Project parts sorting cubbies

[Bombarde16]

One recent project for me was the construction of twelve replacement organ pipes for a local church. A fun job, to be sure, but one that took over my tiny basement shop. Each pipe comprises seven individual parts and there's a bit of math involved that makes most of the parts dimensionally unique. So that's nearly a hundred non-interchangeable pieces of wood kicking around the shop before glue-up...every sodding one of them trying their best to get mislaid and out of sequence. It all turned out fine but I need a better way to keep track of projects with lots of parts.

At the same time, the place where I work was getting a new kitchen. The contractors had half a dozen sheets of 5mm underlayment that they used to protect the floors and they were ready to throw it all out at the end of the job. Ever the scavenger, I grabbed them in all their floppy, potato-chippy glory and figured I'd make something out of them. I came up with the idea to make a pile of trays that can stack and be used as sorting cubbies. Each tray is 36" across, 24" deep, and 6" high. This gives six cubbies per tray and I'm making a dozen trays, so I'll be set for sorting for a long time...or at least until these break. 

Straight? You want things straight? These are essentially open torsion boxes; so they'll straighten themselves in the glue-up.  But make no mistake, underlayment is hateful crap to work with. I routed tiny little dadoes in the base panels. This forces the vertical ribs into something resembling straight. Then there's a few strips at the top (sliced off the base after routing) to hold the tops still. I'm hard pressed to imagine using screws or pin nails with this, so it's a slow rhythm of glue, clamps, and weights for the rest of the weekend. One trick for glue up: I ripped a piece of OSB and made a platform the same as the depth of the base. This is elevated off of my bench. There's a metal ruler underneath the base panel, running down the center line. When I clamp the vertical ribs to the OSB table at the edge, this serves as a poor man's bow clamp, giving upward pressure in the middle.

I've got a backlog of artwork that needs framing, so I anticipate these will come in very handy for that. Something to keep track of all the pieces a.) that come out of breaking down a large board and b.) as those pieces go through milling and joinery.  I could also see these being useful in a big cabinetry project with lots of rails and stiles. And who knows? There may even be another round of organ pipes in my future.

[Chestnut]

The organ pipes are interesting. For some reason i always thought those would be made from metal. That's really interesting.

The cubbies is a great idea. I don't ever seem to have that many individual parts to keep track of but agree that organization is important. That underlayment stuff is a PITA but it's cheap and if you can hold it flat will serve some use.

With the torsion style i wonder if that thin material would be strong enough for a drawer or drawer insert for small screws?

[RichardA]

I love good organization.

[drzaius]

Great parts organizer, something that's essential for a project like that. And the pipe organs would sure be an interesting build. Can you get a pic of them installed?

[Bombarde16]

2 hours ago, Chestnut said:

The organ pipes are interesting. For some reason i always thought those would be made from metal.

Customarily, yes. Most organ pipes are an alloy of tin and lead. (Some lower quality builders will also use zinc; but we don't talk about them...) Metal pipes come off the bench with more potential for brilliance and overtones in the final sound; they take up less space, and they're far faster and cheaper to make. When wood gets used, it's typically for larger pipes that might collapse under their own weight. No sane organ builder would make an octave of small wood pipes like this. I just did it as a personal challenge and skill building opportunity.

[Bombarde16]

2 hours ago, drzaius said:

Great parts organizer, something that's essential for a project like that. And the pipe organs would sure be an interesting build. Can you get a pic of them installed?

Sure. I need some volunteers to help but I hope to get them in next week or so.

[drzaius]

Salt Lake Tabernacle organ. Those big gold colored pipes are actually wood.

 

[Bombarde16]

3 hours ago, Chestnut said:

The cubbies is a great idea. I don't ever seem to have that many individual parts to keep track of but agree that organization is important. That underlayment stuff is a PITA but it's cheap and if you can hold it flat will serve some use.

If only! Nothing is cheap anymore. The BORG is already up to almost $20 a sheet for this stuff.

[Tpt life]

Ok Rob, fess up and post a link to your organ playing before I do.  Nice to see your two interests finding some common time. 

[Bombarde16]

I got all twelve trays done and await a clear, warm day to spray a quick coat of shop paint. Nine are out in the backyard storage shed. Three are in the shop in active use already. This is the beginning of a round of picture frames. Two massive sticks of wonky sycamore broken down, sorted, and ready for milling.

Can't expect that these trays are going to last forever. But until they wear out, this is quite promising.