Here is a couple pics of stuff on wheels I have.  Good casters cost a few bucks.  The computer carts might have been cheaper than the casters I put under the sandblast cabinet.  As a bonus, the computer carts came with power strips and 10-15 foot cords.  The carts came apart and I just put the top piece on the center section.  They are plenty sturdy.

Lissa, It might be helpful if we knew the size and current layout of your shop plus access doors locations etc...doesn't have to be fancy...something sketched on paper, quick pic(s) with your phone or camera then upload picture(s).

 

If you have a Habitat for Humanity Restore anywhere close take a look at what they might have on any given day. Sometimes carts like Cal or others can be found along with kitchen wall & base  cabinets and even tool storage cabinets. Kitchen base cabinets can be re-purposed and placed in bench modules or added to shop made roll carts. Prices are usually very good and the $$'s benefit a great cause & organization.

 

Additionally, you often times can find project material, tools and other items useful for your shop. Just another option to consider.

 

I'm unsure of your location to any of these http://habitatnc.org/restore/

On 6/3/2018 at 9:35 AM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I'm afraid it's a skill I haven't mastered.....but I'll be following to see what I can learn form those who know how to do it.

Nobody knows "how to do it."    We are all on the continuum of being more organized.

 

I had two co-workers.

 

The first had all sorts of stuff on Post-It Notes all over his desktop.   He could find something in about 20 seconds.

 

The second had everything organized in 3-ring binders.   Ask him a question and he'd pull out the green one, look up the item (alphabetical order).  That would direct him to binder 14.  (located between Binder 13 and Binder 15!)  In binder 14, there was a table of contents that directed him to tab 6.  It took him about 2 minutes to find something, and unknown time to get it all cataloged and organized.  A similar guy, when you walked into his office, he'd close the book he was working on, file it in the right place, fold his hands and then say, "How can I help you?"  When he left the company, we cleared out about 300 binders and dumped the contents in multiple trash bins.

 

I think the solution is somewhere in the middle.

 

The guy that runs FastCap is a Lean maniac.  Every day, each employee is supposed to spend the first 30 minutes making a 2 minute process improvement.  I figured at the end of the year, they'd save enough, no one would need to do any work.

@Cal Now you will have to tell where you got the carts and how much.

For me, like most I'm sure, getting organized is an on-going project with no end in sight, and with every change incremental - the only other option is to get rid of everything and start over again.

 

One of my early upgrades was to build a pegboard door in front of shelves where I had cans of screws and nails, this to give me more hanging space.

 

 

The original open shelves, less the pegboard door and with the stacked multi-layers of coffee cans can be seen at the right.

 

 

As the object was to organize the screws and nails, the next step was to put everything in stacked bins - pretty simple to reach in, lift bins off the top and remove the needed one from the pile.

 

 

Following on, I modified the design of a "hardware storage cabinet" from Woodsmith Magazine and used that to organize all the various screws, bolts and assorted hardware that I had lying around.

 

 

The hardware is stored either in it's original package or in small zip lock bags that I bought in bulk - makes it very easy to find a specific size and type.

 

 

Again to increase hanging wall space, I built sliding pegboards doors over the shelf unit - still need to organize what's on the shelf - the doors total about 2/3 of the length and allow me to access to everything on the shelves.

 

 

I have both a benchtop planer and disc/drum sander and built a cabinet to hold both, with drawers underneath to hold the belts and sanding drums as well as the various accessories for both of them.

 

 

The center shelf slides out so that I can use the planer without swapping the two tools, but I do move the planer to the top if I'm running a lot of material through it as the table is only about 20" above the floor level; the sander height is perfect with it on the top.

 

 

Latest completed project was a storage cabinet underneath my router table to hold the bits and various accessories for the router table, keeping them mostly organized rather than just dumped in the space.

 

 

Showing the router bits in removable blocks which hold 6 router bits, organized by type - roundover, cove, ogee, etc.

 

 

My main workbench consists of a Kreg base with a maple top, I'm currently working on similar storage inserts for it to make better use of the storage space underneath it - rolling drawers under the lower section, full-length drawers in the next layer which can be accessed from either side of the bench, and a top unit with multiple shallow drawers for storing smaller hand tools.

I'm with Gerald on this. Drawers and cabinets keep everything out of the way when not being used. Bins for small items .

18 hours ago, Gerald said:

@Cal Now you will have to tell where you got the carts and how much.

 

Gerald, I got these from a local school system that sold them through www.govdeals.com

There were single carts that averaged $12-15.  I got a lot of 5 for $35. I gave two away and kept 3 of them.

In keeping with the "organization" aspects of this thread, I mounted one of the keyboard slide-outs to one of my workbenches to keep up with the shops TV controls.