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Sat Apr 21, 2012 6:38 am

For many many.....MANY years I've worked with tools in a semi organized fashion, they weren't a mess at all but rather a collection of metal clip rails, small cardboard boxes, and more recently commercial socket organizers.

I've purchased the organizer board and the magnetic rails, both wonderful products for sure. The problem was that when a mass of sockets are all clipped together, finding the socket you desire becomes a game of Russian Roulette of picking and returning, picking and returning until the desired socket is found, even with some attempts at labeling what is where!

I stumbled across the Hansen line of socket organizers recently and purchased the 3/8 and 1/4 inch units in both metric and SAE.

I THOUGHT that I had a very complete socket set until I transferred them in and found that I had 40, yes Forty empty pegs!

It became An obsession with me to fill each peg, yes, I probably have a minor level of OCD, and the empty pegs sat there mocking me every time I opened the socket drawer!
Also for tool inventory control, an empty peg screams missing tool.
I've managed to locate and fill all but five pegs but was still running the magnetic Kobalt socket rails for my 6 point "go to" sockets. (the Hansen's have all 12 point sockets, shallow and deep).
While labeled and organized they required a pull off effort that I found bothersome as compared to the Hansen racks.
I picked up the Kobalt equivalent to the Hansen for metric sockets thinking that I could put the metric on the short pegs and SAE on the longer pegs......guess what, SAE sockets do NOT fit on a metric rack! It's quite simply too tight of spacing for them. Back to Lowes, purchased the SAE rack....beautiful! The metric fit easily onto the SAE rack!
Using my Brother Label maker I made labels for the tall pegs.

The difference between the real Hansen and the Kobalt knock off is socket orientation. Hansen stores the socket with the sized point end down, the square for the ratchet is up. For the Kobalt, the square goes down, the racks are molded entirely differently. The Hansen also labels the top of each peg, the Kobalt puts a bigger lower located size label on the front edge that both rows share. As you can see, the outside physical dimension of the rack is exactly the same! I suspect they come from the same place! The Plastic seems to be the same and the entire concept is the same with but that one difference in orientation.

I've fit in my Hansen racks along with my relabeled Kobalt rack and cut apart a magnetic holder for my Allen sockets and my ETorx sockets. Overall I'm pleased, very pleased. The photo shows 5 missing sockets but UPS brought me the 3/8 drive 6mm last night, so only four of the smaller 1/4" drive pegs are empty. Maybe someday I'll find a better method for my sample of 3/4 drive sockets, but there are so few.....why bother? I also chose not to get the 20mm and 1" sockets and are using those pegs for Spark Plug sockets. I have those sizes in 1/2" drive.

These stupid Hansen's have cost me well over $200 already! But, instead of being bothered by disorganization and empty pegs, I now smile at the organization and completion of the set! :wink:

I know, I'm crazy.....I survived for five decades of working in my garage and in shops without those 40 sockets, I know that there is a redundancy to the collection, for instance, 15mm in both 3/8 and 1/4 inch drive? Really? Do you need that? Additionally, I've never needed a 1/8" socket but guess what? I will now have it if ever I need one! (coming from Fastenal next week)

Dave

Sat Apr 21, 2012 9:29 am

Bravo, I am truly inspired! :D That is the best system I have ever seen for socket organization. Who did you get your Hansen racks from? I have just been looking them up, and your're right, they are not giving them away. But, I gotta have them!

Sat Apr 21, 2012 10:28 am

Very nice layout.

When I get a larger tool box I may organize them like that. I like to find ones I don't have to add to my smaller collection of sockets. I've come across up to 23mm in 3/8 by Black Hawk and down to 5mm in Craftsman, but only 1" so far. I don't think one can have too many sockets or tools. The one you need is the one you don't have.

Sat Apr 21, 2012 10:44 am

wbrown45 wrote: Bravo, I am truly inspired! :D That is the best system I have ever seen for socket organization. Who did you get your Hansen racks from? I have just been looking them up, and your're right, they are not giving them away. But, I gotta have them!

Yes, they are great things! I had read criticism that they are poorly designed and take up excess space, that they could be better designed by reversing the rows and putting the deep 1" next to the shallow 1/4". As they are now each size both deep and shallow are next to each other. The critic is probably correct but I've found that these units increased my useable drawer space.

I got mine at a local tool supply house but Sears carries them (they were on sale last time I was there last week) , Amazon sells them as well.

The Kobalt organizers (just as good as Hansen only different) are on the shelf at Lowes. I'd be happy with either Hansen or Lowes exclusively.

If you get the organizers, budget for sockets, most likely the collection of sockets that you now have will leave empty posts!

