Swetman Makerspace tool cart organization

The Desperados Engineering Team developed a Tool Cart Organization system. The design was made in Spring Semester 2025 at Cal Poly Humboldt Makerspace. The makerspace was losing time and tools to a lack of organization before this project. Students needed a way to keep track of the tools they were using.

Engr 205 a class based on assigning real-life projects, met Cal Poly Humboldt's Makerspaces' needs for someone to upgrade their space. Multiple big stations needed to be improved or documented to improve the efficiency of the Makerspace. Team Desperados designed and implemented a tool cart organization system by the end of the semester. The system needed to make the staff and students' interactions with the tool carts shorter and easier. The tool carts needed to become tools themselves, not something you had to think about.

The Objective of this project is to design, test, and manufacture a tool cart organization system that is the same in every tool cart. The system should make using the tool carts intuitive, and cut down on time of people finding tools, and putting them away. It can involve multiple methods for overall organization.

The criteria in the table below guided the teams efforts towards topic that were more important than others. Each was weighed by the client from (0-10)

Criteria	Description	Weight (1-10)
Safety	Nobody should hurt or get hurt using this system	10
Using surrounding carts to make one complete tool cart	We must identify what a complete tool cart looks like	9
All of tools are marked for individual carts.	Each tool is connected to a specific cart	9
Tool Separation	The tools aren’t overlapping and have their own spots	9
Book-keeping	Staff can easily tell when something is missing	9
Expandability	There’s room and means to add tools in the future	8
Aesthetics	The system looks good	7
Replaceability	When something breaks it can be replaced easily	7
Cost	Under $500 in material cost	7
Portability	Ability to move system around after finishing placements	6
Organizing Multiple types of tools	How individual tools should be grouped together	5
Durability	How much damage the tools can take from general wear and tear	4

The team came up with 4 rounds of prototyping for the tool cart organization system. Each prototype was an attempt at a different component of our final result.

This prototype focused on how well the 3D printed grids would fit into the tool carts. The grids were meant to fit in cleanly but there are limits to their size. We learned that once tools on set in the grids won’t slide around.

The second set of prototypes are using the laser engraver to cut out colored words to label the tool cart. We put electrical tape, acrylic marker, and labels to indicate which cart to tools went to. The electrical tape doesn’t always stay on so we had to tape the ends. We considered spray paint but it was out of our budget.

With this prototype we are testing out the open source Gridfinity designs for wrench holders. This design works but had to be adjusted for different sized wrench sets.

This prototype is a cut out piece of plastic that was marked with acrylic pen then cut out using a jigsaw, and drill gun. It keeps the tools from sliding around when the drawer is slammed.

A very complete description of how the final project is built. This large section should have lots of pictures. Use the Help:Images#Galleries and probably Template:Steps (e.g. Barrel O' Fun Worm Bin Instructions).

A good way to display a process is by making a video explaining your process. See Template:Video for information on how to add and annotate videos.

Description of costs, donations, the fact that this is just proposed, etc. For a simple cost table, see Help:Table examples#Cost Table and Template:Bill of materials for two nice formats.

Item	Amount	Cost per unit	Total
Things — Get at the thing store	3	USD 5.75	USD 17.25
Another thing — 3' x 2', yellow	1	USD 150.00	USD 150.00
Grand total			USD 167.25EUR 143.84 <br />GBP 122.09 <br />CAD 207.39 <br />MXN 3,487.16 <br />INR 12,518.66 <br />

This is how to operate. It should have a brief introduction. You might want to show images or videos with step-by-step instructions when needed.

The tool cart organization system doesn't need much maintenance because of how stagnant it is. There are a few things that are needed from outside efforts to keep it functional.

• Are there any needed actions for maintenance?
  • Yes, whenever a tool holster breaks, and the system needs to be utilized to keep organization
• How often?
  • Everyday the organization system should be used in the recommended ways ensuring tools are in proper places.
• Who should perform maintenance?
  • The students should put the tools away after use and staff should print new holsters.
• How do I make repairs if something is damaged or needs replacement?
  • There is a file containing most 3D printing designs for Gridfinity tool holsters, and many 3D printers in the Cal Poly Humboldt Makerspace.

This is when to maintain what

Daily

• Quickly scan each tool cart for all its tools
• Quickly identify any broken holsters if any

Weekly

• Print new holsters to replace those that have broken

Monthly

• Ensure each tool is still labeled
• Check dexterity of grids

Yearly

• Find or design new holsters for new tools

Describe the testing results.

Discuss the testing results.

Discuss lessons were learned during this project and what you would do different next time.

Discuss any next steps for the project as it goes on into the future.

This is only how to troubleshoot basic operation. For complex issues, the solution might just say something like contact ________. It should be a table in this format:

Problem	Suggestion
Example issue	Example solution or suggestion
Does not turn on	Make sure it is plugged in
Another issue	Etc.

Introduce team and semester in the following format:

• Lonny Grafman
• Emilio Velis
• One bullet for each team member.