Bolts and bins

I live 20 minutes from town.I waste so much time running into town just to get a couple of bolts.
I have had enough!!!! Where is a good place to order a bolts bin and nuts,washers etc? And what is the cost?

Thanks,Carl

Just look on line there are places you can get both. I will tell you if you live where there is a military base near you, then find the nearest surplus store they have nuts and bolts, S/S, metric, whatever you need you can buy it by the pound.

Bob

 

Here is a source for bins and HF has some as well..

http://www.uline.com/Grp_326/Bin-Organizers

then organize what you have and when you do buy fasteners buy the box quanity of the ones you commonly use..doing that has saved me trips to the hardware store..

Sam

 

Bins - many places, but I'm using the many year old tradition of coffee cans - and yep, you can still get it in the old metal cans. I take a 2" piece of masking tape then write the bolt/nut size on it and I'm ready for years of use. Some, seldom used smaller sizes are just left in a cupboard and in their original boxes.

Fasteners are available fairly inexpensively at Tractor Supply stores. I suspect they are Chinese, so only buy the Gr 8. Another, but more expensive source is Fastenal. Home Depot have, IMHO, mostly junk, good enough for home use, but not automotive. Most of the Lowe's is the same. Another good place is McMaster-Carr and on line. Theirs is 'world sourced' which means wherever they can buy it cheapest. I buy my odd ball fasteners from them including some SS. Their shipping to me is one day.

Dave W

 

I use the plastic bins from Harbor Freight and they work just fine, they come with strips to mount them so I mounted mine on boards nailed to the wall. They completely cover the boards so if appearance is a concern these look neat in a nice garage plus you can add more if you need them. I buy bolts at Tractor Supply by the pound and when my supply starts to get low I make a list of the sizes am running low on so I can pick up only what I need. I actually have two sets of these bins, one for the grade five bolts that I mostly use and another for the more expensive grade 8 for when they are needed. Unless cost is just no concern I suggest considering two bins because using grade 8 for everything can get very expensive and while they are needed for some jobs, it makes little sense to use grade 8 fasteners for fender bolts for instance. Likewise it would be dangerous to use grade 5 for a suspension so both types are needed, having only one or the other is almost as annoying as having none at all!


I too live in Tn and where I live I sometimes wish it was only 20 minutes to a hardware store, in my case it's about twice that! I like the peace of living in the boonies but sometimes it gets to be a hassle when I need something, especially when I get held up by a small inexpensive item like a bolt.

 

I have never went to the store and planned on filling up bins of fasteners. But along the way over the years I have collected a few bins (garage sales and the like) and when I go to the store for fastener I pick up a few more, just ten or twenty of a few other ones that I don't have at home. Next thing you know I have a pretty good selection.

Brian

 

I've been looking to stock up on fasteners, too. Here are some online stores I've found. (I have not yet purchased from any of them.)

http://www.boltdepot.com
http://www.fastener-express.com/
http://www.nutsandbolts.com/
https://www.suburbanbolt.com
http://www.tekbolt.com/ (Steel and Titanium)
http://www.racebolts.com/ (Titanium and Aluminum only)

 

McMaster-Carr

http://www.mcmaster.com/#

 

You might check a local parts store for an assortment. I have a couple Dorman assortments, one metric and one standard, not that expensive and you can refill the boxes from any source you like.

 

I have a couple of Papco-Paulin 12-compartment "MOD-U-BIN" bolt bins (see their PDF catalog, Page 10 P/N 022-020)

I have them filled with Grade 5 *bright plated* nuts, bolts, flat & lock washers in most of the "common" lengths. (1/4, 5/16, 3/8" UNC)
I mention "bright plated" because that is the requirement here in Canada.

I also have a very nice selection of various length deck/fence screws and spiral nails that I keep in labeled, clear-plastic, 1-qt drink-rcystal containers. They have screw-on lids that are large enough to get your hands inside.

I also have 2 of those "El Cheapo" clear plastic small-parts bins. I keep small quantities of finishing nails and other misc fasteners, marrettes, etc in one of them, and devote the other bin to smaller screws of various types. One compartment will usually hold one of those hardware-store packs of #8 x 5/8" oval head wood screws for example.

Having all of this handy *sure does* save a lot of trips out for hardware. :thumbup:

Papco also has what they call "Handy-Pak" bins. (See page 17) They hold the cardboard "HandyPaks" that are all sold at one price. Smaller items means larger quantities, and vice-versa.

I dunno ... I saw them as wasting a lot of space, as many of the packages are less than 1/2 full. As someone else pointed out, I suppose you could fill them as full as you like with bulk hardware.

 

I buy bins of nuts/bolts at Boltdepot.com. I go through so many bulk just pays for itself over time. I built a cart specifically for the bolt bins and the tap/die sets. I am in these bins every day. These represent the new bolts:

I bought a shelf with card board boxes from Globalindustrial.com. I use these here and at work. I originally had crap spread down a pegboard. One shelf contains a 20 foot pegboard wall of stuff I could not figure out what to do with. Very Very handy.

2 Shelves are dedicated to nuts and bolts. This is where the overflow from the bins, used nuts and bolts, bolts of different lengths etc go. This is indispensable at keeping these organized.

 

I was lucky and able to buy a small, old set of Bolt Bins from a Hardware Store, and use them to house my Stainless Bolts which I buy from McMaster Carr.

As for Grade 5 bolt storage, I am able to get the heavy duty cardboard bins from work. You can buy them from most Dealers. For bolts, I get them at work-we sell them by the pound, and they are grade 5-I would suggest you check with your local Agricultural or Construction Equipment Dealer-don't go to Cat, while their bolts are very good, they charge an arm and a leg for them-try your local Case I-H, John Deere, New Holland or Massey Ferguson Dealer, they generally sell by the pound-I wonder if some of the Tractor Supply franchises do as well?

 

I was lucky and able to buy a small, old set of Bolt Bins from a Hardware Store, and use them to house my Stainless Bolts which I buy from McMaster Carr.

You can buy just the boxes from Globalindustries as well.

There are many industrial companies going out of business in this economy too. I bought a full set metal shelf/bins at an auction last week for $50 which were full of new electrical conduit parts. It had about a $1000 of conduit parts in it alone.

 

Here is link to the shelf and boxes:

http://www.globalindustrial.com/g/s...e/bins-totes-containers/bins-with-shelving/steel-shelving-corrugated-shelf-bins


http://www.globalindustrial.com/g/s...com/g/storage/bins-totes-containers/shelf/heavy-test-white-corrugated-bin-boxes

 

You can buy cardboard bin boxes really cheap. They will last for a long time if you don't overload them. Where I've worked they either had metal bins, real expensive, or plastic bins. The plastic bins stack up or you can hang them. At about 1 to 2 bucks each they outlasted me on the job. Check it out.

 

I get all my stainless from Marshfasteners.com Right around the corner from me but you can order online. They will put together a selection of what ever you need. Nice stuff too