Author Topic: Pamper your tools in a cosy drawer space! (Read 280759 times)

John Hill · « **on:** April 12, 2011, 09:07:20 PM »

Start with one of these:-

IMGP9216 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

...and one of these...

IMGP9215 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

....some of your treasured tools and instruments..

IMGP9217 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

....covered with a bit of cloth from the t-shirt..

IMGP9219 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

...shake up a can of this...

IMGP9218 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

...lay it on them..

IMGP9220 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

...lay some newspaper over it...

IMGP9222 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

....pat it down and squish it around to fill any voids...

IMGP9223 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

...put a board over it all and weight it down well..

IMGP9224 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

....get a good night's sleep and in the morning..

IMGP9225 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

sportandmiah · « **Reply #1 on:** April 12, 2011, 10:19:01 PM »

That, my friend, is brilliant!

Brass_Machine · « **Reply #2 on:** April 12, 2011, 10:48:58 PM »

Quote from: sportandmiah on April 12, 2011, 10:19:01 PM

That, my friend, is brilliant!

I agree. Pretty damn cool!

Hobby-Machinist · « **Reply #3 on:** April 13, 2011, 12:57:02 AM »

Great thinking, John!
Can you change the configuration by spraying new foam into the indentations, placing it back into the drawer?
(In other words, the foam bonds to itself, doesn't it? Which allows you to change things.)

Nelson

John Hill · « **Reply #4 on:** April 13, 2011, 01:44:59 AM »

Quote from: Hobby-Machinist on April 13, 2011, 12:57:02 AM

Great thinking, John!
Can you change the configuration by spraying new foam into the indentations, placing it back into the drawer?
(In other words, the foam bonds to itself, doesn't it? Which allows you to change things.)

Nelson
Hobby-Machinist.com

No, I dont think you could do that. The foam is not exposed at all as the fabric lines the indentations and is a barrier between the tools and the foam.

raynerd · « **Reply #5 on:** April 13, 2011, 02:43:45 AM »

That is a fantastic idea!!

saw · « **Reply #6 on:** April 13, 2011, 04:11:32 AM »

Nice, very good

Anzaniste · « **Reply #7 on:** April 13, 2011, 05:18:14 AM »

What a brilliant idea.

Question, when you put the weighted board on the top is the foam still expanding? Also is the fit snug or can you get your fingers round the tool to get it out of its pocket?

John Hill · « **Reply #8 on:** April 13, 2011, 05:29:49 AM »

Quote from: Anzaniste on April 13, 2011, 05:18:14 AM

What a brilliant idea.

Question, when you put the weighted board on the top is the foam still expanding?

Yes, it is still expanding, or it would be without the board on it.

Quote

Also is the fit snug or can you get your fingers round the tool to get it out of its pocket?

Real snug, if you want finger spaces you need to put something with the tool, maybe wrap the tool in cloth or something to increase its bulk a bit without loosing the basic shape.

Anzaniste · « **Reply #9 on:** April 13, 2011, 05:43:55 AM »

Thanks for that. Comfort for my tools is now on the list!!!!

BillTodd · « **Reply #10 on:** April 13, 2011, 07:31:44 AM »

What a great idea

Bill

Stilldrillin · « **Reply #11 on:** April 13, 2011, 07:59:02 AM »

Now......

THAT'S clever!

David D

JimM · « **Reply #12 on:** April 13, 2011, 08:35:57 AM »

Just a quick heads up for those of us in the UK, Aldi has expanding foam on offer tomorrow - they must have a crystal ball !

Blade · « **Reply #13 on:** April 13, 2011, 04:53:44 PM »

Wow great idea, I never would have thought of that. Now I just need to figure out how to arange all of my tools.

I used ship instruments in foam like that for a company that I worked for, just spray foam from a gun in the box lay on some special plastic sheet and press the instrument halfway down into the foam, then cover with plastic sheet and do the top createing a custom fit for each instrument.

j45on · « **Reply #14 on:** April 13, 2011, 05:27:25 PM »

Great idea thank you for sharing

doubleboost · « **Reply #15 on:** April 13, 2011, 06:27:44 PM »

got loads of old t shirts and some foam just need some tools worth looking after

Very good idea

Going to make a drawer just for clock guages and measuring stuff

John Hill · « **Reply #16 on:** April 13, 2011, 06:45:08 PM »

Just remember guys, when you make yours

Hobby-Machinist · « **Reply #17 on:** April 15, 2011, 08:03:44 AM »

Quote from: John Hill on April 13, 2011, 05:29:49 AM

Quote from: Anzaniste on April 13, 2011, 05:18:14 AM
What a brilliant idea.

