I have decided to tackle something that has been bothering me for some time, the state of disorganization of tools on top of my tool chest. This space is my workspace when in the "closet shop" working with the mill or lathe. This morning I will organize this mess.
A list of the tools was made along with their relevant dimensions. The available space is 11 1/2" X 17" if the drills, black box barely seen behind the Dykem at the top of the photo, are moved behind the granite block. The tools were pictorially laid out on a space this size indicating it is sufficient for the job. A scrap of 3/4" pine was located that is 11 1/2" X 16". It should be a bit thicker for setting in some of the tools, so was topped with scraps of 1/4" particle board. This glue-up is shown below.
The glued up board is a bit too wide so with the table saw was trimmed to fit. The proposed recesses for the tools were drawn onto the board, seen below. The recesses were either drilled or routed and chiseled to an appropriate depth for each tool.
The larger recesses near the edges were routed out with a 1/2" end mill in the mill. The smaller recesses were routed using a bit in the Dremel. Rectangles not near an edge were cleaned out using a chisel. Two holes were drilled with spade bits and the largest hole was cleaned out using a chisel. A fence was used for many of the longer recesses and this setup is shown below.
The router bits used ranged from 1/16" to 1/8". One 1/16" slot needed to go 3/4" deep, but the bit was only 1/4" long. The slot was chain drilled by hand after routing to 1/4" depth. The excess material was removed with an Xacto knife. The board after completing all of the recesses is seen below. Only one recess is not quite sufficient to hold the tool, tweezers. They need to be put in point down to avoid getting poked, but when installed they flop from side to side. The recess was deepened and now the tweezers are better supported.
The top surface of the tool organizer was sanded with 120 grit sandpaper and then treated with three coats of wipe-on polyurethane. The MDF could probably use ten as it seemed so porous. The two photos below show the completed organizer. Plenty of room is available for any new layout tools I seem to collect and make.
