Organizing Plastic

[Craig Hogarth]

Over the past few months, I've accumulated a stack of engravable plastic nearly 11 inches tall. Needless to say, it's become a bear to sort through it and keep it organized. I think about 3 or 4 inches are a result of ordering plastic I didn't think i had.

does anyone have a good organization method that doesn't require a large purchase? I considered building a rack for it, but I have 33 different color combos (over 50 if you count acrylic) and I think a rack would be much too large.

[Sandra Force]

Match the plastic up as to core and cap color and use the binder divider labels from Staples to mark the color/cap. That way you can see at a glance if you have what you are looking for. This also lets you file them according to color/cap when putting them away.:D

[Mike Null]

My rack has 24 shelves and stands about 6' 6". It is 26" wide and 12" deep. I still have to combine some colors but not many.

[Scott Shepherd]

I went to Home Depot and bought an 8' section of predrilled shelving board. It's MDF with a white laminate on it and it's got 2 rows of holes down the entire length. It's 12" wide.

I cut that in half, cut a back out of 1/4" MDF, then a top and bottom out of 1/2" MDF.

The opening is 24 3/8" so most 24" material goes in. Then I cut 1/4" MDF shelves 12" wide, 24" long (split the board down the middle).

I bought a box of dowel pins that are 1 1/4" long. So I push them into the holes for resting the shelves on. I spaced them about 2" apart, so it's got about 20 or so slots in 4 feet and probably cost about $80 to build. It seems to keep the material pretty good and flat.

[Mark Winlund]

Store 'em vertically. After trying all of the methods, this works the best. Advantages: no floor space taken up; space underneath used for book shelves (underneath the bookshelves is lots of room for equipment); little pieces don't get lost. It will take a 24" x 48" sheet. The supension rods act as separators. A tremendous amount of weight can be accomodated.The materials are separated by basic colors and types of material.

Also note the job clipboards overhead, hooked on a rail.

This system has evolved over many years, and is extremely low in cost. Threaded rod and a bit of plywood, along with a stud locator.

Mark

[Craig Hogarth]

mark, i'd like to see the rest of your shop. seems like you have your stuff put together....

[Mark Winlund]

mark, i'd like to see the rest of your shop. seems like you have your stuff put together....

I don't mind, but would like to ask if it is OK with the rest of the group. It is kind of "off subject".

Mark

[Frank Corker]

Go ahead Mark, I'd like to see, you have so many different machines so it's interesting.

[Mike Null]

Mark

To the contrary, it is exactly on target. I think we'd all appreciate it and as a matter of fact "shop tours" are targeted to be a new feature area of SMC.

[Mark Winlund]

OK, give me a little time to put it together. I will post it under a new heading.

Mark

[Bill Cunningham]

Mark

To the contrary, it is exactly on target. I think we'd all appreciate it and as a matter of fact "shop tours" are targeted to be a new feature area of SMC.

Ohhh jeeze.. Where the heck did I put that broom! Right now I have a place for everything, and EVERYTHING is in that place..:D

[Bob Cole]

I went the ClosetMaid organizer route. It was much more expensive than building it like the others have done but much easier to setup quickly. Width is about 25" with three vertical supports. I used the 12" brackets. For the real thin stuff (1/32 & 1/16) I made sure to have some thicker materials on the bottom so they wouldn't bow.