” You know you want one!
If you have mountains of unsorted screws in your workshop, you probably spend lots of time looking for “just the right” screws for a job.
This screw sorter is the answer! It can sort all your different screws to length, for storage and easy access.
I found three designs on You-tube:
- Video 1: Felix the handyman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA69V4txt-M
- Video 2: DTU students project : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnoKHHNhiiQ
- Video 3: Ray’s Screw sorting machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnoKHHNhiiQ
I did a simple prototype of the DTU design, but screws with all threads and no smooth shank consistently jammed.
I developed my machine based on Felix’s design.
I opted for 10 slots to sort a range of screws from 10mm to 62mm
I would have liked to sort screws smaller than 10mm but the head size (typically 7mm) prevents them from falling through the slot. This can even be a problem for screws up to 13mm, depending on the head size/design/screw gauge.
The spacing between the down-tubes determines the width of the collection boxes that catch the screws so this is best worked out at the design stage.
I used square aluminium tubes for the collection boxes, the same size as the down-tubes for consistency and ease of fitting but they are shallow and don’t hold a lot of screws.”