Organizing Tips

[CENTURION]

Hey! Our team is looking for some tips and tricks for organizing tools and supplies at our build site and at competitions. Any ideas?

[Jared Russell]

1. Color coding is your friend.
2. Drawer sorters (like for silverware) are always useful.
3. You need a robot cart anyway - find a way to build tool storage/organization into it (along with battery storage)

[ttldomination]

A couple of years ago, we invested in one of those electronic labelers for the shop. Not only does it help to label various things on the robot, but we've used it to label everything from drawers and cabinets to our large toolboxes.

Besides that I would recommend a lot of compartments. Our storage area is small, but both walls are covered with drawers and cabinets, so we have a lot of stuff stored in various place in little red bins.

- Sunny

[Zach O]

We have two separate tool boxes on our team. One for mechanical tools, and one for electrical tools. Both tool boxes have separate screwdrivers and other common tools, labeled with an E or an M (I suggest EL and ME, however). We tried two different ways of organizing them. In the mechanical tool box, we took some black styrofoam like material (I'm not sure of the name off hand here), laid out all of our tools on multiple sheets, one for each drawer, and cut out spaces for all the tools. This way, we ensure that all the tools get back by checking the tool boxes for empty spaces.

In the electrical tool box, we have a few dividers in each drawer. In each divider, we have pictures of the tools that belong there. So, if we have 2 wire strippers in one divider, there will be a picture of the two wire strippers that go in that divider. This ensures that if a tool is missing, we know what to look for, and if someone needs to put a tool back, it easy to find where to put them.

[CalTran]

Our team uses a mobile tool chest to keep all of our tools in. We also use an electronic labeler. But, in case you don't have one at this moment, masking tape/a sharpie could totally be helpful!

[Cyberphil]

In the build place:

1. Use tool sorters such as this:http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:t...CS-156.jpg&t=1
2. Label EVERYTHING!!!!!
3. If you can, have a different set of tools for competition and in the workshop (I only say this because of experience with kids who do not know how to use tools correctly)
4. Pegboards can sometimes work wonders (best if you outline each tool on it so you know which one goes where)

In Competition:

1. Once again, LABEL EVERYTHING!!
2. Bring your tools with you wherever the robot goes (preferably on the cart itself)

Just some of the ways our team and I organize our stuff. I hope this helps!

[Katie_UPS]

<not particularily adding to thread> SOMEONE MAKE A NEMO PAPER OUT OF THIS! </unhelpful>

[blayde5]

Labels are your friends

What we do in our shop is keep the KOP Totes and put different parts in each one. IE Motors, PVC, Wheels etc. For screws, bolts, nuts and other smaller such objects, we plan to use little pull out shelves which will be better for organization (right now they're in boxes in totes)

For tools, we use these: http://www.milcompass.com/toolbox/3_7bx3mx9tbg.jpg. We have one set for mechanical tools and another for electrical tools.

For electrical and mechancial we also have two cabinets where we put our other stuff that doesn't have a place anywhere like paint, grease, new orders, extra medals etc.

At competition we usually bring things in totes or if the comp is local (like SVR) we load everything into a truck (the tool chests, cabinets, and some totes) and ship it off to comp on thursday.

Hope that helped!

[smurfgirl]

Originally Posted by blayde5

Labels are your friends

What we do in our shop is keep the KOP Totes and put different parts in each one.

Yes, do this.

The way I recall it, the morning of the first competition I went to with my team was a frantic "packing" session for the event- everyone threw every single object in the room into boxes, we loaded them all into the school bus with us, and we went to the event. This is a terrible idea in general- you're carrying tons of parts and tools which are not relevant to your current robot, and you can't find any of the useful things that are buried somewhere in the mess.

Take the time to think through what parts/supplies/tools/raw materials you'll need in competition, and plan out a rough list. Pack related components in similar boxes - perhaps have a box of electrical parts, a box for pneumatics, a box of fasteners, a box of spirit supplies, etc. Maybe make a brief packing list of what is in each box for reference in the pits, if that would help people. Label your boxes/drawers/shelves appropriately, and put things back in their proper positions. You might think it's annoying to take the extra two seconds to put that 7/16" wrench back in the wrench drawer now, but when there are two minutes left until your next match and you need it to make a crucial repair, you'll wish you could find it in the toolbox drawer where it was supposed to be.

Obviously there are many variations on organizational systems, but the most important thing is that you create some universal rules of organization, and that your whole team sticks to them.

