I bought two sets of professional wrenches. There are 14 wrenches in each set and they came in a plastic holder. The first time I took out one of the wrenches, one of the little plastic tabs that holds them in, broke. I had already had bought some magnetic holders for my stubby wrench sets, but they were no longer available, so I decided to make my own. Here is how I did it and they work great.
MATERIALS:
64 - 1 " L-brackets (8 for optional handles)
56 - Rare earth magnets
2 - Pieces of 3/4" plywood cut to size to fit your tool box drawer (Mine were 6" X 14")
Wood screws
2 - wooden dowels from foam paint brushes (optional)
TOOLS:
Power drill
5/16" drill
Vice
Plastic head hammer
Ruler
INSTRUCTIONS;
This entire project is dependant on the number of wrenches you have and the size of you tool box. The basics are the same and you will have to determine your own measurements. I purchased the rare earth magnets from a local store called Princess Auto. The L-Brackets from home depot.
To start with you have to drill out one of the holes in each L-Bracket to 5/16". The magnets are just slightly bigger than 5/16' so the magnets have to be tapped into place and then pressed into the hole in your vice and they hold very firmly. Once you have all the holes drilled and the magnets installed, you will have to bend the L-Brackets to a bit of an angle. Place the L-Brackets in a vice, put your ruler on the top of your vice jaws and squeeze the L-Bracket until there is 1/2" between the jaws. This gives you a great angle on the L-Brackets so that your wrenches can be stored and easy to read the size.
Now that you have all your brackets ready, get a piece of scrap wood and layout the pattern for your wrenches. Screw the brackets onto the piece of scrap wood so you are happy with the layout. Once this is done, take your good piece of plywood, cut to size to fit your wrenches and tool box drawer. I painted mine, but this is optional.
Now you can transfer the brackets from the scrap wood to the final piece of good wood. Once this is done, place all your wrenches in the holder. You can fine tune the brackets with a pair of pliers to get all the angles just right. On mine, I opted to put a couple of handles on the tray to carry them if need be. I used the same L-Brackets and the wooden dowels from foam paint brushes. Screwed all of these together, one on the end of the tray and one on top. (See photos) For these L-Brackets, I rounded the corners to eliminate the sharp edges.
Although this is a easy project, it is labor intensive, but the results are great. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me and I will answer any questions or concerns you might have. Enjoy.
MATERIALS:
64 - 1 " L-brackets (8 for optional handles)
56 - Rare earth magnets
2 - Pieces of 3/4" plywood cut to size to fit your tool box drawer (Mine were 6" X 14")
Wood screws
2 - wooden dowels from foam paint brushes (optional)
TOOLS:
Power drill
5/16" drill
Vice
Plastic head hammer
Ruler
INSTRUCTIONS;
This entire project is dependant on the number of wrenches you have and the size of you tool box. The basics are the same and you will have to determine your own measurements. I purchased the rare earth magnets from a local store called Princess Auto. The L-Brackets from home depot.
To start with you have to drill out one of the holes in each L-Bracket to 5/16". The magnets are just slightly bigger than 5/16' so the magnets have to be tapped into place and then pressed into the hole in your vice and they hold very firmly. Once you have all the holes drilled and the magnets installed, you will have to bend the L-Brackets to a bit of an angle. Place the L-Brackets in a vice, put your ruler on the top of your vice jaws and squeeze the L-Bracket until there is 1/2" between the jaws. This gives you a great angle on the L-Brackets so that your wrenches can be stored and easy to read the size.
Now that you have all your brackets ready, get a piece of scrap wood and layout the pattern for your wrenches. Screw the brackets onto the piece of scrap wood so you are happy with the layout. Once this is done, take your good piece of plywood, cut to size to fit your wrenches and tool box drawer. I painted mine, but this is optional.
Now you can transfer the brackets from the scrap wood to the final piece of good wood. Once this is done, place all your wrenches in the holder. You can fine tune the brackets with a pair of pliers to get all the angles just right. On mine, I opted to put a couple of handles on the tray to carry them if need be. I used the same L-Brackets and the wooden dowels from foam paint brushes. Screwed all of these together, one on the end of the tray and one on top. (See photos) For these L-Brackets, I rounded the corners to eliminate the sharp edges.
Although this is a easy project, it is labor intensive, but the results are great. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me and I will answer any questions or concerns you might have. Enjoy.
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DZ
Some comments already on the topic... I have found that epoxy is working better for me affixing magnets. I've broken a few trying other "creative" methods. Also as mentioned earlier - Harbor Freight is a good place to get some of the small strong magnets. Really low cost and they have great store hours. The tools are not exactly German make - but many can work for light use...
You may laugh, but remember that magnets repel as powerfully as they attract. If you shatter a powerful magnet (and neodymium ones can be very powerful) there can be a dramatic and high speed explosion of pieces of magnet due to repulsion between particles.
It's probably safer to fix magnets with epoxy glue rather than risk slivers of glass-like material penetrating your eyes!
You can drill them with a ceramic (diamond) drill and use screws to fix them.
Do you have issues with metal filings getting attracted to the tool or the holder?
This could crack the magnets and/or reduce their magnetic force.
(Magnets really don't like being hammered.)
I would suggest using the vice to press them into the holes.
I like that you put a handle on it so you can stay organized where your working.
are the magnets are strong enough that this could be hung on a peg board without the heavy wrench's falling off? i really hate having to fish stuff out when it falls off the peg board behind my work bench.
i'm usiing the standard peg hooks with the wrench's lined up so whenever i do something i grab a bunch of wrench's so i'll have whatever size i'll end up needing. then when i'm working i have to sort thru the loose wrench's to find the right one and then it's a pain to put them all back. More often than not i'll grab an adjustable wrench just to avoid the hassle.
think you should probably mark your rack so you know which wrench goes where. another thought is that you can number each wrench and slot. use red numbers for standard wrenchs's and blue numbers for metrics. color coding will make it quicker to put them back in the right spot without having to sort thru the different sizes. along with that idea, if you keep the standard wrench's on the red rack then you can paint the metric rack blue.