Question, when you put the weighted board on the top is the foam still expanding?
Yes, it is still expanding, or it would be without the board on it.

Quote
Also is the fit snug or can you get your fingers round the tool to get it out of its pocket?
Real snug, if you want finger spaces you need to put something with the tool, maybe wrap the tool in cloth or something to increase its bulk a bit without loosing the basic shape.

Put two round plugs on either side of the tool's grips before you do the molding, that will provide two finger grips for you when it's done.

Nelson

75Plus · « **Reply #18 on:** April 30, 2011, 04:11:24 PM »

Hi John,

I want to thank you for showing me how to protect my copy of Bog's tramming tool! My first attempt was with DAP Door and Window sealant and it was a disaster. Luckily I had wrapped the tool an shrink film as the foam ran through the cloth like it was water. The results shown here was using "Great Stuff" made by Dow Chemical. Of the different varieties I choose the least expensive and here is the result.

The fitted foam.

The enclosure.

All I need now is a bit of paint.

Thanks again for teaching this "Old Dog" a new trick.

Joe

tumutbound · « **Reply #19 on:** April 30, 2011, 07:18:44 PM »

Great idea, must try it.

I'm moving soon and this will be a great way to stop tools rattling around in the tool boxes.

John Hill · « **Reply #20 on:** May 01, 2011, 04:36:25 AM »

Hi Joe

That is a nice job!

John Hill · « **Reply #21 on:** May 01, 2011, 04:38:02 AM »

Geoff, I hope the move goes well for you.

ronginger · « **Reply #22 on:** May 21, 2011, 10:08:38 PM »

I must be missing something here. How do I do this in a drawer that has a fixed bottom? Do you make the foam block, then lift it out of the drawer and turn it over?

John Hill · « **Reply #23 on:** May 21, 2011, 11:00:20 PM »

Quote from: ronginger on May 21, 2011, 10:08:38 PM

I must be missing something here. How do I do this in a drawer that has a fixed bottom? Do you make the foam block, then lift it out of the drawer and turn it over?

Yes, thats right, put the tools on the bottom of the empty drawer and drape the fabric over the tools and the drawer sides, add the foam and have a false bottom handy to put on top of the foam. When the block is hard lift it out and flip everything over.

ha_n_si · « **Reply #24 on:** August 30, 2011, 08:55:33 PM »

GREAT IDEA!

You learn something new every day!

Brass_Machine · « **Reply #25 on:** August 30, 2011, 10:36:31 PM »

Hey John! You are now Famous!

Linky to Makezine

and OFC, you know about this one!

MachinistBlog

Congrats my friend!

Eric

tumutbound · « **Reply #26 on:** August 30, 2011, 11:21:14 PM »

Quote from: John Hill on May 01, 2011, 04:38:02 AM

Geoff, I hope the move goes well for you.

The move went very well and, thanks to you, the trip was a lot quieter than it could have been.
I got hold of some plastic bags, similar to the ones supplied in supermarkets but a bit thicker. I placed these over the contents of the tool box drawers, covered them with a sheet of MDF and blew the foam into them. It wasn't that neat as it only meant to last for the trip which it did.
Biggest problem I had was getting rid of the bags/foam - there's no garbage collection at all where I'm currently staying.

John Hill · « **Reply #27 on:** August 31, 2011, 05:25:19 AM »

Glad the move went well for you Geoff.

Thanks Eric, I hope it goes well for everyone who tries it!

FredEx · « **Reply #28 on:** August 31, 2011, 03:37:54 PM »

Great idea.

I had a weaved material that the foam could bleed through. I put the material down over the tools, used a light spray of contact glue, stuck tissue paper to that and then did the foam. That tissue paper layer was enough so there was no leaking through the weaved material. Without that spray glue I was afraid the material would pull away.

John Hill · « **Reply #29 on:** August 31, 2011, 11:21:12 PM »

Quote from: FredEx on August 31, 2011, 03:37:54 PM

Great idea.

I had a weaved material that the foam could bleed through. I put the material down over the tools, used a light spray of contact glue, stuck tissue paper to that and then did the foam. That tissue paper layer was enough so there was no leaking through the weaved material. Without that spray glue I was afraid the material would pull away.

Next time just dampen the material a little and test that, you will probably find the water in the fabric reacts with the foam and immediatley blocks the weave, by the way, if you push and pump really hard you can force the foam through the t-shirt fabric too.

keyteem · « **Reply #30 on:** September 10, 2011, 02:43:13 PM »

Just coming on board for the first time and seeing this I HAD TO REPLY!!!!!!

that is an AWESOME idea, you the man. I just purchased a set of threading masters and followers
for a lathe and after spending days getting them all spiffed up shinny and clean
was wondering how to keep them safe and sound!

