Socket Organization

jeepinmatt

jeepinmatt

#1 WEBWHEELER
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Mar 24, 2005
Location
Stanley, NC
I have an old formed tray from a craftsman box that holds all my sockets, but I outgrew it years ago. What are the good options for stationary toolbox socket organization? I don’t want some that locks it in, as that can be a nuisance with greasy hands. Is anything better than the Hansen/Harbor Freight style socket trays?
 
This has been the best stye IMO

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They style with the small rod that the sockets are made to fit over make it too hard to get deep wells out of my small box
 
I use the Hansen ones in the top of my HF roll cart for chrome sockets and in one of the deep drawers on my big box for impact sockets. To me they take up the least amount of space of all the options I’ve seen.
 
I have the post style from OEMtools and it sucks. The posts are too large to past through some of the sockets. I also have some of the plier organizers and they are amazing at saving space and making it easy to find the type you need. I went with the WorkPro brand on Amazon.
 
Socket holders always make my OCD kick in. They never have the same sizes as my sets and always leave open holes. Then I can't find the same make, model and style and it flips me out even more.

That and the tall ones don't work well in shallow drawers so they land in taller drawers with a lot of other stuff. OCD again kicks in.

One of my boxes is ordered by metric drawer, standard drawer. It's over packed and not ideal because of the boxes size. It's a full house fill in because I'm an idiot and want to finish a storage box I started a few years ago.

Anyone else store them flat in tidy little trays?
 
I use the harbor freight ones and they are good for me. Some drawers I keep the original packaging but it takes up more space.
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WARRIORWELDING said:
Socket holders always make my OCD kick in. They never have the same sizes as my sets and always leave open holes. Then I can't find the same make, model and style and it flips me out even more.
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I'm this way as well. I use regular ol socket rails broke down into metric and standard then further into shallow/deep/6pt/12pt. I also like the socket rails because I tend to grab the whole rail and take it to the project because I don't have a tool cart.

Duane
 
thecj3man said:
I have Westling machine socket trays in my box. I got the unlabeled trays just so I could put the sockets any way I wanted without my OCD kicking in. I have had them close to 10 years now, but I would have to find a receipt to know the exact date.
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Unlabeled? Man this is an anxiety changer.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Unlabeled? Man this is an anxiety changer.
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There are also non-permanent ways to label things, such as these labels I put on my new box to help me remember where everything is until I settle on the layout and print better ones. :D
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I use the Harbor Freight ones and have been happy with them. For the ones that my socket sets didn't have, I filled those in from Amazon. I'm not OCD enough to worry about mixing brands but was OCD enough to be bothered by the empty posts. I also will use the packaging if it makes sense.

What I need to find now is wrench organizers. My wrench drawer is a disaster. My pliers and dykes, screwdrivers, etc. are on the magnetic wall hangers over the work bench.
 
cranbiz said:
I use the Harbor Freight ones and have been happy with them. For the ones that my socket sets didn't have, I filled those in from Amazon. I'm not OCD enough to worry about mixing brands but was OCD enough to be bothered by the empty posts. I also will use the packaging if it makes sense.

What I need to find now is wrench organizers. My wrench drawer is a disaster. My pliers and dykes, screwdrivers, etc. are on the magnetic wall hangers over the work bench.
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I like these for wrench organization. More compact.


It does mix your metric and SAE but it hasn't been too much trouble since I have a CJ and newer stuff I work on they all get used.
If you have long handle wrenches they just barley fit and take a 1/2 second longer to get in and out because of fitment is just a bit tight.
 
It's time intensive as you will undoubtedly have to design your own, but this is a great use for a 3d printer. I have printed some socket trays for 1/4" drive, and some various Allen/torx sockets that never had a proper place in my box. I have a lot more to do but just haven't done it.
 
Monkeynono said:
I also organize my box by most used from top down. So sockets top then wrenches then air tools.
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With the exception of the predesignated socket drawer. I organize mine by weight. Heaviest on the bottom
A tipped over tool box only needs to happen once in your life, and you become a changed man lmao
 
ckruzer said:
With the exception of the predesignated socket drawer. I organize mine by weight. Heaviest on the bottom
A tipped over tool box only needs to happen once in your life, and you become a changed man lmao
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Ditto and no T-shirt for it. Boss man gave it a shove to move it cause he was a mad rush a-hole. Then tried to blame me. Can't help I keep my stuff lubed up and gliding like a hooker on a pole.
 
I just moved everything over from my old box and it’s not too bad, but needs some work.
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The black thing on the right is the cheapo $10 HF tray which I like better than the taller one, BUT it has a square on the bottom instead of a round pin, so you have to orient them when you put them back.

Honestly the plastic blow molded thing from an old craftsman box works really well. I’d like to have something like that which would fit the whole drawer.
 
jeepinmatt said:
I just moved everything over from my old box and it’s not too bad, but needs some work.
View attachment 430848

The black thing on the right is the cheapo $10 HF tray which I like better than the taller one, BUT it has a square on the bottom instead of a round pin, so you have to orient them when you put them back.

Honestly the plastic blow molded thing from an old craftsman box works really well. I’d like to have something like that which would fit the whole drawer.
Click to expand...
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I have the bottom of my first set of tools in my cart. Craftsman from 25 years ago
 
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