Storing Small Parts and Hardware - Plastic Jars or Parts Bins

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Just wondering what people have found to be the most effective form of storing small items such as electric connectors or nuts and bolts from larger components.

I bought some wall mounted parts bins that range in size. Another option I use is having some rows of plastic jars with screw top lids.

Out of parts bins or plastic jars which have you found the most useful? Is there another storage option for small parts and hardware that you use? If so what do you use?

My main requirements are that the contents of the bin or the jar can easily be seen and are able to be moved independently. Also that the storage can be easily labelled.

Kind regards
Lionel

[David Herbert]

The only issue with the type of storage that you show in your photo above is that over a period of time a huge amount of dirt gets into them unless they are inside a really clean room / cupboard. In the UK this attracts damp and nice new zinc plated bolts start to deteriorate. This is depressing. I have taken to using plastic storage boxes with snap on lids that are sold for storing food. They need shelves to sit on but are robust, you can see into them and they are available in useful sizes.

David

[rob love]

The bins have their purpose..I like them for nuts and bolts. But for smaller parts they take up a lot of room, let the stuff get dusty, and wall space in a shop is always at a premium. For small parts like machine screws or electrical connectors, I like the small parts drawers as shown below. For larger parts, I have taken to using barrack boxes with a piece of tape indicating what type of vehicle the parts are for.

[Tony Smith]

I have an overhead shelf over my workbench. The shelf mainly is there to mount a 20w fluorescent light (2ft tube) over the work surface. On the underside of this shelf, I have screwed the lids of some glass Jam Jars. The jars contain electrical fuses and wiring connectors. The contents of all jars are readily visible (being just above eye-level and well lit) so don't need labelling, and secure to the lids with a quarter twist.

Ever had trouble opening a jam jar (for your wife, of course!)? It's not the jar you can't grip, it's the lid. When the lid is securely screwed to a solid surface, the jar is remarkably easy to twist on and off.

[Mike Cecil]

I use a variety of storage arrangements, depending upon item size:

(1) Small stuff, like fuzes, connectors, clips, globes, nomenclature plates etc are in labelled plastic butter containers with a lid and a label, on purpose built shelves, and in a plastic drawer system. Easy to see the labels.

(2) Nuts, bolts, screws, rivets, washers: plastic compartmentalized storage boxes with hinged lids, stacked in purpose-built shelving.

(3) medium-large parts: plastic heavy duty tubs with lids, labelled with a number. The part description and tub number are entered on the database on the workshop laptop as I store them, making locating a restored or new part later quite simple. Amazing how you forget where a part is when you have put it away a year or so before.

(4) Large finished parts such as seats, windscreen frame, etc: wrapped in plastic sheet, bound with tape and hung on hooks secured to the workshop wall high up near the ceiling: out of the way, safe from damage prior to use, and sealed against dust and dirt.

Don't like or use the open-topped storage containers as they inevitably collect dirt and dust.

Mike

[maple_leaf_eh]

For simple organizing of small non perishable things I use 4-litre windshield washer fluid bottles with the side cut off. They are free at the service stations, especially in bad weather times, are moderately durable plastic, and have a ready made handle.

I put my spare trailer lighting rig in one. I have jumper cables in another. Sometimes I put cargo straps and the like in one.

A fairly new arrival on the scrounge market are diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) bottles. They have a cardboard box around, and are about 3 times the capacity of washer fluid bottles. The compound is water soluable and I suppose very mildly irritating. I rinsed some out and chucked in lead bullet casting supplies. They have a top handle and seem to be durable enough for a decade or so.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Lionel,

Another good source of storage containers are plastic screw top jars that many foodstuffs come in. Peanut butter jars are a good example. Clear, so you can see what you have inside it and airtight to keep moisture and dirt out.

Many companies have gotten away from glass jars. Years ago magazines like Popular Mechanics suggested screwing the lid of glass containers to a shelf then screwing the parts jars into it. All well and good if you never drop a jar and have to separate hundreds of glass shards from screws etc.

The plastic jars have a long life too. Some of my containers are 25 or more years old and if you drop them at least they usually just crack.

Cheers,