I want a drawer or two in my van that has a bunch of misc. bolts and things, I just kinda want a "kit" that I can just transfer into drawers and have it at my invehicle workbench...

if not can anyone tell me what they have in their vans as far as misc. bolts and things.

Electrician screws are a must-obviously the leftover parts from TV mounts will get there own drawer!

TIA!

Here's a couple

[Link: midlite.com]

[Link: harborfreight.com]

The leftover TV mount screws are a wonderful thing and will come in handy. They're metric, so get some matching nuts.

Other than that, miscellaneous hardware will drive you nuts.* Pay careful attention to the size of hardware that you use or wish you had when provided hardware is crap, and buy that by the hundreds.

Once I realized how strong 1/4-20 bolts are, AND noticed they take the same wrench as an F connector (and, back then, DirecTV dish mount hardware), I standardized on them and have kept a good collection.

Then one day, searching for a fourth bolt to mount something with using Togglers, it occurred to me: I do this professionally. Why am I not buying in professional quantities? I then bought 500 each of several lengths of 1/4-20 bolts, as many as possible in black oxide. I had already found a box of togglers without bolts for about fifty cents apiece on amazon.

You do this professionally. Why are you not buying like a professional? Find a wholesale hardware place in your area, since shipping charges for nuts and bolts will make you resent the entire project. A google maps search shows three "wholesale hardware" businesses in Philly, and maybe one of them actually is.




*I was amused to read once that a box with miscellaneous stuff like this was called a "HELL BOX" by some older techs. It got better when, after I labeled such a box, one of my kids added some other words so it read "why HELL do I keep all the stuff in this BOX?"

[Link: lmgtfy.com]

I think he was looking for something that we have found, by experience, is a good thing to buy.

Maybe not.

I don't know if you're frustrated because you go to Home Depot, which has the worst hardware department WRT fasteners IN.The.World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! because they rarely sell items in boxes and if they sell by the bag, only washers come in quantities larger than three pieces per bag and they sell in those bags with three pieces because they only cost one dollar. F*ck that!

Ace Hardware stores have bins with the items, but they also have boxes behind the bins and they aren't expensive enough to make it a deal-breaker.

We've got a local place that only deals in fasteners and tools.  They have guys that live and breath nuts & bots and can find almost anything.  You've probably got a place like it nearby too.  Find it and setup an account...

http://www.specialtytoolandbolt.com/

I know HD was crapped upon in the thread. But they do have a "kit" for common electrical screws. This is a couple of them...

[Link: homedepot.com]

[Link: homedepot.com]

KOT

KOT did list a necessary tool. Anyone who deals with cover plates will, sooner or later, have to use a 3" 6-32 screw to hold a switch in place because some idiot put the electrical box behind the drywall. Or some stylish goof then put 3/4" T&G over the drywall. It's the kit from KOT's first link. And this doesn't get split up: keep it in the box.

I've occasionally had a need for the 8-32 screws, but there are a lot of other screw sizes that I commonly use. If you haven't already settled on other screw sizes, this might be a good place to start.

What this all comes down to is that if you buy a ready-made "kit," you will carry around a lot of sizes you don't need, and will learn from that what you don't need. I have a couple of plastic cases of stuff like this that I hardly ever touch. If you already have an idea what you need, go buy hundreds of those!

Speaking of nuts and bolts - this isn't the best 'thread" for this,, but...

10-32 tap can be handy, for stripped or mis-threaded rack rails. Middle Atlantic fell short of expectations, recently, and I had to retap a few.

And if you ever cut bolts, a die set (or the one that you need) makes life easier.

I wouldn't buy a full set of either, though, for the van. Just the ones you could actually need.

In this biz the normal hardware to stock is simple. 1/4 20 3/4",1",2",3",4". 1/4" lags 1 1/2"' 2",3",4" and maybe same in 5/16 or 3/8. Wood screws from 3/4 to 4". Nuts and washers for the 1/4 20's and electrical plate screws in assorted sizes. Thats an easy to build kit that gets used daily.

It wouldn't be wrong to buy a "kit" as a starter, but over the years I've built my own kit by throwing orphan screws into a heavy plastic bag. I'll replace the bag from year to year when it is no longer transparent. If I need something strange, it it is usually in the bag (possibly it is the original screw, "lost" during an earlier adventure). I also have boxes of 6/32, 8/32, 10/32, ¼-20 of various lengths. Stupidly, I can't seem to remember to stock common TV mounting metric screws, yet I have a huge box of left over, wrong-size or wrong-length screws that I virtually never use. Always keep a box of fender washers on hand, along with boxes of washers (and lock washers) to match common screw sizes.

This parts bin from HD is pretty nice for storing misc. bolts, washers, etc.
[Link: homedepot.com]

capn, that's totally correct. It gets a bit more complicated when you do actual custom work and sometimes have to put a nut on the back of something that needs to be smaller than 1/4-20. A small selection of 8-32 and 10-32 is often needed. The 10-32, as noted, works in racks, but it's also good for small custom construction that sometimes comes up.

Then there's the drywall screws and the sheet metal screws of various lengths...

If you ever do commercial work, have a bag of Middle Atlantic 12-24 rack screws on hand. If you're not aware of this, you'll install 10-32, which seem to fit into 12-24 holes, and everything will be just fine until someone pushes down on the component and the screws just pull out!


Keep ALL leftover TV mount screws until you have about ten pounds of them. Along the way, throw out the security drive screws and buy some metric nuts. The TV mount leftovers, plus some nuts, make up a kit that I carry with me. Ive gotten enough metric hardware this way to also ship another kit to my overseas project and that kit still often exceeds what can be found in the local hardware stores. (On the other hand, the local hardware stores have, at best, about 4% of the nuts and bolts found in a good US hardware store.)

Since we're naming bins, though the OP did not need that, there's [Link: containerstore.com]. I use the large size of these and they are usually in stock. I'm surprised to see they are backordered.

I saw this on Facebook few days ago: