Hex Key Organization
Hex Key Organization
Organizing hex keys has been an ongoing headache for as long as I can remember… I’ve found it impossible to ever re-file my hex keys in the standard plastic holders, and it never fails that the one I need is the one that is missing… In addition, and unlike hex bolts and wrenches, I am never sure if I am reaching for an SAE or a metric sized hex key - I just need the key one size larger or smaller than the one I have in my hand. All of the standard sets are divided into SAE and metric, which for me is a useless division - and some sizes are so close to one another, it is next to impossible to figure out which is which (do I have the 2.5mm or is it the 3/32”? They both slide into the same storage slot, is there even a difference?)
Many years ago, I tried to take care of this problem once and for all. I made a wooden box with dividers and labeled each division with the size of the hex key, increasing in size and mixing the metric and SAE keys. I got enamel paints in a range of colors and designated one color to each size, repeating the paint color pattern as the sizes increased. Now, all that was left was to sort my piles of hex keys by size, and mark each one with the appropriate color. I asked my studio assistant at the time to measure the diameter of each hex key with a pair of digital calipers, group them by size and then mark them with paint. It might have been a good idea in concept, except with the sizes so close, calipers not of adequate tolerance, and not quite enough rigor in the measuring/marking process resulted in hex keys of varying sizes with the same color markings in the same size bin… The system failed…
Seven or so years later and I was still more or less where I began - piles of hex keys with meaningless color coding. It was time to do this right. I decided upon the set of hex key sizes I needed, increasing in diameter from smallest to largest, with both SAE and metric integrated into this size progression (as I had done before). Instead of using paint again to mark them, I mapped out diameters to heat shrink tubing and colors available (white, yellow, red, blue, green, repeated from .050” through 10mm diameters). I cut the heat shrink tubing into 1” lengths and shrunk it to the arm of each hex key. Next I made a new storage box to make it as easy as possible to keep my hex keys filed in this new system. I think I finally got it right…!