Allen Wrench Organization

[wv109323]

Over my life time I have acquired about 5 pounds of misc. allen wrenches. All are 1/4" or less You know you buy a set of scope rings and they give you an allen wrench. You buy something that needs assembly and you get an allen wrench(s). There are both standard and metric, new and old, long and short.
So now when I need a wrench .it is a process to sort through them and find the one I need. i sometimes need to break out the dial calipers to get the right one.
So what are your thoughts on organizing them. I looked on line and some of the organizer were up to $30.00. I would like to put all the same size in the same place/slot/ hole. I may well have 10-15 1/8" wrenches. I would like it wall mounted for the gun room and a seperate way to keep a complete set in my tool boxes.
I could drill a board with holes and put the same size in each hole a label them but do you have any better ideas?

[slim1836]

Try using a drill bit hole measure board, sort by fit. I slide my measures between stacked parts bins for easy visual.

Slim

[JimB..]

I’m in the same boat, been thinking that I’ll better off buying all new sets and then hunting through the mess should I need a replacement one day.

[shell70634]

magnets. one for each size

[Garyshome]

"magnets. one for each size ". As many as I have all my magnets will be on the floor.:drinks:

[country gent]

L shaped allen wrenches dont do well in holes until you get into the bigger sizes. I would look into one of the drawer organizers You know the ones with 9 little sliding drawers. designate one drawer for each size. Some come with dividers for the drawers If so divide each size to standard and ball end. 12 drawers would give some extras for torx drivers also.

As to a set in the box a wood block cut with and angled top with a saw cut for an o ring into holes works good to hold them. A foam block could be used and holes drilled to provide a snug fit. An old belt can be used, punch 2 holes for each wrench and slide it thru like a cartridge loop.I will draw this one up and post it for you.

[dverna]

The free ones that come to assemble stuff I pitch. They are not worth keeping.

I got frustrated with rummaging through my drawer of stuff and bought a good set in a fitted box that has both SAE and metric. It has worked out for me. I have had to replace only one in the last year.

I may buy a second set for the pole barn.

[country gent]

322610322610

Here is the sketch. It is a used 1 1/2" wide belt.hole size and pattern is what you need but do to different lengths the angled hole pattern is needed. A hole centered on the big end would allow it to hang on the wall. Length and spacing can be adjusted to needs. One of these can be laid out and punched in a little under an hour. If you have one of the pliers style leather punches these can be made very easily and quickly. THey are a lkittle stiff at first but as the leather takes a set the are pretty good. Wrenches lay flat in box or hung on wall.

In use the top and bottom strip are nuder the wrenches the center strip is over the wrenches. This provides a light tension that holds them in place when handling.

[nvbirdman]

Throw them all away! You can buy a set of metric and standard from Amazon for less than 20 bucks. All in a holder.

[Three44s]

Throw them all away! You can buy a set of metric and standard from Amazon for less than 20 bucks. All in a holder.

I would modify that by buying the organized set but keep the miscellaneous wrenches and as your wrenches give out or are lost/misplaced draw on your "pile" to replenish missing choices.

Three44s

[imashooter2]

Some things are just worth paying for. Buy a set of long arm ball end wrenches that come in a nice plastic holder. Throw all the junk in a tool box drawer and save them for cutting off, grinding short or putting on a magnet attached to a dedicated item like a lubrisizer.

I’ve had a set like this for years.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-SAE-Metric-Ball-End-Hex-Key-Set-26-Piece-HBEHKSM26PC/202934871#overlay

[AK Islander]

I went through this exercise about 3 years back when cleaning out my shop. Used to work in the trades and over a couple decades had accumulated a whole drawer full of allen wrenches. Tossed them all out and got two sets, one standard and one metric, each in their own plastic holder. No more rummaging through the allen wrench junk drawer.

[kevin c]

I’m too cheap to throw useable tools away, but it’s true that the Bondhus ball end sets I have are the most versatile.

I do keep the pertinent sizes for my progressive press on a magnetic strip ready to hand. Those are cheap ones that I don’t mind misplacing in the clutter of my bench or dropping out of reach behind stacks of ingots or buckets of brass if I get sloppy.

[MrWolf]

Do yourself a favor and get new, marked sets. The others can be left on machines, in a junk drawer, etc. Just not worth the aggravation.

[10x]

When a machine requires one or more Allen keys, i will put a magnet on the machine and make sure I put the Allen keys back each time I use them.
I do the same with drill chuck keys, lathe wrenches and keys too.

