Bicycle workshops - Hanging tools, Lighting and >>>>

[Too Tall]

Plaster is smoooth and paint is drying as we speak. I'm about to re-build my man cave workbench. The bench is no problem, I've got that dialed. The wall behind the bench is cinderblock with bolted in PT 2X4s.

What is your fav. method for hanging tools. Pegboard and brackets or plywood and nails etc.?

Also, I've come by a bunch of 96" fluorescent fixtures with bulbs (new). Is this going to be too much light for a 9' ceiling? I've always felt like you can not have enough light.

AND I'm going to make a small exhaust hood to the outside because I really am DONE sucking fumes when I'm working on various things...except tubular glue...love to huff the stuff ;)

[Len J]

I was a fan of pegboard until I bought a rolling tool chest....everything easily organized and in its own place. Ymmv

Len

[edoz]

I'm a tool box kind of guy, but some things are best hung in easy reach. For a bike maintenance station, I'd probably do a small pegboard with hex keys and a few other go tos.

[rec head]

Magnet strips. Not for everything but still great.

[Too Tall]

Interesting. Never considered not having hanging tools. Hmmm

[ron l edmiston]

-- not being mechanically inclined nor oriented outside of farm equipment.., i smile at a roll around or stationary tool chest/box..
keeps tools organized/clean & lubricated relative to our florida mega humidity..; all sizes/shapes too..

be great if i knew "what went where & what does what" too..

ronnie

[devlin]

My new work space I am slowly dialling in. Since it's a rental I have had to make it all free standing etc. I was looking at going for the rolling tool chest but room dictates that it's a no go. I am going to put some ply up behind the work bench which backs onto a big set of shelves I built to hang from nails the stuff I use everyday. Underneath the work bench I am going to build some nice but simple timber pull out drawers and put the on roller slides, the ones with the push to open function. Make it all flush face and really tidy. That way I can have my cabinet/tool chest and still have the floor space and I'll keep most of my frame prep stuff, frame small parts and the lesser used tools down low. The bench is 2400mm (8') long so drawers on the right and on the left I am going to put pigeon holes for tubing, customers prebuild bundles and a set of close pitched shelves for my sandpaper and scotch bright selection. I also be putting in an exhaust fan.

[ryker]

I've been doing the pegboard thing. If you plan to stay in one place for a long time, they're pretty nice. (If you move a lot, tool boxes are better.) The ability to re-configure the pegboard comes in handy more often that you'd think. You get new tools from time to time, right?

I have 4x96" T8 lighting my shop but I still like some task lighting at the truing stand.

[echelon_john]

I'm not a fan of pegboard. The pegs/fixtures have a habit of moving around or falling out when you remove tools. I prefer the plywood method. Cut the plywood to size, lay it flat on the floor or a bench, lay out all the tools on it, use sheetrock screws to hang each tool, and draw outlines of tools in sharpie. A place for everything and everything in its place, and all that stuff. The outlines make it easy to put stuff away at a glance, and make it easier for guest wrenches to figure out where stuff goes.

[MarkC]

Dig up the thread with Kris' (44) bench and tool display and duplicate it. Heck, he can probably do some fancy pants 2-Tall bad a$$ graphic for you as well.

-Mark

[BShow]

I'm not a fan of pegboard. The pegs/fixtures have a habit of moving around or falling out when you remove tools. I prefer the plywood method. Cut the plywood to size, lay it flat on the floor or a bench, lay out all the tools on it, use sheetrock screws to hang each tool, and draw outlines of tools in sharpie. A place for everything and everything in its place, and all that stuff. The outlines make it easy to put stuff away at a glance, and make it easier for guest wrenches to figure out where stuff goes.

I have pegboard and I dont like it... The pegs move and fall out and I'm too lazy to mitigate that issue.

The appeal, I think, for pegboard is that you can re-arrange whenever necessary. In practice, I can't say that I've ever re-arranged it outside of replacing the pegs that fell out. maaaaybe once or twice when I've picked up a new tool - but that's so infrequently that its no problem to put in another screw or move a couple. You've got all the tools, you have an idea on layout... if you're hanging them, I say commit. Put some screws in some plywood and paint it the color of your walls.

