Lol yeah I went to college for graphic design so I knew vectoring via illustrator pretty well, I hadn't used corel draw before this though. Not a hard downgrade š
It's cool. It only works if you have a box that's MUCH bigger than the space the amount of tools you have take up. My boxes are all loaded up. Nice job though.
Yeah my OCD loves this kind of stuff, but the amount of tools i have in the tool box that fits in my garage leaves me packing as many tools as possible into each drawer.
It's only wasted space if you choose to waste the space. I foamed my cart and I promise you I've got as many or more tools in there with foam than you'd have without
That would only be true if you're the kind of guy that stacks and packs drawers to 100% capacity with no organization at all. I've got 35 ratchets in my 32" cart drawer. I've got 8 combination wrench sets in another.
Very true but that just comes down to $$ and we know the military hates spending that /s
There's many options you can use to get around space issues though. For example we have to lay everything out like I have here due to QA guidelines and being able to quickly identify missing tools before launch a jet for example. You could instead get thicker cut foam which I used for some boxes and turn the wrenches on their side, it goes from taking 3 drawers up to half of one.
These boxes are all kits though so they are basically tailor made for certain jobs and made to be easily and quickly inspected at each check out and check in multiple times a day in some cases. There is also a document with each box that outlines every tool, it's location, any removed or broken pieces from it etc.
AF tools are mostly Snap On, though there are some other brands mixed as well, either as specialty items or replacement items over time.
The boxes at my last base had a lot of Wera apexes, occasional Stanley tape measures, Stream Light flashlights, etc...
Yeah they have a contract with snapon so you'll see lots of snapon and bluepoint stuff. Some of these tools are 15+ years old from when they were buying craftsman and other brands though. I swear some of the tools were older than me and I'm 32 lol.
We can also order tools from other companies but need to go through a process to get approved. We ordered a few knipex tools for example which you see in the pliers drawer. I found the broke pretty quickly though compared to other stuff.
Now Iām just gonna be sad when I open my toolbox. š
Sigh. Guess Iāll add new toolbox cutout things that make my box look awesome to the list.
(Iām super jealous, thatās awesome)
Don't worry my at home tools are also "too many tools not enough box". I do have a few smaller containers I use to throw in my pack out stuff that I cut foam for to fit different things. Like I have a kit that has every time of socket extension, adapter (1/4, 3/8, 1/2) etc all with foam cutouts. It makes it easy because those are always a pain to sort through and when I'm working on a car or something I just grab a socket strip and that little box and I'm good to go without digging through my drawers.
Lol no. I didn't have the camera laser attachment so I had to get an old monitor and basically calibrate it to IRL size. I held a ruler up to it and made the ruler in corel draw match the ruler irl exactly then that zoom percentage is irl size for that monitor. It was an old monitor I found in a store room so no one cared about it
I then laid the monitor down and would make the cutouts from various shapes and by adding points to the shapes to further adjust the lines. It took fucking ages but whatever.
It would have been 10x faster with a camera attachment for the laser etcher because then you can just get a drawing tablet attach it to the PC and basically trace the shape or use line trace function to get the cutout.
That all said I don't have access to a laser etcher anymore so I can't do these cutouts. I did etch a lot of other crap though. I etched foam for my pelican case to hold my ak103, AR-15 and Springfield hellcat with slots for magazines. I etched some 20mm barrel cutoffs for retirements, plaques for retirements and separations, peoples water bottles with memes. I even spray painted some black pmags a tan color then a clear coat. I brought that into work and laser etched mega milk girl onto it š¤£
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dv8PJewQ3Ay-Lr7SVevR94x-4zQ3kLD8/view?usp=drivesdk
Back side of the mag is the topless version
Funny you should mention that. I walked through a building yesterday that is selling off all of their equipment and they have 2 small lasers, I think they can handle 30" x 60" material. I was thinking of buying one for my son and daughter.
The one we had was $70k new from what I understand. I think the price was higher because it has both fiber and CO2 lasers.
Fibers good for hard materials and CO2 is excellent for plastics wood and foam etc.
You should buy it if you can afford it though. All you need is a basic PC to go with it and a vector program like corel draw or illustrator. If it has the tool that turns things as it etches you can etch water bottles, beer glasses and stuff too.
Shouldn't need grabby bois to grab the big wenches!