I have a sheet of heavy gauge tin with round speaker magnets stuck (and glued to it) the sizes of the Allen keys are written in felt pen above each magnet.
There is a magnet for Allen keys that I am not sure which magnet to put them back - i sort them out later.

[Czech_too]

An 18" magnetic strip can be had from Harbor Freight. This can be screwed onto a convenient spot by a bench. Or, since there aren't really that many sizes, maybe 5-6, that are usually used on firearms, holes can be drilled into the edge of a nearby shelf and the wrenches put into the holes.

[country gent]

I have 6 or 7 sets of bondus ball drivers here all with same missing I keep a full set on each machine that requires them and a set in the tool box both standards and metric. There are also sets new unopened in the tool box.The ones that are hard is the 7/16" up to 3/4" and above. You end up with the same missing in each set since you use the same ones. for me its 3/32 5/32 3/16.

[foesgth]

Only 5 pounds? You need to get going. I'm going to build a sailboat and use mine for ballast.:bigsmyl2:

[kerplode]

Throw them all away! You can buy a set of metric and standard from Amazon for less than 20 bucks. All in a holder.

This is what I ended up doing as well. It's "cheaper" than wasting a bunch of time organizing junk and the wrenches are a lot better quality. The Tekton stuff from Taiwan is decent quality and not at all expensive.

[lightman]

Like you, I have a big pile of them that I have accumulated over the years. I'm another thats too tight to throw them out so I keep them in a box that a 1/4" drive socket set came in and they stay in a drawer in my tool chest. (to be thrown away by someone not as tight as I)

And I bought 2 quality sets at the parts store that came in their own plastic holder. I have 2 sets of the hex and 2 sets of the torx.

I've seen holders that guys made by drilling holes in a board, a piece of steel angle, ect. I know one guy that ended up with an empty drill bit index box that he keeps his in.

[MaryB]

I have 2 sets of flip out(metric and standard), 2 sets in the plastic holders(metric and standard), and a drawer full of loose ones LOL some of the loose ones have the short end cut off to about 1/2 inch long to fit tight spaces(some of the electronics I work on has impossible to reach set screws using full length, talked to a factory tech, he said they cut them off too...)

[GONRA]

GONRA sez - Reground / Rehardened Allen wrenches make small boring bars......

[GONRA]

EVENTUALLY - GONRA miked 'em all, stored in small labeled envelopes in a drawer.....

[10x]

GONRA sez - Reground / Rehardened Allen wrenches make small boring bars......

Ouuhhh, Going to use this genius idea.

[brassrat]

I have a few on a tiny magnet but mostly use one slide out plastic parts drawer. Going through them takes a small amount of time but worth it to always find one and no mess

[Rapier]

My sorting is one zip lock by the mill, one zip lock by the lathe, one on the assembly bench, with the tiny ones for triggers, etc in two snap flap clear plastic holders. Then I have three Chapman sets. Then a drawer with broken drivers and bits to be reground. I have two of those fold out parts bin uprights on the assembly bench wall. When I turn the lights out, I am sure they reproduce.

[10x]

My sorting is one zip lock by the mill, one zip lock by the lathe, one on the assembly bench, with the tiny ones for triggers, etc in two snap flap clear plastic holders. Then I have three Chapman sets. Then a drawer with broken drivers and bits to be reground. I have two of those fold out parts bin uprights on the assembly bench wall. When I turn the lights out, I am sure they reproduce.

You are wrong, they do not need the lights out for them to reproduce,
You only need to turn your back, or glance away for a moment.
There is a complication that only the one you need the most does not reproduce.

[deltaenterprizes]

Don’t use the ball end to tighten a set screw in a pulley, it will break off and cause a problem if you need to remove the pulley!
I learned this the hard way!

