Dollar-Store small parts organizers

Love the local dollar store for those type items.
I like to get the metal bread pans back in the cooking section since they are just the right size to hold screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, markers, cutters , etc. that you have reach for but don't want to have to look for.
I probably have 4 or 5 at model, car, home, desk areas that need organized. Cheap steel. Did I mention cheap ?
The dollar store super glue ( regular and Gel) are my go to items since I have had it with the high dollar LHS CA at $5 a bottle that always goes hard in a month or so.... Never a problem with dollar store stuff including the Duco type general purpose glue..
Steve

rsv1cox wrote:Nothing wrong with being organized roddie.  I have several containers like that but I like those better with the sloped sides, makes fishing things out easier.  Looks like you shop McMaster Carr or similar.

Bob

Actually Bob, the only things I've outsourced are 5-40 threaded screws/nuts (Cox .049 ) which are unobtainium from most hardware stores. "FASTENAL" is a source I used recently for 5-40 nuts.



The screws were obtained for me by a friend, some 25 years ago from "Electronics Fasteners Inc." in Waltham, MA. There was originally a qty. of 50 and I'm down to about a dozen that haven't been custom-cut to length. They're 1.25" long. Very handy for running a Tee Dee-style .049 aluminum spinner which requires 7/16" more length than the prop-hub thickness. I've heard that it's better to have a prop-screw thread deeply into the crankshaft.. rather than just part-way. It apparently adds strength to the nose of the case, in the event of a hard nose-in crash.

I use these guys a lot leveraging their fairly frequent "sales"

Highly recommended

http://www.rtlfasteners.com/

It's good to have bins with round bottom "corners", it makes fishing the last little nuts and screws a lot easier. I should also get some organizers, right now my model stuff is in small ziploc bags in a box... It's a PITA trying to find anything.

Some of my existing organizers have movable dividers, and the smallest nuts and washers tend to move under the dividers to the next compartment. They are fine for sizes like M5 and up though.

fredvon4 wrote:I use these guys a lot leveraging their fairly frequent "sales"

Highly recommended

http://www.rtlfasteners.com/

Thanks Phred. Nice stock of socket/button-heads... and the "Pro-Hold" wrenches are cool. Surprising that those wrenches are available as small as .050"!

Noticed that they don't stock 5-40 thread-size at all though. I have a tap and die. Not sure where I found the tap.. (possibly McMaster-Carr) but the die I actually found at a local well-established hardware store a few years ago.



I keep my taps/dies and their related tools in a small "U-Line" type plastic bin on my bench-top. Pay no mind to the bin-label..



I could really use a rack to hold several long-narrow plastic bins, which currently get "stacked" two-high on a crowded shelf in my shop. One is all knives/razors/blades.. others are; files/rasps, chisels, car-battery tools, switches, fuse-holders, terminal-blocks, speed-controls, hooks, brackets, mending-plates, solid-wires, knobs, lamp-holders.. just to name a few.

There's two small bureaus that fit under my workbench.. along with a steel index-card file. The card-file and bench were existing when we bought the house. The bench is ruggedly-constructed with three PT 4" x 6"... legs across the front.. and 2" x 6" top faced with 1/2" wood-grain melamine. The PO hard-wired a switched 8-outlet power-strip across the front, which is extremely handy.

Roddie...

Ha, you are busted!!! I see the D cell smoke sucker to the left that does not work and is noisy... have two of them...grin

But the real reason for this post is the safety nazi in me...

be very careful with that front mounted power stip and ANY control line wire working

I was fussing with a 6 foot length of .021 for lead outs one day, and the loose end fell down between a cord and the power strip and arced and sparked enough to make me let loose, JUMP BACK, and wonder why the hell the circuit breaker did not trip as I nursed my burnt fingers

fredvon4 wrote:Roddie...

Ha, you are busted!!!  I see the D cell smoke sucker to the left that does not work and is noisy... have two of them...grin

But the real reason for this post is the safety nazi in me...

be very careful with that front mounted power stip and ANY control line wire working

I was fussing with a 6 foot length of .021 for lead outs one day, and the loose end fell down between a cord and the power strip and arced and sparked enough to make me let loose, JUMP BACK, and wonder why the hell the circuit breaker did not trip as I nursed my burnt fingers

:affraid:Safety Nazi greenie for you brother! Damn.... make lead-outs and hot-wire cut foam at the same time!

