety, and come in 5, 25, or 100 packs. They are meant to be robust for a marine market (boat electronics). They are available on Amazon as we as several marine parts suppliers.
“How can I organize things, so I can stop organizing? You can’t.” It’s such a true statement. I’m in the processes of reorganizing , archiving, catalogue and scan old family pictures from the 1980s to 2005. Which have been all messed up during various relocations. My estimate are at around 150 rolls of film, so around 6000 pictures. I’m probably 3/4 the way trough but I already would like to re-do some things. But I know that at some point I’ll need to let it go and let it be as is.
Sorting is calming too me. That bucket would be hours of therapy for me.
That sorting heuristic is how I sort change when it's time to roll it up and take to the bank. Works great!
I would argue that organization can "end" if your work space is for specific, repeated tasks. Taking on new projects and expanding techniques as a maker and/or hobbyist would absolutely make this a process but in some professional settings there is only so much that will ever happen in that space and it could therefore be optimized. As a hobbyist having an 'end' to organization probably means an end to growth, which isn't any fun!
So an idea my uncle Mike had for organising was little dot stickers, each year is a different colour dot, each use you add a dot to the container with the fastener or component, if you run out of colours you start at the beginning and any boxes with no dots or with the previous iteration of the colour can be obsoleted or at least deprioritised they don't need to be in your daily carry or taking up the room front and centre in your shop... It sounds like this would serve you well to track what you actually use and you don't need it to be one year one colour it could be each quarter or each month or every leap-year gets a new colour, but it helps to show the process rather than the task of being organised.
i agree alot about this.. that the workspace/makerspace/workshop needs to grow/develop as you use it and realize what you need where and how you prefer to use the space, and as long as you are working on things there will be a change of gear/things and mess to sort out .. thank you for all the inspiration, great as allways!
I'm a storesman and I've done this more times than I care to admit but you have the right idea but use bigger pots or buckets but put them on the floor, have the tray on your lap and throw each correct size into the proper bucket also markerpen the sizes onto the lap tray as a quick guide. Hope this helps and keep up the Brill videos
Drywall screws are a pain to sort, but resistors...I get chills down my spine just thinking about it
Yeah like sorting loose 0403 SMT parts LOL!
FWIW: I just made holders for cut tape for them using clear plastic vacuum seal bags and a sealer to make compartments for them. Also store a lot of SMT cut tape: caps, inductors, diodes, & even small SMT ICs. Much better than having them stored in those plastic bags.
I like this method and will give it a try. Im a Carpenter and handy-man and have a 5-gallon bucket that I keep throwing my extra screws in. These are screws that are left in my pocket or nail pouch on my tool belt and at the end of the job I have been just throwing them in the bucket. After 4 or 5 years the bucket is near full.
I do a bunch of electronics projects.
About a year ago I switched over to using "open barrel connectors", and never looked back. Got a Knipex crimper that works on them great for $20, and bulk ordered a few thousand crimps in varying sizes and types from China for cheap.
The lugs are compact, durable, and look like a factory connection. They crimp more reliably, and make better connection. Only downside is you gotta heat shrink them manually, which I actually prefer because its more compact and functions way better than the cheapo bulky pvc red/blue/yellow connector insulation.
One thing I like doing is color coding the heat shrink on them. No reason to have all your connectors red/blue/yellow, make them match the wire color, or whatever is convenient for your project.
I bought a bunch of marine grade connectors a few years ago, and I don't care for them either. Very bulky, and I'm not convinced that they are really any better at protecting against moisture damage than quality heat shrink tubing that's much cheaper.
Adam, you already mark each tray as to what type of screw is inside by taping a sample onto the top.
For all those individual Screws that you sort, I'd use small grocery bags that you get at the Super Market to individually wrap the bundle. This way, when it does drop, you only have a small bundle to pick up.
YES! sandwhich bags to the rescue.
I have a 30-drawer parts cabinet. It is where my bulk-quantity fasteners live. In most drawers, nuts or bolts or washers are sorted into individual containers or bags. The container could be an old vitamin bottle, the bag could be a repurposed baggie that small parts were packed in. When I'm working on a project, I sometimes take an entire drawer to the project and work out of what is now a steel tray. If it fell, most likely, it wouldn't be too bad because, like I said, every item is contained in something within the drawer.
Sometimes, I go through the entire cabinet picking different parts for the project and the individual containers of those pieces then go into a shopping basket like you'd use at the drugstore. I bring all my leftovers back to this cabinet in that basket and then put it all away for next time...
...ideally 😉
Sorting hardware is like a Zen meditation process that I like to do when I'm stuck on a project. Some inner part of my mind is still thinking about the 'stuck' part, while my front-brain is sorting out nuts and bolts and whatever. It usually works out well, for both problems. Dub reggae or jazz music helps the flow.
As a deep Sortimo and Tanos user, which I love, you need to exercise discipline in the use of your tools. try a project cart, populate cart and do your project and then return tools and materials. It will increase your work velocity. Discipline is you friend. You also mention the value of your time. You should have dumped the D screws and simply order new ones.
I love Adams attitude. Needed to see this today
I’ve been there! Get a tackle box that also has individual covers on each inner compartment. Then you only open what you need when you’re working and never have the risk of everything falling out. I’ve found them in craft stores before. Perfect for my beads and gem stones!
Love all the tattoo measuring happening in this one. One of the rare things that has actually made me want to get a tattoo. I'm jealous!
I just went through my electrical connectors too. I found myself pulling off the pvc insulators and using my own 3:1 adhesive heat shrink. So I threw away all the insulated ones and ordered tin plated copper uninsulated. I can tell a lot easier if the crimp is good on uninsulated connectors and the heat shrink looks so much better. For butt connectors however I got the ones with the solder inside them.
Years ago I came up with a super-fast way to sort hardware, and it requires a few large magnets and a smooth bench top. Make a small pile of the mixed hardware clos eto you on the bench top, and in a semi-circle around the pile, about a foot away, place the magnets about 8" apart. Now you're ready to go. Use your fingertips to flick the parts toward the magnets. They will slide and stick to the magnets. This saves time because there's no picking up and dropping each individual piece.
I also had one of those organizer boxes fall. It was full of rivets, grommets, snap buttons, and more of that kind of stuff for leather work. I bit the bullet and just sorted them by hand. It went far faster than I expected. About a quarter of the way through, you know exactly where everything goes, and it starts going faster. It becomes like a game at that point, making it less tedious. You get in the zone and it’s over before you know it. I’ve done this with guitar picks as well. Since high school I’ve accumulated enough guitar picks to probably fill one of those orange Home Depot buckets, and I wanted to sort and organize them. That also didn’t take as long as I thought.
Had similar accidents happening all the time, used them as an opportunity to clean up stuff a bit. Put everything in a big pickles jar (essential: remove pickles first) and when I needed a certain part I would search it in there and put a second one to the side. did that a couple of times, then eventually invested a bit time to sort out only those few I put aside frequently. Left the others in the jar "just in case" and most of the time its sitting there untouched...
I'm a bit OCD, and ADHD, and maybe a big neurodivergent. I would love to do nothing for an hour or two but sort drywall screws. It's one of those activities which calms my mind and completing it gives me that zen-like calm. I would even watch an extended video of you just sorting the screws... I may be the only one, though :)
I am a general contractor. I carry at least 6 of those trays at any given time. Every 6 months I completely empty the trucks tool cab, including a few gallons of spillage from those things. I save the expensive or hard to find fittings and just chuck the rest.