Shop Project: Screw organization

[Wes Billups]

This is my first time posting a project’s progress so bear with me. I will also apologize as I don’t know how to imbed pictures within the post.

A few years ago I made the decision to get my fasteners organized and I bought 96 Akro bins. I quickly realized they needed a designated home as they migrate all over. My idea is to make a hanging board. I know you can buy these but for much less money and an hours time I’ve got something I’m very happy with.

I began with a half sheet of MDF core cherry plywood and 1/8” x 3/4” aluminum stock. With my dado stack setup in my table saw I made two passes to make a 5/16” x 1” dado. I then lowered the cutter and made a 1/8” x 3/8” dado for the aluminum. In total I made 12 of these stepped dadoes. Once these were done I cut the sheet in half to make two 24” x 48” pieces.

With that done I cut the aluminum to length and drilled and countersunk holes for some 5/8” screws every 6”. The final product is shown in the last picture.

I ran out of aluminum but once I’ve got all the aluminum bars in place I’ll run over both the plywood and aluminum with my ROS and then apply some shellac.

I’m planning on building a box around each piece with a plexiglass door. Once completed I’ll post some pictures of the final product.

Wes Billups

[Bob Vallaster]

Very well conceived and done. It has me thinking of doing the same.
Your dado treated the veneer very gently on all those cross-grain passes---what brand are you using?

[Wes Billups]

Bob, it's a Forrest. This set is amazing as I can cut anything, even Melamine without chipout. It was expensive, around $250 but well worth it.

Wes

[Steven Bolton]

Where do you get Akro bins?

sb

[Wes Billups]

Steve, I don't remember as it was an industrial supply house. The bins I've gotten from McFeeley's work with this system as well.

[Jim Kountz]

Lowes sells them and they include a track that they hang on for about 10 bucks I believe. But I love what Wes has done there, very nice look when done Im sure!

[Matt Meiser]

Wes, that looks great. You might inspire me to actually get a cabinet built around mine.

[James Manning]

Great idea Wess, I am planning on doing something similar for screw storage. I have an unused mobile cart and was thinking of turning it
into a rolling supplies cabinet.

[Jim Becker]

Pretty kewel setup, Wes!

[Bill Huber]

Very nice, I had a commercial unit some what like that and it was really great but the problem I had was dust. They would get so much dust in them from just plan dust to saw dust that I took the bins down and put then in drawers.
But it was sure nice when it was up to be able to find things fast.

[Keith Starosta]

Very nice, I had a commercial unit some what like that and it was really great but the problem I had was dust. They would get so much dust in them from just plan dust to saw dust that I took the bins down and put then in drawers.
But it was sure nice when it was up to be able to find things fast.

I thought about the dust issue, too. But I think it would be pretty easy to build a frame around the bin holder, and attach a plexiglass door. Just a thought...

- Keith

[Steven Bolton]

Shop Notes had an article on use the bins. I suppose this would help some with the dust.

sb

[Wes Billups]

Thanks for everyone’s comments. I looked into the slotted panels as many have mentioned. I actually have some of the plastic panels that came with a few of my bins. The problem I’ve always had with these is if you really load up the bins they begin to sag over time. My thoughts with the slotted panel is to support the back of the bin to prevent this. Hopefully it works. I’ve included a couple sketches of what I’m talking about.

I’ve also included a sketch of another idea I had using 1/8” x 3/8” aluminum angle and a kicker strip to prevent the sagging. This would have been much easier but I figured my method would look better plus I couldn’t think of a good way to attach the aluminum to the plywood.

I will warn those thinking about doing something similar that there may be cheaper options. The aluminum cost me $66. Steel 1/8” x 3/4” stock would have been about half the cost but cutting, drilling, and countersinking steel is much more difficult in a woodworking shop. In total I’ll have room for 120 bins which should cover my current and future storage requirements.

Thanks again,
Wes Billups

[Eric DeSilva]

Not as pretty, but run a search on Flexcon louvered panels. They make stamped metal sheets with the tabs for those trays for about $27 for a 36" wide by 19" tall panel. Ugly, but functional.

[Wes Billups]

Eric, thanks for the link (http://www.flexconbins.com/subcategory.php?category=Louvered%20Panels&categoryid=110). These are exactly what I’d seen in the past. After buying the aluminum this weekend I was beginning to think I would have been money ahead if I’d just bought the louvered panels. Calculating the price on the louvered panels I’m slightly better off using my plan considering the plywood was leftover. My project comes out to $0.54/bin while the louvered panels would be $0.69/bin.

http://www.flexconbins.com/images/louvered-panel-animation.gif

Thanks,
Wes Billups

[Matt Meiser]

That's the panels I have. Since I've gotten some larger bins, I'm glad I have room to rearrange things at will. No where near as pretty as yours though.

How much Aluminum did you need? Assuming 6"/bin and 120 bins that's 60'? http://www.metalsdepot.com has 6' lenghts for $4.62 but for 10 of them shipped to me it would be another $20 which would be about what you said you paid.

[Wes Billups]

Matt, my bins are 4-1/4” wide. I paid $11 for 8 foot lengths. In total I bought 6-8’ lengths which are getting cut up into 22” lengths. I wished I had known about metalsdepot.com earlier as I could have saved a few dollars.

[Richard Blaine]

I've bought from http://www.hawkmat.com/ (Hawkeye Materials) in the past. Best price I could find at the time, and good service.

By the way, once you go AKRO, you're never going back.