Share your storage and workspace ideas

toodle_pipsky

Minister of Silly Walks
Joined
May 9, 2010
Messages
334
Location
Toowoomba, Australia
Hey happy campers! After a few months off, it's time to start pondering the 2013 display.

I have a new shed to work with! Husband and I bought a new house and I now have a decent space to turn into storage of lights and workshop. I am so excited. :D It is just an empty room now so I am really looking forward to putting some forethought into designing something great.

So, does anyone have any tips or suggested products to have to help with storage or organization of tools? Even better, share a pic of your own beloved workspace.
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
Community project designer
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
4,188
Location
Eaglehawk
My organisition is terrible but with a 60ft x 30ft shed to play with I can be.
I'd suggest that your lights are labelled though. With 5V, 12v, 24v, 27v and other available it makes sense to have a weatherproof label on them at the cable end. If you were really organised the lights could be numbered and filed away on a spreadsheet.
About the extent of my organisation is to keep stuff boxed in original packaging and boxed into larger boxes of the same sort. My lights are shelved on floor to ceiling shelving. The mini trees which gobble a fair bit of space and are only touched twice are year are waaaaayyyy up the top.
 

bbayjohn

Senior elf
Joined
Mar 4, 2012
Messages
593
Location
Batemans Bay
If you save your bread bag clips, you could label them with permant marker.

AAH said:
My organisition is terrible but with a 60ft x 30ft shed to play with I can be.
I'd suggest that your lights are labelled though. With 5V, 12v, 24v, 27v and other available it makes sense to have a weatherproof label on them at the cable end. If you were really organised the lights could be numbered and filed away on a spreadsheet.
About the extent of my organisation is to keep stuff boxed in original packaging and boxed into larger boxes of the same sort. My lights are shelved on floor to ceiling shelving. The mini trees which gobble a fair bit of space and are only touched twice are year are waaaaayyyy up the top.
 

ShellNZ

Senior elf
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
892
Location
Karaka, Auckland, NZ
Im not the best.....I have blinkies stored in every crevice of the house lol.

We have a large stairway cupboard which is full to the brim, our lower spare bedroom (5 bdrm home) is halfway full and we just got a new attic installed but Im loathe to put things up there, partly due to the heat and partly because I want to check things work so Im continually getting things out, hehe.
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
Community project designer
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
4,188
Location
Eaglehawk
The secret is to build the props so that they can be arranged in your attic ready for testing shell. They can be soak tested and heat tested and all without having to unpack them.

ShellNZ said:
Im not the best.....I have blinkies stored in every crevice of the house lol.

We have a large stairway cupboard which is full to the brim, our lower spare bedroom (5 bdrm home) is halfway full and we just got a new attic installed but Im loathe to put things up there, partly due to the heat and partly because I want to check things work so Im continually getting things out, hehe.
 

tuppetsdad

Funding & Tech Support
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
549
Location
Melbourne
Us Tuppets have a nice 40' container to house our stuff...still a long way to go to fill it. 8)
 

DeeJai

Is that Magic Smoke?!?
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
1,008
Location
No longer in Radelaide
my only suggestion is hooks i bought from Bunnings, I put my elements on these (candy canes.) My 3d Corro Stars, Well they pack away nicley into a Empty Beer Carton, and all my conduit, is suspended in my back yard on the fench using some climbing tape.
 

DougieB

Full time elf
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
278
Location
Gladstone, Qld
When I built I had a "floor" put in my ceiling space for storage, This is where most of my gear is stored, except anything that cannot fit into a 400x900 manhole. It is big enough to take most plastic storage tubs and all that goes in the shed is the matrix tree frame, 5m arches and a frame for the megatree
 

lithgowlights

Dedicated elf
Joined
May 6, 2010
Messages
1,023
tuppetsdad said:
Us Tuppets have a nice 40' container to house our stuff...still a long way to go to fill it. 8)

I'd like a small 20ft container but council don't allow them here :(
 

anon

Apprentice elf
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
95
Location
Adelaide
I don't have a lot of stuff, and I also don't have a lot of space so all my gear was put together to be efficient in storage.


- Old wire/cable reels are excellent to roll up Big W strings, not only excellent for storage but make roll out and roll up a breeze
- Icicles get wrapped around a large bit of card board so the icicles don't tangle.
- LED strip get's rolled back up on the reels, with my max length I start both ends on a reel and wind them up until they meet.
- All cables are labelled with their start-end point and length (use one of those dymo/brother labellers with the plastic based label), coiled up and put into zip locked bags
- All controllers and PSU's sit in their boxes, the small runs of cable between the units are detached from one end and coiled up in another.
- 2 eye-bolts on the side of the garage along with a couple of cam tie-downs hold up a bundle of unused PVC pipe, all my polycabonate end caps slide into one of the PVC pipes.
- Everything bar the end caps fits into a 400x400x600 space at the top of a wardrobe.
- I'm sure it will out grow this space in a couple of years
 

lithgowlights

Dedicated elf
Joined
May 6, 2010
Messages
1,023
Pixel display with minitrees hanging in the background
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t6eg1prcur1rbr4/DSC_2313s.jpg

Minitrees, fireworks, the pixicles and floodlights
https://www.dropbox.com/s/80nimfkt4i5xkmi/DSC_2314s.jpg

New Minitrees, with storage of the sleigh and few odds & ends in the background.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dy9xzcf1f5aovl6/DSC_2315s.jpg

Candy Canes & a few odds & ends
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4wtp1gyhjg1iqcn/DSC_2316s.jpg

Controllers all in KFC boxes with labels on the front
https://www.dropbox.com/s/547f8pm68hi5wty/DSC_2317s.jpg
 

Bill Ellick

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 31, 2011
Messages
282
Location
NY
Well a couple of things for you to consider is how you want to use the shed overall. That way you can set up areas of it for different things such as storage, work area, painting area, etc..
I would think one thing that you will certainly want is a nice 3 x 8 workbench right around where the door comes in so that you can set things to work on them. Also a good set of shelves near there for parts, lights, misc. things for the display will be very handy. Depending on now involved with things (welding, painting, woodworking) that you get will somewhat dictate how you want to set up areas in there as well
You can take your display items and break them down into size categories so that you can bring them into the shed in an order that lets you wrangle in the bigger things first and then smaller stuff can go under those. Hooks on the ceiling to hang items, light strings, cords, ladders, etc..
If you have power in the shed that would be a big bonus and you can set up some outlets around for testing as well as lights and other things.
 
Top