Simple Zip Tie Organiser

Like many of you, I have way too many loose bits of hardware, fixtures and fittings lying around the shop.

I installed a bin system and that takes care of the nuts, bolts and screws but one thing that was bugging me was the packs of zip ties.

I had recently rescued a cabinet from the bin and decided that it had a little more storage to give in an unorthodox place, the outside of the door.

I set about designing the best (read easiest) zip tie storage unit ever.

I didn't want to spend any money on this so I went hunting in the workshop.

I found:

• A length of 35mm PVC waste pipe from my renovations last year
• A piece of 10x60mm pine from the scraps bin
• Some 3.5x16mm screws from the hardware wall

Being a nerd, I took 10 mins to model this in sketchup, my door was 18mm MDF 300x680mm, enough for 8 storage tubes plus change.

I don't know if ripping is the correct term but I cut down the PVC pipe on the mitre saw, I chose 180mm long as this was the last measurement on the fence scale (I told you this was easy).

I made 10 tubes as some of my zip ties are >500mm long so they would need a second upper support. I cut the uppers the same size because I'm lazy.

I cut down the piece of wood and used the brad gun to fix it to the bottom edge of the door, I didn't bother with screws or glue as this holds no weight, it only serves as a bottom for the tubes.

I drilled a 3.5mm hole all the way through each pipe, this was done top and bottom. The laziness continued here as I used the loose vise as a general gripper, eyeballed a centre and used the pillar on the drill as the end stop.

I then redrilled the hole on one side of the pipe to 7mm to get the head of the screw and the driver in, I didn't care this would leave a hole on the outside, it's function over form I was looking for. Also, this made it super easy to screw onto the door.

I packed in my assortment of zip ties in order small to large (like the way it should be!)

As you can see that little cabinet became quite the centre of activity, housing the fire extinguisher, first aid kit and the caulk gun on the other side, the top is also a handy shelf for tubes of caulk, silicone and Tek7....

All in this was a 45 min project including writing the instuctable and I still have 500mm of the pipe left to find something else to do with it (plumbing maybe...)

So there you have it get organised somewhere most people don't consider.