Tool Chests

Robot Garden has a number of tool chests to help keep the space organized.  These tool chests are used to store hand tools, cordless tools, power tools, air tools, and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). Members are encouraged to rifle through the drawers to become better acquainted with the equipment & tools we have on hand.

The tools chests are allocated (and labeled) as follows:

SHADOWBOARDS

Tom is looking to create shadowboard inserts for each drawer in each tool chest. This will help to keep the tools organized. Here are some notes regarding creation of these shadowboards

SHADOWBOARD SOFTWARE

• https://lightburn.com

  •  - import photo or scan

  •  - right click on image / trace image

  •  - adjust threshold 

  •  - pull a cut file directly from the image

• https://countourtrace.com

• https://scan2cad.com

• https://www.xtool.com/pages/software

PHOTOGRAPHING TOOLS & DRAWERS

• Perspective -- Taking a photo of a drawer is tricky since the camera and lense introduce perspective into the image. This means that tool images furthest from the center of the photo will have distortions that can make fitting each individual tool more difficult. Minimize perspective by holding the camera about 4 feet from the tool or tool drawer. One YouTuber suggested putting a quarter into each corner of the drawer to help resize as needed.

• Contrasting Edges -- To minimize perspective as well as to create sharp edges in the photograph, it is best to create a lightbox. Place tools on the lightbox and take pictures. This should create good contrast.

• Eliminating Perspective -- To completely eliminate perspective, tools can be scanned. This eliminates perspective as well as provides a light background for better contrast. A ruler, guage or other source of measurement should be used to ensure that items are properly sized when combining into a composit image.