[WILCO]

Put them in plastic baggies, all sorted and stick in a tool drawer. :)

[georgerkahn]

I took a hint (?)from the Dillon tool set which I purchased to complement my 550b which has the "L" bend of each Allen wrench dipped in a coloured plastic -- Dillon blue, of course. At a Dollar Store I picked up a bag of six different coloured rolls of electric tape. Mathematically, six factorial (6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1) gives waaaay more combinations (720, to be exact) than wrenches I have, so I took RED tape out -- reserving this colour for METRIC Allen wrenches.
I put a wee roll of first colour in short part of the Allen wrench and the second and third on the long. I end up with an Allen wrench equivalent of colour codes used on resisters in electronic use.
Works for me... I had initially thought of -- e.g., again, Dillon -- painting on the colours but I was sure this would be less easy and more costly. And -- if I "screw up" -- which I've done a few times both with tiny ones as well as Metric (e.g., 1.2, 1.5 and similar metric sizes) it's so easy to remove and reapply new tape.
An important note is I did not, nor have plans to do ALL my wrenches. AS I need one I use the already labeled ones; none found, I then seek and search, and upon success (Murphy Law generally has it as a last choice :)) label with tape and add it to my active use collection.
Re storage I have a bunch of teeny rare earth magnets on the cross members of my over-bench lamp, and have the said Allens on these, in order from smallest to largest.
geo

[725]

I use a board with holes drilled in for arraigning. I have sets and those "jack-knife" types in SAE, metric & Torx, too. Gun cases have them set within for scope tightening and just about anywhere they are needed. Cleaning BP rifles get their own, too.

[John Wayne]

"Allen Wrench Organization"
I haven't heard of one but if we start one we could name it after you.
"The Association of Allen Wrench Hoarders" WV-President :2_high5:

[.429&H110]

+1 on Gonra!
Grind off the L
Heat the end redhot flatten it like a rivet
Spin it in the dremel against a stone until sharp.
Sometimes it even makes little teeth.

[Baltimoreed]

An Organization for guys named Allen Wrench? Who’d a thunk. I have dedicated 3 drawers in my reloading room bin for the ones in the house. Big, medium and small. They’re all mixed up in my machinists toolbox in the shop though.

[white eagle]

I used to be a machinist so I have a ton of them
put them all in a tool box drawer and look for them when I need one
I got pretty good at grabbing the one I needed first time so that is how I organize them

[fordwannabe]

I bought a magnetic strip it's 12-14inches long, at Harbor freight for $3 and have my allen wrenches on that. It also has tabs with holes for mounting.

[Slugster]

I have several sets of Allen wrenches that are of the 'fold into their handle' variety, don't need to sort. Have both metric and standard. Also have about 20 lbs of assorted singles in a coffee can in case I ever need them.

[elmacgyver0]

I throw all the orphans in a peanut butter jar and use them for special projects or what have you.
I can always pitch them out, but when I do, that is when I find a use for them.

[Bmi48219]

If I’m burying something of value in the backyard I cover it with four inches of dirt then throw a bunch of old Allen wrenches in the hole and finish filling it with dirt. I can find what I buried later with a metal detector. Anyone else can too, but when they hit a pile of rusty Allen wrenches they’ll give up.

[popper]

Dad had a precisely drilled wooden holder for them, mounted on the tool board above the work bench. It was empty most of the time, we kids didn't bother. Tool board had each tool outlined on it too. Like that worked either.

[kerplode]

If I’m burying something of value in the backyard I cover it with four inches of dirt then throw a bunch of old Allen wrenches in the hole and finish filling it with dirt. I can find what I buried later with a metal detector. Anyone else can too, but when they hit a pile of rusty Allen wrenches they’ll give up.

This is genius!

I opened a new widget today and promptly filed the included allen wrench into the circular organizer next to my workbench...

[farmbif]

for the lose ones that are not organized in tool chests, mostly the folding ones, drivers in sets and cased bit assortments are in the chests with sliding drawers, I put all the extra Allen, Torx, t wrenches and such into an old metal tackle box so I know where to find them when I might need one for a task and ive got a bunch accumulated over the decades. for organizers get a good one from Mac, matco, Cornwell, snap on, rhoto, ect. and buy it once and its done.
half dozen years ago I got a cased set of imperial, metric and Torx bits , with socket adapters, extensions and other goodies from snap on truck and these are the ones I now find myself using most often these days

[MaryB]

For a buy once and done organizer that WILL NOT pop open these are hard to beat. The testing done to them included driving over it with a pickup truck!

https://googansquad.com/collections/utility-boxes/products/googan-squad-storage-3700-march-drop

Yes they are expensive! Good gear usually is.

[imashooter2]

If I’m burying something of value in the backyard I cover it with four inches of dirt then throw a bunch of old Allen wrenches in the hole and finish filling it with dirt. I can find what I buried later with a metal detector. Anyone else can too, but when they hit a pile of rusty Allen wrenches they’ll give up.

If I’m burying something of value in the back yard, my wife is having me committed. :drinks: