A complete tool kit sold in a tool box which contains an RFID tag. The tools included in the kit al have an RFID Reader imbedded in them along with a small circuit. The features are as follows.
When the tools are not placed back in the box within a predetermined amount of time, an integrated buzzer begins beeping at short regular intervals. There are 2 buttons on the tool itself: a reset timer button, and a disable buzzer button. The reset timer button will allow you to reset the timer for those jobs that take a little longer than normal. The disable buzzer button keeps friends from destroying the tool you left at their house after it begins beeping. There is also a section on the tool for identifying the owner. This way, if you're helping a friend fix something and leave your tool there, he will find it when it begins beeping, press the disable buzzer button, and call you to inform you of the whereabouts of your tool.
Since the reader built in the chip will require power, each tool has a moulded dock in the box which will charge the internal battery in the tool. This provides another advantage in that when you start hearing the beeping, you can look in the box and clearly see what is not in its dock, and therefore know what you are looking for. The box itself will have a power supply that plugs into the wall, but will also have a small backup battery to make it portable.-- bleh, Sep 27 2007 [21 Quest]'s smart box SmartBoxI like mine better... [bleh, Sep 28 2007] Pull key reel- if you've never seen one http://www.ontimesu..._item_PMC04990.html [NotTheSharpestSpoon, Oct 02 2007] It sounds like an awfully complicated solution. I've found that it's simpler to just buy new tools whenever I can't find one. For some tools (screwdrivers, radiator bleed-keys, blocks and [for reasons I can't fathom] needle-nosed pliers), I've now reached a state of equilibrium whereby, in looking for the one I've just lost, I find one that I'd lost last time. Equilibrium for planes, hand-saws and power tools might seem more costly, but in fact far fewer of these larger items are needed to attain equilibrium, because there are fewer places in which they can be lost.
In fact, I propose Buchanan's Conjecture, which is that the total amount of money spent on any given type of tool by an individual during a lifetime is a constant: you buy and lose many more small, cheap things than big expensive things.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 27 2007 That's an interesting conjecture. So the amount I spend on hex wrenches in my life will equal the amount spent on mitre saws. I don't know about that, and I'm pretty sure you'd have to qualify that with a particular profession or hobby.
I do agree, though, that this is a complicated solution to a simple problem, and I currently have the same solution as you, I look briefly, then just say screw it at buy a new one. Interestingly, I also have a hell of a time finding my damned needle nose pliers. They were actually the inspiration for this idea.
P.S. I found them today, but I'm pretty sure I still didn't put them back in the tool bag. I'm a bad person.-- bleh, Sep 27 2007 Pick a wall. Paint it white. Hang every tool you have on the wall. Draw an outline around it with a black marker.
Those 5 gallon bucket tool bag things are good for transporting the tools temporarily, but when you're done, back up on the wall with everything.
Now you know where it goes and you know what is not there. I have ADD and people think I have OCD, but I know where my tools are.-- nomocrow, Sep 27 2007 I know where the tools go, and when I go to look for something I know its not there, but I still don't know where it *is*. I don't see how your solution will help that.
I'm not the most clean or organized person (an enormous understatement). Because of this, i typically will grab a tool to perform a task which takes longer than I am using the tool. Hence, by the time I've completed my project, I have forgotten what all tools I used and where I put the ones I did use. Even if I inventoried all my tools and checked the inventory when I completed the job, thats not going to help me find the pair of pliers that fell behind the entertainment center while I was mounting my piezo powered- automated-custard shooting- machine with a cat/ buttered toast gyro- stabilizing mechanism next to the TV (it was a complex installation, I forgot that I even had the pliers out).-- bleh, Sep 27 2007 What's your smart box?
EDIT: well I like mine better, its more portable. It's not often that I'm working on a project in an actual workshop.-- bleh, Sep 28 2007 I've gone for the [nomocrow] "Board o' Tools" solution but without drawing the outlines of all the tools. This does cut down on tool hibernation and so I suggest Buchanan's Conjecture doesn't hold under these circumstances. However, an interesting finding is that where Buchanan's Conjecture is valid, it is also unaffected by the quality of the tool: Thus, I have an electric sander, which cost me £6, and an electric jigsaw, which cost £10. They're both crap but OK for the one or two jobs I bought them for. However, they will last precisely 1/3 of the time that similar tools costing 3 times as much would.-- hippo, Sep 28 2007 //Heh... you know I was just being facetious, right? //
Yes, I do.
//I've gone for the [nomocrow] "Board o' Tools"// like I said, I'm rarely working on a project in an actual workshop, so it would be some time before I'm back at the tool wall to replace and inventory the collection. I still have the same problem.
This isn't intended for professionals or serious hobbyists who have an entire wall to dedicate to tools, but more for the occasional handyman or just for a box of tools to have around the house for occasional use.-- bleh, Sep 28 2007 //they will last precisely 1/3 of the time that similar tools costing 3 times as much would//
True, that.-- nomocrow, Oct 01 2007 I like this.
I'm not much of a carpenter or do-it-yourselfer, and the hardest part of any job I undertake is finding the tools my family has hidden in odd places over the course of the past six months since I last used the toolbox.-- DrCurry, Oct 01 2007 Yeah, sure, it's the kids.
(I did once find my daughter digging in the sandbox with a brake piston compressor.)-- nomocrow, Oct 01 2007 // hardest part of any job I undertake is finding the tools my family has hidden in odd places over the course of the past six months since I last used the toolbox.//
Exactly my problem, except I'm the one hiding my own tools from myself.-- bleh, Oct 01 2007 There is also what I call the "Batman Method." Drill a hole into the handle of every hand tool that tends to lose itself. Attach heavy duty keyring to each one. Buy about 20 pull key reels (or more if you've got the girth) and stick 'em all on your belt. Everytime you are going to use a tool, attach to one of the pull rings. Not only will you not lose your tools but you will be one hot looking handyman.
Jingle jangle jingle- be still my heart!-- NotTheSharpestSpoon, Oct 02 2007 I hope its the subtitle that makes you think of your idea and not the actual title.-- bleh, Oct 02 2007 If you don't care enough about your tools to take proper care of them, or even keep track of them, you don't deserve to have them.-- nuclear hobo, Oct 02 2007 //If you don't care enough about your tools to take proper care of them, or even keep track of them, you don't deserve to have them. //
I take good care of my real tools (power tools) but its hard for me to care too much about my pliers and screwdrivers. I never really had a strong attachment to hand tools with the exception to the Gerber Clutch I carry with me everywhere. That one I take good care of.
Like I said, I'm not a professional handyman, or even a real strong hobbyist. I use my tools as I need them for odd jobs around the house. please forgive me, Mr [hobo], for not going out of my way to respect my 5 dollar needle nose pliers. I am sure you've never misplaced a tool in your life.-- bleh, Oct 02 2007 [bleh], if you don't care about the $5 needlenose, why go to such great lengths to secure them?
If you really use a tool (not a machine) it become an extension of your hand. When that is missing you really feel it.-- nuclear hobo, Oct 02 2007 Why did I think this was gonna be a sex thing?
This is an elegantly over-complicated solution to a real problem. Utterly bun-able.-- Noexit, Oct 02 2007 //When that is missing you really feel it//
I feel frustrated when I can not find a tool I am looking for, but no real attachment to a particular tool. I am merely trying to solve my problem of not putting things back where they go with technology rather than self control. Hopefully the technology will induce a learned behavior which will carry over to other areas of my life, but saying that nothing I would do or make with tools is worthy because I don't put them back where they go is simply wrong. I am often so much more concerned with the final product that I loose sight of the tools used to reach it.-- bleh, Oct 02 2007 " If you don't care enough..." Geez [nuclear hobo], you sound like ubermom. My husband is horrible about putting stuff away, so I spoiled him and pick up after him, but I have MY system of putting and he has *snicker, snort* his system.
Well I must say in spite of his chaotic behaviour he definitely deserves his full set of hand and power tools. amen.-- dentworth, Oct 02 2007 I really like [nomocrow]'s suggestion about painting the outlines.-- dentworth, Oct 02 2007 //the bottoms of the drawers were covered with a black rubbery foam about 1/4 inch thick, and cutouts were made for each tool to fit into one,//
Which is exactly what I suggested the charging dock for each tool be, so that when you look and see that a tool is missing, you know to go back to where you were and seek said tool by listening for the beeps. Conversely, when you hear the beeping, you can go to the toolbox and see what is missing, and, therefore, know what it is that you seek.-- bleh, Oct 03 2007 no no no. the drawer is no good. this is much too complicated now. Beeping good. drawer bad. If he's looking for it, it is because he plans to use it. So after that, it's either lost again or tossed onto a shelf. (or my dresser, or the back seat of the car)
sorry, it's getting to be a sore subject.-- dentworth, Oct 03 2007 [21] Doesn't point out that this is far more important on a flight line than it is in your basement. Those five dollar needle nose pliers can be sucked into and destroy a hundred thousand dollar jet engine. Every tool taken onto the flight line needs to be taken back off the flight line. FOD isn't funny.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Oct 03 2007 [21] I knew that you knew. I just thought others should understand that you weren't dealing with an anally retentive control freak who had no justification for these actions. Personally I want obsessive compulsives cleaning up the flight line.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Oct 03 2007 //Beeping good. drawer bad. //
the idea is for a portable box, not a drawer.-- bleh, Oct 03 2007 I actually agree with [MaxwellBuchanan], he had it right the first time.-- Shadow Phoenix, Oct 03 2007 random, halfbakery