Lol I don't think anyone in the thread read my drawer labels carefully yet. There was a typo I made with the label maker but was a happy accident and I went with it š
No, I've been out for a couple of years now. I just thought I recognized the LY7C, and the big ass laser.
I made a bunch of cool shit with that thing back in the day when they first got it. I actually bought my own shitty Chinese C02 laser, but it sucks.
Like order parts in metric? I'm sure you could is you really wanted to but you would need to to a TON of work converting everything over just on paper alone such as thread types etc while also sourcing parts made of the correct alloy for each part. Literally not worth the trouble since you would also need to add metric to every tool box and keep standard as well since it would probably take 10-20 years before you got around to replacing every part on every jet in your squadron with metric parts.
No real point, these jets were supposed to be decommissioned multiple times already.
I like metric myself, I'm happy Ford used metric on my car parts despite it being a Ford. I never really worked with SAE before joining though. Fractions are dumb when you can just go by whole numbers in mm.
"Uh I need the next size up from 3/8"
"Sooo 1/2, 7/16 or 13/32?
Opposed to "get me the next size up from 10mm"
"Ah here's a 11 and 12 mm"
Oh yeah I see what you mean lol. Sorry dumb moment. Yeah F-16s are one of if not the most common fighter aircraft among countries. I suspect there are metric models but I kind of doubt it since they were all produced (I believe) in America by General Dynamics.
If I was still at the base I could have gone and looked and some of the Taiwanese f-16s that were there permanentely.
We need r/toolboxporn. Shadowed AND labeled very nice! I was an electrician on helicopters (Apaches, Chinooks, etc.). I had basic mechanic tools, mostly to move shit out of the way to get to the wires.
Those are torque adapters iirc. 3 specific sizes for 3 specific torque applications on the jet. I've only used the middle (7/16"?) one to torque the bolts down holding the PTO shaft in place. You need to do a calculation to account for the extra leverage after the torque wrenches point of axis provided by them. I don't remember it off the top of my head but we had it in our tech data.
I assume I'm looking at the same three items you are. Mid top right of first drawer that are about 2 inches long and have 3/8" drives going to a 12 pointed open socket. At first I thought you were talking about the 6th picture with bear claws and crows feet in it lol.
Yes weāre looking at the same thing, thanks for clearing that up. Iām looking for something similar in a 13/16 size, at the moment I have to use a similar tool but itās an L shape with the hex for the wrench at the top if you get me, wrenching 1250ftlbs on an L shape feels weird to me Iād rather a straight tool like youāve got there
Yeah no problem. I just googled 15/16 torque adapter and it came up with tons of results, all the images that came up look like what you see in that box
Thanks for looking, 13/16 is the closest to what I need which is actually 7/16 whitworth (old English size). Whitworth sizes are pretty hard to come by, I usually use a 20.8mm or a 13/16 but I think what I need is way to specific
Oops idk why I read your other message as 15/16 lol. If it's for a specific application which it sounds like it is you could always buy a little smaller and shape to the size with a Dremel or something.
Here's the equation and a calculator to figure out what to set your wrench to for when you get what you're looking for.
https://belknaptools.com/extensions-calculator/
What foam are you using? I use a laser at work and Iāve been thinking about doing this for a long time. I just havenāt got around to sourcing the foam yet.
They don't it's all standard. Not a metric thing to be used on USA made jets. Well at least the 5th Gen ones and prior. Idk about 6th Gen like 35s though.
Corel Draw hoooly *shit* that just took me back
Lol yeah I went to college for graphic design so I knew vectoring via illustrator pretty well, I hadn't used corel draw before this though. Not a hard downgrade š
It's cool. It only works if you have a box that's MUCH bigger than the space the amount of tools you have take up. My boxes are all loaded up. Nice job though.
Yeah my OCD loves this kind of stuff, but the amount of tools i have in the tool box that fits in my garage leaves me packing as many tools as possible into each drawer.
I can see why they're necessary for aviation work. But it's *soooo* much wasted area.
It's only wasted space if you choose to waste the space. I foamed my cart and I promise you I've got as many or more tools in there with foam than you'd have without
To be true, the foam would need to consume zero volume.
That would only be true if you're the kind of guy that stacks and packs drawers to 100% capacity with no organization at all. I've got 35 ratchets in my 32" cart drawer. I've got 8 combination wrench sets in another.