When I am done I will post a pic.
It amazes me what some of you supergenius's come up with! why didn't I thinkathat

Den

flutedchamber · « **Reply #31 on:** September 11, 2011, 02:06:50 AM »

That's a great idea you have there. One question tho. There are certain foams that lead to rusting because they produce something along the lines of an acid (acetic acid IIRC) which causes a flash rust on steel. The better grade steel..the more rust.

John Hill · « **Reply #32 on:** September 11, 2011, 05:18:49 AM »

Quote from: flutedchamber on September 11, 2011, 02:06:50 AM

That's a great idea you have there. One question tho. There are certain foams that lead to rusting because they produce something along the lines of an acid (acetic acid IIRC) which causes a flash rust on steel. The better grade steel..the more rust.

Yes, check the foam chemistry if that is a concern for you.

fatal-exception · « **Reply #33 on:** September 16, 2011, 03:31:19 PM »

Pure genius! Hats off to you!

John Hill · « **Reply #34 on:** April 01, 2013, 12:42:31 AM »

Oooops...... deleted by me.........wrong forum!

AllenR13 · « **Reply #35 on:** June 13, 2013, 08:22:14 PM »

Thank you for posting this!!!

It's something I will be doing in the near future

dsquire · « **Reply #36 on:** September 05, 2013, 03:40:16 PM »

John

I bet that never in your wildest dreams did you think that when you started this thread it would be the most read thread on MadModder. Currently there are over 52,000 view's and it is still climbing.

To All

It goes to show that something that every ~~one~~ 99% of our members is capable of making can be the most widely read thread.

To all the members, new, old, lurkers and others I am sure that you have some simple or complicated ideas that you could start a thread with and share with the rest of us. I look forward to what you can come up with.

Cheers

Don

52081

John Hill · « **Reply #37 on:** October 11, 2013, 03:03:49 PM »

Most read thread on MM? Well well, what an achievement.

Hmmmm..... have we seen many pics of any who have tried the idea?

dsquire · « **Reply #38 on:** October 11, 2013, 03:29:47 PM »

Quote from: John Hill on October 11, 2013, 03:03:49 PM

Most read thread on MM? Well well, what an achievement.

Hmmmm..... have we seen many pics of any who have tried the idea?

Hi John

I don't recall seeing many pictures of other people's results but the number of views just keeps climbing. Hopefully if anybody new reads this and tries it out they will post some photos of how it worked for them.

How's retirement going for you John? Are you ready to go back to work so you can get a rest or have you got it all under control? All the best John.

Cheers

Don

53798

John Hill · « **Reply #39 on:** October 12, 2013, 01:52:59 AM »

Hi Don

Things are going well here although I dont get as much time in my 'shop as I would like spending just too many hours at the local aviation museum!

Of course I do get to do a lot of machine jobs making bits to replace missing parts for some of the exhibits, axles and widgets, that sort of thing.

John

Meldonmech · « **Reply #40 on:** October 29, 2013, 12:48:35 PM »

Hi

I got ma box, got ma tools, just need ma foam, an am ready to go.

Cheers David

dsquire · « **Reply #41 on:** October 29, 2013, 01:06:40 PM »

Quote from: Meldonmech on October 29, 2013, 12:48:35 PM

Hi

I got ma box, got ma tools, just need ma foam, an am ready to go.

Cheers David

David

When you get your foam and are ready, set, go....grab the camera and take a few shots to add a few photos's to this thread and keep it going. Like they say, a picture is like a thousand words.

Cheers

Don

54891

Eugene · « **Reply #42 on:** October 30, 2013, 10:37:47 AM »

A great idea shortly to be incorporated into my shop build; thank you.

That expanding foam is really useful stuff. I've used it quite a bit in refurbishing our cottage where a gap filling and adhesive material is a Godsend (not an upright wall or right angle in the joint

) and also for repairing and stabilising wonky wooden flooring in a disabled friends house. The pressure of it's expansion is surprising; if you put a piece of timber against an uneven brick wall and apply the foam, unless you carefully wedge things in place the expansion will simply push the timber way out of position. So you really will have to weight it down well in your tool drawer.

The one tip I can offer from experience is to strongly recommend that you wear latex gloves and your tattiest old working clobber; it's an absolute b****** to get off skin and you won't remove it from clothing at all.

Eug

ctim2008 · « **Reply #43 on:** November 08, 2013, 05:01:52 PM »

Tried this idea for two of my tool drawers at work. My first try completely failed and was unusable. I'm not sure if I just didn't use enough foam, it didn't expand at all, or a combination of the two. Regardless I wouldn't recommend using the "Great Stuff: Window and Door" foam as it stays flexible once cured and barely expanded at all. After that failure I went back and got the "Great Stuff: Big Gap Filler" and am currently waiting for it to finish curing. It seems okay so far and I'll be sure to post pictures tomorrow when it's done.

