Compact Cordless Tool Organizer

Our compact cordless tool organizer is fast to build, looks great, and organizes your cordless tools in a way they are handy and ready to go to work at a moment’s notice.

#charger #drillrack #toolrack

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Organization is a constant effort in the maker space. If space is not well utilized, and tools have a dedicated place to be stored, disorder can set in rather quickly. We still have a lot of things to organize. Still, this little cordless tool storage unit with wall mounted charger array has given a handy and attractive home to our cordless drills, circular saw, batteries, and accessories.

We’ve had the unit for some time, and it’s seen pretty regularly in DirtFarmerJay episodes. It’s been asked about, so it is time to put it in the limelight.

This episode is NOT a step-by-step procedure, along with measurements and such. The build is straightforward, using ½” MDF (medium-density-fiberboard), dadoes, grooves, and rabbets. If those terms are unclear to you, watch this brief episode where we explain what they are, how they are made, and how they are used:

https://youtu.be/OzjkE5vq9Ro

While we COULD take you through building a unit identical to ours, that probably wouldn’t help you very much as there is a wide variety of tool models and manufacturers, as well as how many tools, batteries, accessories, and chargers a particular craftsperson has on hand.

Instead, you can use our plans and methods as a starting point to build a unit that is customized to you.

You can download the dimensioned plans, at these links:

Imperial: https://bit.ly/dfj-cordlesstoolrack-imperial
Metric: COMING SOON!

The plans were drawn up by my friend Tom of Tekton Woodworks. Tom is a skilled long-term craftsman and woodworker that specializes in liturgical furniture for sacred settings. His work is, well, astounding! He uses SketchUp® routinely and graciously drew up our tool organizer instead of having us muddle through the process. He then converted them to PowerPoint so as to make them more accessible for all. Thanks, Tom! Beautiful job!

I’ve included a picture of Tom and his bride, Nancy, in the video episode.

While you are at it, visit tektonwoodworks.com to see a sampling of the work that Tom has completed and how widely distributed it is.

Back to the tool organizer. This unit is designed to hold 4 cordless drills, with the bits pointing forward. This allows me to see what is in the chuck and select the one that has the right tool for what I am doing. I like the tool hangs as well, with its center of gravity back a bit. The upper right stows a cordless circular saw. There are aluminum wear strips to keep the organizer in great shape for years to come. The saw will only fit in the bay if the base is closed. The saw can be stored with or without a battery.

There is a small drawer section that holds bits, as well as shelves to hold charged batteries. You’ll need to measure various aH (amp hour) batteries to find the size you need the space between shelves to be.

The unit can be sized up or down, depending on how many tools you have.

We chose to have the chargers directly placed on the wall to the side. You don’t have to reach up on top of the cabinet this way, and you can readily see the charging status on the drills as well. We used the mounting holes on the charging bases to hang the chargers but prevented them from lifting up when the batteries are removed. We did this by mounting a cleat on the wall just above each charger. To make it really nice to look at, we took the time to organize the cords with wall-mounted cord bases and cable ties before plugging the bases into a cord strip.

We took the time to paint the unit so it’s protected and attractive. Just because it works hard doesn’t mean it has to be ugly, right? After building this and putting it to work, we’ll never go back to having a shop without this type of tool organizer on duty.

Let us know your thoughts, and if you have a design or features that you’d like to share with your fellow viewer family members, do so in the comments below!

We hope to have an article and share section on our website soon, so you can upload pictures of your build and system as well.

Thanks for watching! JUST DO IT YOURSELF!

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