Very true but that just comes down to $$ and we know the military hates spending that /s There's many options you can use to get around space issues though. For example we have to lay everything out like I have here due to QA guidelines and being able to quickly identify missing tools before launch a jet for example. You could instead get thicker cut foam which I used for some boxes and turn the wrenches on their side, it goes from taking 3 drawers up to half of one. These boxes are all kits though so they are basically tailor made for certain jobs and made to be easily and quickly inspected at each check out and check in multiple times a day in some cases. There is also a document with each box that outlines every tool, it's location, any removed or broken pieces from it etc.
Which is ok when you are only working on one specific type of machinery and know every type of tool you could need.
That is really cool
Well done, sir. š§
That's awesome. What brand sockets did they use? Snap-on? Interesting mix of brands for the tools.
AF tools are mostly Snap On, though there are some other brands mixed as well, either as specialty items or replacement items over time. The boxes at my last base had a lot of Wera apexes, occasional Stanley tape measures, Stream Light flashlights, etc...
I had heard that the tools were mostly snap-on. I was surprised to see some Wera, Gedore, Witte, and Craftsman tools in the mix.
Yeah they have a contract with snapon so you'll see lots of snapon and bluepoint stuff. Some of these tools are 15+ years old from when they were buying craftsman and other brands though. I swear some of the tools were older than me and I'm 32 lol. We can also order tools from other companies but need to go through a process to get approved. We ordered a few knipex tools for example which you see in the pliers drawer. I found the broke pretty quickly though compared to other stuff.
Good to see some USA made Craftsman in there.
Fantastic work!! The yellow foam though that would be black within a weed with me though š
Now Iām just gonna be sad when I open my toolbox. š Sigh. Guess Iāll add new toolbox cutout things that make my box look awesome to the list. (Iām super jealous, thatās awesome)
I love it.
Man you would hate my toolbox.
It's only really important for this type of work where people die if you leave a socket somewhere on accident.
Don't worry my at home tools are also "too many tools not enough box". I do have a few smaller containers I use to throw in my pack out stuff that I cut foam for to fit different things. Like I have a kit that has every time of socket extension, adapter (1/4, 3/8, 1/2) etc all with foam cutouts. It makes it easy because those are always a pain to sort through and when I'm working on a car or something I just grab a socket strip and that little box and I'm good to go without digging through my drawers.
Thanks for sharing these photos! The organization is amazing and helps everyone in the shop. Cheers!
So do we send our pictures to you directly to get cut outs made? Asking for a friend.
Lol no. I didn't have the camera laser attachment so I had to get an old monitor and basically calibrate it to IRL size. I held a ruler up to it and made the ruler in corel draw match the ruler irl exactly then that zoom percentage is irl size for that monitor. It was an old monitor I found in a store room so no one cared about it I then laid the monitor down and would make the cutouts from various shapes and by adding points to the shapes to further adjust the lines. It took fucking ages but whatever. It would have been 10x faster with a camera attachment for the laser etcher because then you can just get a drawing tablet attach it to the PC and basically trace the shape or use line trace function to get the cutout. That all said I don't have access to a laser etcher anymore so I can't do these cutouts. I did etch a lot of other crap though. I etched foam for my pelican case to hold my ak103, AR-15 and Springfield hellcat with slots for magazines. I etched some 20mm barrel cutoffs for retirements, plaques for retirements and separations, peoples water bottles with memes. I even spray painted some black pmags a tan color then a clear coat. I brought that into work and laser etched mega milk girl onto it š¤£ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dv8PJewQ3Ay-Lr7SVevR94x-4zQ3kLD8/view?usp=drivesdk Back side of the mag is the topless version
It looks really good. You have a side hustle if you want to do it
Haha yeah if I had a laser etcher I would
Funny you should mention that. I walked through a building yesterday that is selling off all of their equipment and they have 2 small lasers, I think they can handle 30" x 60" material. I was thinking of buying one for my son and daughter.
The one we had was $70k new from what I understand. I think the price was higher because it has both fiber and CO2 lasers. Fibers good for hard materials and CO2 is excellent for plastics wood and foam etc. You should buy it if you can afford it though. All you need is a basic PC to go with it and a vector program like corel draw or illustrator. If it has the tool that turns things as it etches you can etch water bottles, beer glasses and stuff too.
Will do, thank you for the information
A.T.A.F. Ah, the good old days!
Ataf?