Remember these photos?





The breaker on that circuit didn't trip either..  It just kept arcing.. and the sound it made needed to be heard.. to fully appreciate the nature of the event. Total duration was probably 5 sec. before someone unplugged it at the wall-outlet. I would be traumatized for weeks after.. whenever plugging anything in.

I "had" two of those cheap cord-sets.. and cut the female end off the other one, to avoid the same condition. The ground-pin pierced the thin-wall of insulating-material on the opposite side plugs. A dangerous design.

Roddie & Fred, I am glad both of you lived to tell about these situations.

If you have a 10 amp breaker, it'll take a while at 10+ amps for it to trip. That's a lot of sparks and smoke if you are lucky. If you are not lucky the current runs through you and you won't take 10 amps and survive... What you need is a "residual current circuit breaker". It is a device that compares the current in the live wire and in the other and if they differ at all, it'll break the circuit instantly.

I have accidentally cut an extension cable once when I was cutting a hedge, and I was just wondering why the cutter suddenly just quit. Well, there were maybe 3ft of cable hanging from the cutter and I was standing on the other broken end of the cable like a doofus... No sparks, no drama, the power just shut off. It has saved me or my equipment a time or two, like once when I had a short circuit in the engine block heater cable (220VAC) of my car.

Thanks Kari.. I'm glad too. Here in the U.S. GFCI's are common.. and more for personal-protection than the equipment-protection that RCD's are intended for. The RCD may indeed provide the side-benefit.. and may well be the EU/global std. for personal-protection as well. GFCI's are standardized to trip at 5mA or less.. period. I don't know what national U.S. elec. code requires presently.. but GFCI outlets/circuits have been mandatory in "new" construction for kitchen/bath/outdoor power-receptacles for several years, if not decades. Basically anywhere where moisture can be present. Our swimming-pool pump-circuit incorporates a GFCI panel-breaker.. and our two additional 20A outdoor-receptacles are the GFCI type. Home-inspections are required by most banks when purchasing a residential property and will address any substandard elec.-wiring issues. It's then the prospective buyer's choice to negotiate an upgrade at the seller's expense.. or absorb the cost of the upgrade(s) after the sale. That won't save your life at someone else's house though....  

When we bought our home 6 years ago.. there was concern through a home-inspection, that the existing (and "still existing"..) 100A panel would be adequate; given an elec. stove/oven, elec. clothes-dryer, Central-AC, 1200W microwave-oven, and the pool-pump being the major power-consumers. Summer-months would be the most taxing. I hired an electrician to do an independent survey before the P & S agreement.. because I wanted to be sure all was kosher. Picture if you will; a Summer pool-party.. drying towels/suits in the clothes-dryer, the AC-compressor kicking on frequently, steaks being defrosted in the microwave, women in the bathroom using the 1200W hair-dryer.. the 600w 42" LED TV on.. and the pool-pump running. Watts/amps/inductive/resistive.. IDGAF... I didn't want a problem.   The electrician's independent-survey humbled Roddie.. and I felt like a jerk afterward for questioning the existing service-panel. We had a few receptacles replaced/re-wired.. and all was.. and has been fine since.

The TV though..............   My wife bought it.   .. She and her mother carried it into the house..   (I was probably playing a band-gig..) is UL-listed to operate on 600 friggin' watts! The picture, resolution and brightness are awesome.. but when it's "on".. (and it's often left on with no one watching...   ) makes the meter spin fast enough to start a Cox engine.

ok.. rant over.

You guys are way way too organized for me.  I'm not even going to post any pictures of my workshop as the local Health & Sefety folks might get hold of them & I'll be in big trouble.

Oldenginerod wrote:You guys are way way too organized for me.  I'm not even going to post any pictures of my workshop as the local Health & Sefety folks might get hold of them & I'll be in big trouble.

My dear, dear friend.. and brother "Rod".. You have nothing to fear.. or be ashamed of.. that's my job. Look for my post 1/16... I'm compiling images..