Dave

Sat Apr 21, 2012 11:32 am

They are awesome setups! My old boss had one in the auto-shop where I worked. Never spent more then a few mere seconds looking for the socket I needed. Now all I have to do is go out and buy one for my new setup.

Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:20 pm

Well, I wasn't thrilled, while nice, it was crowded. The E Torx were sideways, the Allen's were hard to see and grab.

Pulled out the 1/2" shallow socket magnetic rack and cut It in half. It fit nicely above the 1/4" drive Hansen's. I rearranged the 1/2" drive impacts and miscellaneous sockets to make access to them better as well.
I also labeled the infrequently used impacts to enable quick accurate selection. I know, the label will peel off with use but......

Now for the drawer above that holds the ratchets, extensions, adapters, etc.

I put in a silverware tray (Lowes), used a couple of old rails, a few odd plastic containers and I was able to not only improve this drawer but made room for the Allen's and the E Torx that were evicted from the socket drawer.
Still a work in progress but much improved!
I really should stop this nonsense and finish putting my Vert back together! :wink:

Dave

Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:25 pm

That's real clean. Hopefully it'll stay that way. I can't tell you how many times i've tried to organize my tools (okay okay, my dads tools) that way, and within months its not even the same. All I can say is that I have one drawer for only sockets and ratchets, one drawer for allens, one drawer for everything in specific really. My dad has over 25+ years accumulated tools out the butt. Used to be a precision machinist and metal fabricator by trade so we have a lot of out of the norm tools.

In short, I'm jealous of your setup.

Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:29 pm

Been there ;)

I like the S/K wrench trays.

Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:19 pm

Glen, I would not have expected differently from you, very clean and organized!

I didn't like those style of wrench holders, I've not a lot of space and while those holders make selection easy, they utilize a Lot if Real Estate.

I picked up these holders awhile back, I think from Sears. They store the wrench on edge. I've got a full selection of Open End / Box Combinations in both SAE and Metric. I've got stored right next to it the corresponding size of swivel head Gear Wrenches (how I EVER did mechanical work before the gear wrench is beyond my comprehension......but I did, and won't do without them in the future!). The smaller wrenches (down to 6mm and 1/8" (that silly 1/8" cost more than many of my full size wrenches!) rest just in front on a raised tray with organizational "fingers".

I did add size labels for each pair of wrenches, it helped a LOT in the selection process.

This rack is very efficient holding all the sizes plus my Crowfeet plus my 3/8 drive Tap Holders plus larger wrenches that still fit in the drawer up to about 24 mm, above that my big wrenches (up to 2") hang on the wall. My 30mm for the crank pulley rests just inside the drawer front.

Dave

Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:56 am

Really glad you took the time to post this, Dave. This is seriously what I need to do, didn't realize socket organizers were available like that. Clean and well done.

Sun Apr 22, 2012 10:20 am

I need that socket organization system in the worst way, My OCD would have me buying all kinds of useless sizes. Great thread 8)

Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:05 pm

The Metric sockets are complete! Sourced my 1/4" drive 4.5mm deep today!

That leaves 1/4" drive 15mm deep, 5/32" deep and 1/8" deep and shallow and I'm complete!!! :)

Dave

Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:19 pm

Here is a photo of Harbor Freight's organizers. They have the size on a tab between the shallow and deep sockets. (This is not my box, I couldn't sleep if I had so many empty pegs!!!)

Dave

Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:48 pm

I have ocd2, but not that way(wish I did) but I do need those labels to put on the sockets so I can read them. I would need a pile of them with all the tools I have.worked full time at 2 shops&home ,now all at home.(well not realy full time at 2 shops ,we had 2 locations,the highperformance marina& the highperformance machineshop, I ran the machine shop & did all the machining&engine building, and when any performance boat needed my attn I would go back to the marina,about 6 miles away.mostly ciggerettee,fountion,formula,skater,apatchee etc.high$$ stuff that had to be done right the first time.what a life, but somebody had to do it :roll: and test runn too :D . Paid to play all day. 8)

Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:59 pm

Is there a price difference between Hansen and kobalt? I just bought another box and will be switching to this style holder.

Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:04 am

Glenn A wrote: Is there a price difference between Hansen and kobalt? I just bought another box and will be switching to this style holder.

Yes.
Hansen retails around $15, I've seen them on sale for $11 and change recently.

Kobalt retails around $8 - 9

HF sell at set for about $10 ? So about $3 each.

My first choice would be the Hansen units. I like the top of the peg labeled.

Dave

Sun Apr 29, 2012 4:52 am

I like these !! Now I have to rethink my tool storage system.I have one box that is just for the VW's and another for other things,but I do end up going back and forth getting the stuff I need.

Of course now that I look at it,my crap is all over the place :?