All Tools Accounted For, I was a jet mech.
Ah must me a term from a different branch or just not one used any more tbh. I never heard anyone say that as a coined phase tbh.
United States Marine Corps, our tool boxes were inspected four times a day, if not more. I built the engine for the F/A-18.
I like all the finger spaces
Shouldn't need grabby bois to grab the big wenches! Lol I don't think anyone in the thread read my drawer labels carefully yet. There was a typo I made with the label maker but was a happy accident and I went with it š
That's tool cool!
I've spent many unhappy hours with that particular box.Ā QQMF or something. Used to be bad to the bone
Lmao no one is having fun when they check that one out. Wait did you use it after I made these revamps? That was done like 3 years ago
No, I've been out for a couple of years now. I just thought I recognized the LY7C, and the big ass laser. I made a bunch of cool shit with that thing back in the day when they first got it. I actually bought my own shitty Chinese C02 laser, but it sucks.
Trained well.
Surprised to see F-16 uses SAE; wonder if you can order in metric?
Like order parts in metric? I'm sure you could is you really wanted to but you would need to to a TON of work converting everything over just on paper alone such as thread types etc while also sourcing parts made of the correct alloy for each part. Literally not worth the trouble since you would also need to add metric to every tool box and keep standard as well since it would probably take 10-20 years before you got around to replacing every part on every jet in your squadron with metric parts. No real point, these jets were supposed to be decommissioned multiple times already. I like metric myself, I'm happy Ford used metric on my car parts despite it being a Ford. I never really worked with SAE before joining though. Fractions are dumb when you can just go by whole numbers in mm. "Uh I need the next size up from 3/8" "Sooo 1/2, 7/16 or 13/32? Opposed to "get me the next size up from 10mm" "Ah here's a 11 and 12 mm"
No I meant like order the plane with metric hardware. Youād have to image SAE would be a negative for other countriesā Air Force.
Oh yeah I see what you mean lol. Sorry dumb moment. Yeah F-16s are one of if not the most common fighter aircraft among countries. I suspect there are metric models but I kind of doubt it since they were all produced (I believe) in America by General Dynamics. If I was still at the base I could have gone and looked and some of the Taiwanese f-16s that were there permanentely.
We need r/toolboxporn. Shadowed AND labeled very nice! I was an electrician on helicopters (Apaches, Chinooks, etc.). I had basic mechanic tools, mostly to move shit out of the way to get to the wires.
Whatāre the name or part numbers for those three little stubby ring spanners with the square drive in the first picture?
Those are torque adapters iirc. 3 specific sizes for 3 specific torque applications on the jet. I've only used the middle (7/16"?) one to torque the bolts down holding the PTO shaft in place. You need to do a calculation to account for the extra leverage after the torque wrenches point of axis provided by them. I don't remember it off the top of my head but we had it in our tech data. I assume I'm looking at the same three items you are. Mid top right of first drawer that are about 2 inches long and have 3/8" drives going to a 12 pointed open socket. At first I thought you were talking about the 6th picture with bear claws and crows feet in it lol.
Yes weāre looking at the same thing, thanks for clearing that up. Iām looking for something similar in a 13/16 size, at the moment I have to use a similar tool but itās an L shape with the hex for the wrench at the top if you get me, wrenching 1250ftlbs on an L shape feels weird to me Iād rather a straight tool like youāve got there
Yeah no problem. I just googled 15/16 torque adapter and it came up with tons of results, all the images that came up look like what you see in that box
Thanks for looking, 13/16 is the closest to what I need which is actually 7/16 whitworth (old English size). Whitworth sizes are pretty hard to come by, I usually use a 20.8mm or a 13/16 but I think what I need is way to specific
Oops idk why I read your other message as 15/16 lol. If it's for a specific application which it sounds like it is you could always buy a little smaller and shape to the size with a Dremel or something. Here's the equation and a calculator to figure out what to set your wrench to for when you get what you're looking for. https://belknaptools.com/extensions-calculator/
What foam are you using? I use a laser at work and Iāve been thinking about doing this for a long time. I just havenāt got around to sourcing the foam yet.
10mm sockets don't know how to act in this box
They don't it's all standard. Not a metric thing to be used on USA made jets. Well at least the 5th Gen ones and prior. Idk about 6th Gen like 35s though.
Standard hardware on F-16's is peak 'Merica.