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James D. Kountz
 
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Default Any Ideas For Organizing A Contractors Work Van?

Check out the Toolbox Book from Jim Tolpin. Search amazon they have it. The
work van conversion he shows in that book is pretty amazing and should give
you some good ideas.

Jim


"michael_m_MT" wrote in message
...
hi friends

SHORT FORM - FOR BUSY PEOPLE:

could use some help in the arena of coming up with structures to
organize the standard boatload of pretty typical general
contractors' tools and materials in my boss' work van (i work with
him out of the same van).

i've no doubt many of you have come up with some sly ideas, and i'd
really appreciate any insights you might offer.

thanks,
michael in MT


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LONG FORM - FOR GUYS LIKE ME WHO LIVE IN REMOTE CABINS WITHOUT
TELEVISION MACHINES AND THE LIKE:


~~~~~ way optional OT: nice to be back msg~~~~~~~~~~~~
FWIW, i used to read a lot and post some on the 'wreck -- until 2+
years back when i moved into a teeny cabin with no phone (or
electricity or hot water or...) 4 mile ski in 3 months a year. not
everyone's idea of paradise, but it is mine, my dog's, and my
sweeetheart's.
i've recently built an super-directional antenna (based on a web
based schematic) out of a coffee can, pvc pipe, and about 600 feet
of dumpster found armature wire -- and viola! now i can link into
the UofMT wireless grid. wahoo! been lurking for a few months now.
i much missed the wreck. though i'm sad to see the legion of
trolls in the mix. so it goes...
~~~~~ way optional OT: babble ends ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i'm also lucky in that i'm working with a great guy (my boss). a
truly fine guy. he pays well, on-time, compliments my work when i
get it just so - and looks the other way when i don't. he's a
gifted finish carpenter and furniture maker who has taught me plenty.

now 99.999% of the time this fine guy is as calm as a buddist monk.
however yesterday he went ballistic when he couldn't find some
material we bought last week in our work van. i mean he was howling
and tossed most everything out (and into a snow drift). there was
no consoling him so i hid behind a tree as skil saws, chisels, even
a contractors saw went fly by. sheesh, i nearly dialed 911 and
asked them to send Marlon Perkins to shoot him with a tranquilizer
dart before he either had a heart attack of ripped the roof off the van.

so the point is we're having a real problem organizing the mass of
tools, materials, and paperwork in the work van. the van is kept
clean (it's my job to keep it clean and i empty it and vacuum it at
least once a week). but we really need a better system then the
rows of buckets, piles of stock, stacks of power tool boxes, and all
the other stuff i'm sure many of you work with most every day.

i've been assigned to design and build up an organizational system.
sounds easy, and should be. i'm a creative enough guy. but
he's given me a bunch of design/implementation restrictions that are
really making it tough -- such that 15 sketches into it i'm not
really making progress.

these restrictions (gospel/unchangeable - i tried, begged in fact) a

[1] no commercial rack systems (he can afford it but detests store
bought solutions - case in point, this guy carved his own toilet
seat.) no plastic tubs or boxes. essentially nothing store bought
or prefab.

[2] the existing hand built wooden shelves (12" wide, 16" apart,
with 2" lips, running the length of both sides of the interior) are
not to be removed.

[3] the spare tire bolted to the back of the drivers seat is to stay
"in-situ" -- my plan to mount it on the back of the van or under it
has been vetoed.

[4] i'm not to use any of the (to my eye perfect) old metal index
card file boxes (two drawers per box) nor the old metal single
drawer letter sized file cabinet boxes i saw as equally perfect (i
plucked them out of an old warehouse we had to clean before building
new offices in it). "make too much noise - and well probably open
on the road" he says - despite the fact i was going to frame sets of
them in wood, put window sash locks on each drawer, and line them
with carpet.

[5] there are to be no structures that span across the width of the
van - he wants to be able to walk (well, crawl, as he's 6'4") from
the back door to the front 2 seats.

[7] all power tools (mostly porter cable and milwaukee) are to stay
in their original metal carrying cases. we're talking 12 or 15 such
tools. to my mind that is a boatload of wasted space, but, i'm not
the boss.

~~~~~~~~~

on the upside he's given me a very generous budget of "up to a
grand" for materials and will pay my hourly for construction an
install. of course when he says materials, he means wood -- not
plastic or metal boxes, or most anything commercial/store bought.
essentially if what i come up with didn't start out as a seed grow
in the dirt he'll veto it.

that and he shown some slack in the past. I put a couple of 18"
length of 5" pvc on the ceiling to hold extension cords and he's
slowly come to like them after at first calling them "ugly
mutations". as if the inside of the work van is a living room or
something. sheesh...

~~~~~~~~~~

at present i'm thinking along the line of s set of 6'L x 22"W x 12"H
with two 1"x1" hardwood runners under each side with a length just
shy of the box length so that one box will stay but atop another. i
plan to round over the ends of these runners so that they slide in
and out (and over floors and carpet) easily. i'm thinking two 2.5"
dowel handles running across the boxes spaced about 2.5' apart
equidistant from the midpoint to carry them.

the width of the boxes is wider than i'd like, but will allow me to
fit the power tool boxes. i plan to optimize a box for each of the
major task types -- a finish carpentry box, a framing box, a
plumbing box, a drywall box, an electrical box, a painting/staining
box. i'll put dividers in each for what needs to go into them.
small areas for screws and nails; large areas for power tools. i
plan to lay all of the contents for each on the shop floor then
sketch dividers to match.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

well, that the whole of it.

i look forward to your ideas - and thank you in advance for them.

be well,

michael in MT



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