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

<not particularily adding to thread> SOMEONE MAKE A NEMO PAPER OUT OF THIS! </unhelpful>

Great idea Katie.

Just start cutting and pasting these terrific ideas, put them in categories and that's how it starts.

Kathie and I are revamping the NEMO Resources page and this would make a great addition.

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by Jared341

1. Color coding is your friend.

Do this. We do this with our allen wrenches, and it is AMAZING. No, I'm not looking for a 3/16 allen wrench, I'm looking for a yellow. Hand me a yellow and a 7/16 [wrench], please.

I don't even KNOW the sizes of our allen wrenches (in the long run, that's probably a bad thing, but I'll figure it out soon), but I do know what color wrench I'm looking for based on what I can see of the bolt that I'm messing with. One year, we even went a step further and spraypainted the heads of our bolts that required a yellow allen wrench yellow.

It also makes finding the right size a lot easier. If you somewhat standardize the size of screwdriver* or allen wrenches that you need (we have five different colors of allen wrenches, "labeled" with colored electrical tape: blue, red, white, yellow, green. Anything else is metric and is just special), you know exactly which ones need to be packed. Color coding saves a lot of time in the pit. It takes less time to match purple to purple than it does to read labels, IMO.

I have seen a lot of teams use the rolling chests, and they work very well. I am usually the one from my team to go around asking for things that we suddenly need or forgot to pack, and I've noticed that teams that have those are typically very well organized. Be sure to label the drawers and put things back where they belong.

My team uses, for the most part, KoP-style bins. Our pit setup is rather unique. To keep with the team's black and yellow theme, we purchased nine bins that are very similar to the KoP ones. In the bins are similarly grouped items - one bin has wheel components, one bin has pneumatics, another has electronics, another has wires, etc. Our pit has compartments that the boxes fit in, and during the competitions, the boxes can slide in and out like drawers. We also have a pegboard and some boxes and other organization things that hang off of it.
Picture : http://gpgearheads.org/gallery/album14/9892_G (the pit is from 2007/2008 and used to be made out of our shipping crate, but our current pit is based off of this. I only have a mediocre picture of our new one. The pegboard is the same in the new pit)

During the year, the black bins are put up in storage, and the items that were in them go into the REAL KoP boxes, with similar items from years past. The boxes are labeled and placed on some industrial shelving that was donated to us.

For organizing nuts and bolts both in the pit and in the shop, we use bolt boxes similar to this one. The items inside are sorted by size and thread, and the compartments are labeled. We do have a separate box for electrical items.

Really, the keys to organization are to put things back where they belong, clean up regularly, and know exactly where that Wago tool or 1/4-20 bolt is.

*I don't actually know how this works for screwdrivers. If you can't tell, we use allen wrenches. The only things we use screwdrivers for are electrical components.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

The separate tool box idea is the way to go. Then you don't have people on different subteams fighting over access. We also found several small boxes with hinged covers that fit nicely in the tool box drawers. One contains crimp terminals, one contains Anderson terminals and one is a flat box, about 12 x 18 that has little compartments inside and a clear, locking cover. We call it the 'goody box' and it has the very small parts like miniature screws, PWM pins, pots, D connectors, etc. If it turns over or drops, nothing gets tossed about or mixed. Other clear hinged boxes about 12 x 6, contain ty-wraps and heat shrink. For larger drawers, hinged index card boxes work well for larger items like PWM bulk cable, servos, battery connector bodies and terminals, electrical assemblies, etc. Sharpies are your friend.

[zara]

label or colour code all your things.

[Ian Curtis]

I just stumbled on this today, and I think it might be of some use. Jamie Hyneman gives a tour of the Mythbusters shop, and if you've ever seen the shop (and who hasn't?) you know they have lots and lots of things to keep track of. Lots of good ideas in here. They have "stations" set up throughout the shop, essentially a place you can always go and find a sharpie, pencil, calculator and tape measure. They've also got a former card catalog used to hold various motors, solenoids, and things. Neat ideas, and as you'll see, everything has a place and its all labelled.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

They've also got a former card catalog used to hold various motors, solenoids, and things.

Card catalogs are fantastic. One of my teachers uses one to organize odds and ends in the planetarium at school, and it works great for her. I can also see one useful for storing/sorting sprockets, masterlinks, and tools like box cutters and rolls of tape (if they will fit in the drawers; you might have to use several yards of it first ;P )