Page 68 - Robot Builder's Bonanza

GETTING ORGANIZED 37

Getting Organized

Over his 20 years in the military, one of the principal jobs my father had was taking charge
of supplies. He had the knack for organizing where everything went— from huge trucks and
airplanes to miniscule ball bearings.
If apple trees are organizational traits, this apple (me) fell far from the tree: I inherited virtu-
ally none of my dad’s mind- set to keep things in their place. All while growing up— and even
now as an adult— I’d forget to put things back where they belonged. I’ve often ended up buy-
ing the same thing two and even three times because I’d lost track of my garage inventory.
So, knowing my shortcomings, I now make a conscious effort to maintain order in the
shop, or else things rapidly get messy and increasingly expensive. It gets old taking a half hour
just to find a part.
While my shop is far from a Robotics Eden, it’s now more or less well organized, and this
with the help of some small parts cabinets, a few plastic parts bins, and zipper- style plastic
bags. My system works for me, but you’ll undoubtedly want to improvise your own.

SMALL PARTS DRAWER CABINETS

Plastic drawer cabinets are really the mainstay for any activity that deals with small parts. You
can get them in all styles and sizes, from little units with just a half dozen 1″ 2″ drawers
(these fit on bookshelves quite well) to much larger parts chests, with 20, 30, even 40 drawers
of different shapes and sizes. These won’t fit on a bookshelf— unless your shelves are for very
large books!—but are ideal for workbenches and assembly tables.
I like the cabinets with several drawer sizes, which accommodate parts of different bulks.
For example, the cabinet might sport 24 or 30 small drawers of about 1.5″ 2″ and 6, 9, or
12 large drawers of about 2″ 4″. You might, for instance, place individual values of resistors
in the smaller drawers and large capacitors in the large drawers.

G Drawer cabinets vary greatly in quality, and I prefer to check them out in person when possible.
You can find them at any home improvement, department, or discount store. Look for drawers
with thick enough plastic that they won’t easily break.

HEAVY- DUTY STORAGE DRAWERS
A step up the size and cost ladder is the plastic heavy- duty storage bin. These are 1- to
3- foot- high units that sport between three and six large, heavy- duty plastic drawers. The
drawer sizes may be different or all the same; find a model that suits your needs. The most
robust models can readily hold heavy motors, metal gears, and other construction parts.
Larger still (and somewhat more flexible) are stacking drawers, with sizes big enough to
hold bulky sweaters and pants. They’re made to stack on top of one another, so you can get
as few or as many as you want. (Avoid overdoing the height of your Tower of Babel, or else
things could topple if you open a heavy drawer near the top of your stack.)

TOOLBOXES AND TOTES
Sometimes you have to build while on the go, and you’ll need to bring your tools and supplies
with you. For the big stuff, a standard metal or heavy- duty plastic toolbox is the best choice. I

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