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A DIY Solution to Compensate for the UX Design Flaw of Sockets
For when laser etching doesn't cut it
If there is a design flaw with standards sockets, it's not in their function. It's in their UX:
Enter a caption (optional)While I scored well on that eye test for designers, my vision ain't what it used to be, and I simply can't read these etchings from arm's distance. I'm not alone in this, so starting around ten years ago (I believe), companies started laser-etching their sockets like this:
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Enter a caption (optional)However, most socket organization systems I see, whether DIY or store-bought, look like this:
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Enter a caption (optional)Can't exactly see the etchings, can you? Those designs require you to either memorize the location of each socket, or pull-and-check to find the size you're looking for.
It's not perfect, but this DIY solution I stumbled across seems a step in the right direction:
Enter a caption (optional)Props to Ryan Battelle for coming up with the idea.
Readers: How do you all store your sockets? I'm particularly interested in hearing from those of you with bad or declining eyesight.
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Comments
Does this count? I just built a drawer big enough to accommodate this set from Costco. If I need to, I'll drag the whole set under the car. Allen sockets are on the side along with the torque wrench, breaker bar, etc.
+1 horizontal storage in their original packaging.
There is no need to design or manufacture a separate product to solve this problem.
havent these been out for quite a while? i remember them a number of years ago. I usually just go by eye, with my generic socket holder... i am always within 1 or two sizes, and plus, i am usually guessing the size to begin with, so even if i could see precisely what size im grabbing, i am still just eyeballing it. Keeping them (Sockets) in sequential order matters most, the rest is just fluff.
yep, looks like they came out with that tray in 95... so, 20 years on the market and not much has changed.
I made these as a custom copy of the plastic ones Noodle Time posted, so this is certainly not a novel idea on my part. By making them myself I'm able to make precisely the sizes I need with no wasted or missing pegs, plus each tray is considerably cheaper than the commercial ones. Since the above picture was taken I've made more trays as my socket inventory grows.
I use the Hansen-style trays in my top box and they're very nice. The problems are A) less real estate for somebody who owns a LOT of sockets B) If you're not careful, they can snap off C) They're tall, so you have to put them in an open top or a deep drawer. Otherwise, I work with them enough that I usually can tell the socket size just by looking. As I dig through the pile.
These are photos from my work. We have 4 of these tool chests, each in a primary color (red, yellow, green, this one is blue) so you can't mix and match from different chests. Every tool, including sockets, were milled/lathed to create reliefs and painted the color of the chest. The organizers are sheets of acrylic with colored surfaces to match. The layout for sockets lets you test bolt sizes, but groups them pretty clearly by drive type and length. It takes longer to open the drawer than find the right tool in these, but I think they are prohibitively expensive and time consuming to make for home.
I've always disliked these organizers, I like to be able to pick out the socket from the tray one-handed using the ratchet to pluck them out and return them. If the pegs were shorter, you could still use the ratchet to pick out the socket.
My issue usually comes more from the side of "I don't know what size hex head is on this bolt", so I tend to just leave all of the sockets in their holster and flip the bolts over and test the head on the sockets until I find the right one haha
I totally do the same! I have them all business-side-up on a magnetic knife rack I lay down with the magnet side up. I'm working on something to organize my own sockets, but the dowel-in-the-middle thing won't work for me because I'm always sticking nuts or bolt heads into the sockets to see what fits. And I think I'm going to stagger the Imperial/Metric according to size.
Plenty of inefficiencies in the shop annoy me, but I can't say the pretty-rare reach for the wrong socket is one of them. In my experience, >80% of the nuts and bolts encountered are within just a few sizes, eg. 7/16" to 5/8". If one does much wrenching, one can visually distinguish these frequently used sizes with high speed and accuracy, and the cost of an occasional one-size-off miss is very small.
Figuring out Allen sizes is the worst! I don't even try to eyeball it anymore, I'm reconciled to just tediously sticking progressively larger bits in there. I would love to see someone come up with a design solution for this.
And even worse yet is if you don't know a-priori whether it's metric or imperial. Especially with small sizes that you can't see well, if you're not careful you can get an almost-fit with a metric wrench in an imperial allen, or vice versa, and then twist and destroy!
Hear hear. In the future I want to see some kind of nanotech universal bit. You place the end of it near a fastener, and some kind of tiny blob comes out the end of it, fills the negative space in your fastener, then solidifies.
Gator Grip Socket Driver.
A year ago, I used a label maker and in a nice big font in black and white, I applied a sticker to each socket. I still use the peg tray as well, but I have multiple sockets at different depths, or different wrench size. The same thing applies to the open ended spanners. The labels are holding up.