I ended up taking a sick day and sleeping all morning. I wasn't feeling up to doing any work on the plane so in the afternoon I took the opportunity to organize my hardware bins. Making labels isn't very demanding and it let me get closer to my brother. My Brother label maker, that is.
I tried to group hardware into similar types to make it easier to find. For example, the first row is AN426AD3 countersunk rivets and blind rivets. The next is AN426AD4 countersunk rivets and blind rivets. Next row is AN470AD3 universal head rivets and so on.
I have another row for nutplates, AN3 bolts, AN4 bolts, screws, etc. Everything is labeled by name, type and P/N.
What got me wanting to do this is I was looking for one of the bags Vans packs in the kit and I couldn't find it. It contained AN426AD4-5 rivets, but fortunately I had a rivet cutter so I just took some -6 rivets and cut them to size. When I first got the empennage kit I said I'd keep the hardware in their original bags. Well, losing one of the bags made me rethink that. I highly recommend you do this organization in the beginning of your build. It's worth the effort.
I still need to anchor the bins to the wall so they won't tip over. This is earthquake country after all. I'm not feeling 100% so I'll do that when I feel better. The bins shown can be found on Amazon. Look for Akro-Mils 64 drawer plastic parts storage bins.
All bins are labeled and sorted into similar groups.
Bins in place.
Stacked in place. I should have done this organization much sooner.