Thanks for the idea!!

John Hill · « **Reply #44 on:** November 09, 2013, 02:32:11 AM »

Hi, I hope that new foam does the trick for you. I only tried one and had a good result the first try but I did have to mess around a bit getting enough and not too much foam into all the corners etc.

I am looking forward to seeing your pictures!

Ooompa · « **Reply #45 on:** November 10, 2013, 02:02:40 PM »

I am going to unashamedly steal this idea and use it on a display box reconstruction I am currently undertaking. I will however give credit to the OP. I am just not smart enough to dream this up.
Great, great idea.

John Hill · « **Reply #46 on:** November 10, 2013, 06:10:41 PM »

Go for it Graham but please post pictures!

John

ctim2008 · « **Reply #47 on:** November 11, 2013, 01:20:54 PM »

Okay, so now that take two is done, I think it's time for a take 3. I've never worked with expanding foam before and it's definitely showing. I'm still not happy with the way it came out and am going to do it again. I think I finally figured out what my mistakes were and hopefully this next try will get it done. Here are pics from my second try:
https://db.tt/SpFUqzXr
20lb shop bags on top

https://db.tt/lszC97fB
The 80lbs of weight I probably should have put on there to begin with.

https://db.tt/Q7l7Oq0g
Here's the tools in the drawer. You can see that the sides didn't turn out too well.

https://db.tt/XDJbpJck
close up on the form of the tools, still not as good as I want it to be.

I'll come back and post pictures again once I finally get a product I'm happy with haha!

John Hill · « **Reply #48 on:** November 12, 2013, 03:22:33 AM »

Hi, do you think maybe the fabric was stretched too tight before your put the foam on? When I did mine I just laid the t-shirt fabric over the tools and I was fairly careful to push the foam down and squish it around abit before putting the board over the top.

You got a good deep fit around that crescent wrench.

I made a case liner for some of my astronomy bits and pieces and they didnt fit in too deep either partly because I didnt want to force the foam through the fabric onto those bits.

Bangkok Mick · « **Reply #49 on:** November 12, 2013, 03:50:38 AM »

Nice one

75Plus · « **Reply #50 on:** November 12, 2013, 10:25:22 AM »

Just a thought.... unless your shop is a "Clean Room" you might want to go with a dark colored fabric. I made my first one (shown on page 1 of this thread) from a black tee shirt. After 2 plus years of use it still looks good. It is stained but you don't notice it!!

Joe

ctim2008 · « **Reply #51 on:** November 12, 2013, 11:27:30 AM »

I think my two biggest mistakes came from never having worked with the foam. I think the fabric probably got tight because I really rushed filling it with the foam. I didn't realize how much time I had to work with the foam. I think that my rushing to get it done as fast as possible made me perhaps put the board on too soon without allowing for extra fabric in the corners. Next time I make it I'm going to take my time and really place the foam where I want it and make sure that it stays in that area when I pat it down. I will also be using a black t-shirt

and way more than 20lbs of weight when I do set the boards on.
Also, I used the t-shirt as a double layer, so once the foam was all cured and I was cutting off the excess I realized that none of the foam was touching the second layer. At that point I just pulled the second layer off all together. Maybe that left it with the appearance of being much tighter?

John Hill · « **Reply #52 on:** November 12, 2013, 01:56:48 PM »

I think it is time I made another one as I must confess I really only ever made that very first one which I used to demonstrate the idea!

If the foam is polyurethan, as mine is, it is set by moisture (water) and it may be an advantage to use a damp fabric but I have not experimented with that.

Noitoen · « **Reply #53 on:** November 13, 2013, 05:12:48 AM »

If you going to use on sensitive equipment, you can wrap it in kitchen shrink film.

dsquire · « **Reply #54 on:** January 10, 2015, 10:43:39 PM »

Hi MadModders

This is an old topic. It is also the most read topic on the MadModder Forum with a total of 79,147 reads.

It goes to show that all ideas, big and small have a place in the forum and are still being read by guests and new members and a few old timers like me.

Cheers

Don

John Hill · « **Reply #55 on:** January 11, 2015, 02:23:48 AM »

It would be great to see a few that people have done!

steampunkpete · « **Reply #56 on:** January 11, 2015, 02:25:58 AM »

Not so much a post, more a way of life!

A great idea.

Some sets of tools come in blow-moulded cases that don't last very long. I see scope for this technique in the making of replacement cases.

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Author Topic: Pamper your tools in a cosy drawer space! (Read 280759 times)

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