I do like the rolling tool box idea, but that stuff costs a lot more than plywood. it also takes up some floor space and its another surface to potentially accumulate clutter.

[Eric Estlund]

I've never been in a shop that had too much light.

[dashDustin]

Pegboard fan. 1/4" holes with appropriately sized hooks. Pain in the ass to get them in, and as such, they aren't moving. the few I have that are 3/16" do like to move around, but those are limited to double-ring tool holders. I only use those for screwdrivers and pliers/ cutters, so they would all have to be out for the thing to fall. Pegboard came from Lowes. They aren't cut uniformly, so I had to dig through and find 2 that were fairly straight.

I've worked out of a tool box at home and didn't like it. At all. I want immediate access to everything.

As far as lighting, you can't have too much, but you can have more than enough positioned poorly such that it casts shadows is the wrong spots. I have a 36" fluorescent bulb mounted to my pegboard, and use the light in the garage. Those combined give me good lighting.

[mmoore]

Personally, I would use slot board if you want a reconfigurable space. Its a much cleaner look IMO but the bits to hold things on the walls can be a bit harder to find.

Otherwise I agree with a nice cabinet, especially if its a home shop where you might do other non-bike things that can make a lot of dust and grime.

[Noteddy]

Home shop and bike shop might not have the same needs.

In the bike shop, I hated pegboard. I couldn't stand having a peg come off the board or swing around when trying to grab a tool and be productive. (Though, I know there are widgets to hold them in place now.) We used plywood and various drywall screws and fasteners to put the most-used tools in reach. Combination wrenches, screwdrivers, allen and Torx, cable tools. 80% of our work was done with a fairly small number of tools. Those went on the board.

Less frequently used tools went in drawers, also standardized. As did most consumables - cables and cable housing. Each station was mostly standardized - though we allowed mechanics some personal latitude. But, if we had to grab an open station, it was good to know where things were rather than pawing around. And, it was easy to tell at a glance that everything was in it's place. Each workstation had a color-coded set of standardized tools.

I don't make my living doing this anymore, so the values have shifted. At home, I have everything in full-extension drawers. I would rather have things under cover and know that when I've cleaned up, the bench is bare. (Especially since it gets pressed into other duties.)

No such thing as too much light. The flourescents sound great. I've always had a Luxo-style lamp in proximity to the bench as well as for task lighting at the grinder/belt sander or other tools. But, I've become a huge convert to LED's in my kitchen. There might be a retrofit into the shop area in the works.

[fortyfour]

@Toots: I had a massive amount of scrap wood hanging around from a bunch of projects here from renovations. Ended up using some of that to put together my "tool wall" in my own Bike Dojo up at the house in the basement. Kind of prefer them all in their place than in drawers? I personally can't stand the look of peg board... It works, but I don't dig the looks of it.

Before / Old:



After / New:



Close up of how I hung things - I have a lot of scrap 1/4" O.D. stainless tubing from internal routing off cut's, so that is where that came from. Stainless square head screws were on hand too that fit:

[Too Tall]

That's appealing Kris. I'm inclined to do that.

[fortyfour]

That's appealing Kris. I'm inclined to do that.

The board is a piece of scrap from a huge closet that was on our screened in porch. Totally ugly and took up way too much of the floor plan. But whoever made it used these monster pine boards. I had a few of them (one was turned into a coffee table for the porch) and another went into this tool board. You could do the same with a piece of Baltic Birch 3/4 Ply cut in half down the center. I want to say this one is every bit of 8' long? Once I put a clear coat on it, I just laid out all the tools in a meaningful manner and went to town with the pins. I have a few that I added a washer to the end for tools that needed a catch. Went together really quickly and painlessly. The shelf was from the same scrap and with that 2nd half of the 4x8 piece of ply you could rip that and devise a shelf or something. The shelf free's up A LOT of workbench space for building bikes I will say. Everything is at arms reach now which I like!

[xjoex]

I like tool boxes for a home shop. But I hang a few of my most needed tools on Wall Control pegboard
3in x 32in Galvanized Metal Pegboard Strip Metallic Pegboard Rail Pack - Wall Control Storage Systems

From my old basement shop. But I just started on my new shop...



-Joe

[pdxmech13]

I've used a rolling toolbox even back to my days working in shops.

I will recommend RACE DECK Flooring though.