What's the best way to organize nuts and bolts?

[slashmaster]

I'm looking for advice for the best way to organize a bunch of different sizes, lengths and threads of nuts and bolts. Right now I just have similar sizes in containers like a plastic cool whip container. I'm thinking I should find some kind of containers with movable partitions. Any suggestions?

Once I get that figured out I'm lost on what to do. It's certainly going way too far for me to separate every type pf nut, bolt and washer I have like in a hardware store. I'm thinking maybe I should just keep all the different shaft sizes with the nuts and washers that fit them? I'm totally open to advice. Thanks in advance.

[HuFlungDung]

Acro storage bins might be one solution. They come with removable dividers, which is both good and bad: the dividers are dovetailed into the sidewalls, but a bit of twisting or pulling up a bolt that gets stuck underneath one divider and the divider pops out, too. So I hot glued the dividers in. Now they're good.

[escott76]

I'm looking for advice for the best way to organize a bunch of different sizes, lengths and threads of nuts and bolts. Right now I just have similar sizes in containers like a plastic cool whip container. I'm thinking I should find some kind of containers with movable partitions. Any suggestions?

Once I get that figured out I'm lost on what to do. It's certainly going way too far for me to separate every type pf nut, bolt and washer I have like in a hardware store. I'm thinking maybe I should just keep all the different shaft sizes with the nuts and washers that fit them? I'm totally open to advice. Thanks in advance.

The "best" way is obviously dependent on situation, if you need ready access to every kind and length of fastener, you'd have a space for each one. If you don't care, and want to mix all of the same thread size together more power to you.
Go to Lowes or Home Depot and look at the "home organization" section. Theres a bunch of cheap bin type or multi divider units there. For small hardware that I take around frequently I use a little red Plano with 4 smaller inner divided boxes.
At home I simply keep boxes of the hardware I buy. I generally buy a full box (sometimes these days it's bags) from Fastenal or McMaster as it works out cheaper in the long run, and I get much higher quality hardware. You pay an arm and a leg for even grade 5 at the the mega-stores, and they don't have any of the smaller sizes in anything but crappy pan head slotted screws.

[Waldermac]

The dollar store "dollarama" has clear plastic boxes with section dividers for one dollar each. They are fantastic for storing all sorts of things. Best solution i have seen so far. I must have at least 50 of them. And they close with a nice tight latch as well. I built a shelf with with sections out of mdf so each box slips in and out of its own section. I put labels on the front of the boxes for easy and neat organization.

[ImanCarrot]

You have to keep them separated. Any of the above suggestions will be good. Reason for separating them? You will understand when you've spent an hour searching for that "last" M5x10 mm bolt that isn't actually in the mixed box. Then you start looking for something to take apart that has one of these bolts then you decide to hacksaw a 20mm one down to size but you gotta find an M5 nut to put on first so the thread will be ok (back to the mixed box)... and where did you put the file to clean up the end?

You get my drift

[slashmaster]

The dollar store "dollarama" has clear plastic boxes with section dividers for one dollar each. They are fantastic for storing all sorts of things. Best solution i have seen so far. I must have at least 50 of them. And they close with a nice tight latch as well. I built a shelf with with sections out of mdf so each box slips in and out of its own section. I put labels on the front of the boxes for easy and neat organization.

If possible I want to get something with sliding dividers where everything can be pushed down at once, because what do you do when you suddenly get a whole bunch of the same size which is too much for that partition? Would be lots of work to reorganize.

[slashmaster]

The "best" way is obviously dependent on situation, if you need ready access to every kind and length of fastener, you'd have a space for each one. If you don't care, and want to mix all of the same thread size together more power to you.
Go to Lowes or Home Depot and look at the "home organization" section. Theres a bunch of cheap bin type or multi divider units there. For small hardware that I take around frequently I use a little red Plano with 4 smaller inner divided boxes.
At home I simply keep boxes of the hardware I buy. I generally buy a full box (sometimes these days it's bags) from Fastenal or McMaster as it works out cheaper in the long run, and I get much higher quality hardware. You pay an arm and a leg for even grade 5 at the the mega-stores, and they don't have any of the smaller sizes in anything but crappy pan head slotted screws.

That's my my problem, I really don't have space for a little tray for each one, I might have 50 of one kind of bolt and 1 of another, if I were to use the same size containers I'm wasting a lot of space for that 1 bolt by itself, if I use smaller containers for the 1 they don't stack nice.

By the way, what are you building that you're buying full boxes of fasteners?

[Waldermac]

I still keep the original boxes and refill the organizers when they get low. Just keep the one-offs in a separate container and check there last.

[wjfiles]

Another way is if you have shelves on the wall somewhere.
Save all your screw top jars, fix the lids under the shelf and you can see what is in the jar.
WJF

[escott76]

That's my my problem, I really don't have space for a little tray for each one, I might have 50 of one kind of bolt and 1 of another, if I were to use the same size containers I'm wasting a lot of space for that 1 bolt by itself, if I use smaller containers for the 1 they don't stack nice.

By the way, what are you building that you're buying full boxes of fasteners?

Robots, amplifiers, EV's, machine shop equipment, model helicopters, furniture... it goes on.
Paying the exorbitant fees that a home center will charge you is wasteful. I use various kinds of socket cap screws almost exclusively. Nothing else has held up at all as well in bots, so there's little point for me in buying anything else. Most of what I want isn't even available in 1's and 2's at these stores, and if it is, you're paying $.99 for 2 or at best 4. When I can get 100, for $12, it's kind of silly. I do enough stuff that I'll use them, and I'll always have them at hand. McMaster has just about anything you'd want for mail order, and for most common stuff there is Fastenal. There's likely one of those near you, it's worth a look.
You put down a little more to get a box, but it's less per fastener, and the next time you need that size, you'll have a source.

[slashmaster]

Robots, amplifiers, EV's, machine shop equipment, model helicopters, furniture... it goes on.
Paying the exorbitant fees that a home center will charge you is wasteful. I use various kinds of socket cap screws almost exclusively. Nothing else has held up at all as well in bots, so there's little point for me in buying anything else. Most of what I want isn't even available in 1's and 2's at these stores, and if it is, you're paying $.99 for 2 or at best 4. When I can get 100, for $12, it's kind of silly. I do enough stuff that I'll use them, and I'll always have them at hand. McMaster has just about anything you'd want for mail order, and for most common stuff there is Fastenal. There's likely one of those near you, it's worth a look.
You put down a little more to get a box, but it's less per fastener, and the next time you need that size, you'll have a source.

Now when you say EV's does that mean you convert gas cars to electric? Or just put electric motors on scooters? What size robots do you build? Are they robo 1 size? Roomba size or full size humanoid? Because I'm wondering if it's the bigger or smaller stuff you're buying in bulk.

[BobWarfield]

I always buy a full box if available when I'm buying, and if not, I always buy more than I need.

I use the plastic storage boxes, organized by thread. I keep bolts, washers, nuts, taps, and dies together by thread so it's all there when I need a particular hardware size.

I built a big cabinet that looks like a mail sorting cabinet for an office to hold these plastic storage boxes.

Cheers,

BW