Efficiency between workshop and site

[tim]

I spend most of my working time in my workshop but have to go to sites (usually domestic houses) to install work.

I am pretty good at moving all the bigger stuff eg DX, powertools, worktables in fact anything other than the smallest but most necessary bits of kit from drill bits to screws. My problem is not that I don't have them but in the workshop these are often stored in wallmounted racks that don't travel or in their boxes (eg screws). I don't have the space to keep duplicates of it all and I don't want to work out of travelling toolboxes when in the workshop. Drillbit kits are fine but because of the remoteness of my location I need to carry spares eg a bunch of the most common drill bit sizes to prevent a long trawl to a tool supplier in the middle of a site day.

What do those of you who work in a similar situation do to prevent what I seem to have which is the on site equivalent of the bedside or desk drawer full of little things rolling about.

Or is it a PIA for everyone. Funnily enough it never bothers me when I have an assistant doing the loading and unloading of a van!

Cheers

Tim

 

[engineer one]

at the risk of being faceatious this is why festo sell their additional boxes i think.

for anyone who does not go out every day, i think this is the biggest problem, since you only know what you actually need when you get there :?

maybe the idea is to have two of certain things, and store them in a mobile box.

paul :wink:

 

[tim]

Thats the conclusion I'm coming to.

I have several systainers for non Festool stuff just because of the ease of transport. I know they offer one with a hand tool inner - maybe I should make one for all the bits etc

since you only know what you actually need when you get there

or you do what I do and end up taking everything and then remember that the space you will be working in isn't very big esp when its full of tools :roll: :roll:

Cheers

Tim

 

[mailee]

My sentiments exactly! I have been considering duplicating certain pieces of kit too. It is a PITA to cart my tools from the workshop to the car and I can guarantee when I get there I will have forgotten something. When it is a kitchen fit in a small kitchen I am falling over tools most of the time too. It certainly is a dilemma. :?

 

[CHJ]

Going back many years now, but we used to have a local area mr. fixit with his own van, a rare thing in those days, who visited the remote farm, he had a set of narrow pigeon hole racks down each side of the van, basically just taking up the room encroached on by the wheel arches.

This made his van a travelling bits box which he just kept topped up without the need to load - unload each day. I seem to remember he had a basic catch all set of tools such as saw, screwdriver, hammer, drill brace, adjustable wrench etc. fitted in there as well just in case his favorite went walkies.

Saw a similar thing in Dumfries area last year, a carpenter/joiner by the look of it, working on site fitting a farm shop counter etc. he had several festo systainers for the 'valuables', but he had fixed racks in the van as well.

 

[engineer one]

one advantage of the pigeon hole deal is that it is more difficult for the muppets to nick things cause it is spread about. :twisted:

wonder how long it will be before we learn that festo has become a popularly nicked tool???

paul :wink:

 

[DomValente]

I usually sit down the night before and picture the work that's going to be done the next day, then write down as near as possible to the last screw what will be needed.
Guess what, it rarely works.

Dom

 

[wizer]

Or are we talking about a unit, maybe on wheels, that can be easily ported to the car/van but then used in the workshop for all the essentials. Kind of like those rolling 'snap-on' tool drawer chests that mechanics use. ?

 

[Roger]

I usually sit down the night before and picture the work that's going to be done the next day, then write down as near as possible to the last screw what will be needed.
Guess what, it rarely works.

Heck, I've even forgotten to take parts of an actual clock I was setting up ...... tools, I'm almost bound to leave behind; then of course I found I've left my phone, Sat Nav, cash for spares, food .... the list goes on :shock:

Just a good job most of the pubs on the way back know me, or it'd ruin my whole day :wink:

 

[Shultzy]

Hi Tim, I would have thought Wizer was on the right track with a mobile toolbox. You could make one out of ply or mdf (might be a bit too heavy) to your own specs or buy one of these -

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... and/clarke

 

[engineer one]

only problemwith the roller cabinets is the weight, they really are b****y heavy.
i know i have one. and that's before you put any tools etc in
and then because they are designed for metal workers/mechanics
so the drawer sizes do not fit woodworking tools.

b&q have some stanley type plastic cases and the z brand from israel that are branded stanley are also not bad. but i think that the important thing is to lay out what you need, and then think about making something to go round them. but if you can look for plastic. and since you have some festo, then it makes sense to buy things that fit on top :lol:

paul :wink:

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

WHilst I dont live in such a remote location,
my solution is a rack in the van. I only have an astra van so the space is pretty tight anyway, but its about 200mm wide and runs the length of the van.
I put it on a roller track so I can slide it half way out to get to the very end compartments.
I keep boxes of screws I commonly use, a jack plane, different sized nails, rope, silicone gun, hand saws, spirit levels etc etc
It works out quite well, and doesnt use alot of the space in the back.

 

[engineer one]

nice idea matt.

if you read the various american mags, in some of the ads, they show roll out units for the back of pick ups.

occurs to me there is a case for using a full extension 600 unit drawer slide
at the back end of the car. you could put a box on it which you could lift out and remove back to the workshop. and you could also put a set of
wheels in it to move into the workplace.

paul :wink:

 

[Hitch]

A good set of van racking solves a lot of problems.

We just keep the common stuff in the van, nuts, bolts, screws, a few hundred of the common ones . Resin, silicone, aerosols, a cuople of each.

 

[tim]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I should have been a bit more clear - I don't have a van. I'm probably on site 15% of the time (max) so it doesn't make sense to have one plus jobs change so dramatically in size/ scale that it makes more sense to rent as required.

My request is more about efficient transport of all of those little odds and ends in some form of portable container.

Cheers

Tim

 

[engineer one]

oh well, then a ruck sack makes most sense :lol: :lol:
got mine from carrefour last time in france has been great use. :twisted:

mind you then there is the need for the drill cases, etc, but it is a good starting point. :roll:

paul :wink:

 

[Colin C]

My request is more about efficient transport of all of those little odds and ends in some form of portable container.

Cheers

Tim

Hi Tim

I use one of the boxes on wheels that Paul was talking about and get all of the hand tools that I use with me, plus it has room for bigger bits ib the bottom as it is in two parts.

I would not get the plastic one as Stanley do an Alu one, which I will get when this one dies

This is it

 

[wizer]

I think I would make a box that fitted neatly in my boot with removable compartments for all the bits and pieces I needed on site. When back at the workshop, those compartments fit into a workshop unit. hmm well it makes sense in my head.

 

[engineer one]

isn't it strange, when we buy a newer car, we are all fullof bright ideas about what we will do to make it more useful. but most times it never works, and we just end up with a mess.

not least because you never actually know what you need until the job is on. the old thing about the client lying doesn't help either, you know they never tell you all the information, the tyoe of walls how out of square they are etc. :?

so that's the reason we all amateur and pro end up with extra tools because on the day you have to go buy another widget even if you have one at home, cause it's too far away. :roll:

maybe to start, those plastic boxes that every superstore sells and then refine it as you know more.

paul :wink:

 

[Benchwayze]

The last job I did on site, the guy had more woodwork tools and machinery than I did!



John