Gearwrench has come out with new Trap Mat universal tool drawer liners.
Although described as a liner, Gearwrench Trap Mat looks more like egg crate-style foam, with several claimed benefits.
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Gearwrench Trap Mat tool drawer organizer liner features & specs:
- Universal fit for ease of use
- Secures tools during transport
- Keeps tool chests quiet in transit
- Resists oil and solvents
- Measures 22″ x 16″
- Can be cut into smaller sizes
- Fits most tool drawers 2″ deep and up
Without accessory holders or other means of organizing tools, you’ll often hear them clanging around in a drawer.
Gearwrench says that their new foam drawer organizer mat is strong enough to hold your tools in place during transport.
It seems to be well-optimized for holding hand tools such as ratchets, which have narrow cylindrical shapes that neatly fit in between adjacent rows in the egg crate foam.
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But larger tools, such as pliers, fit in just as well, with the handles cushioned in separate adjacent rows.
Wrenches? This thing was made for sorting wrenches, even allowing them to rest at an angle for easy size identification.
The Gearwrench Trap Mat allows for customization, and unlike tool foam that must be cut to fit a specific set of tools, you can quickly change your Trap Mat setup as needed.
Here’s a closeup of the Gearwrench Trap Mat foam, showing square pyramid-like structures separated by flat-bottom rows in between.
Price: $40 for (4) 22″ x 16″ liners
SKU: 83370
Buy Now via Amazon
Buy Now via Acme Tools – 20% off at the time of this posting, thru 10/31/2020
See Also: Acoustic Foam via Amazon
See Also: Egg Crate Foam via Amazon
Discussion
The Gearwrench drawer liners are ~$10 a sheet, and given the dimensions of the tool cabinets and chests you can buy today (read more about the tariffs here), you might need more than one liner per drawer.
Despite strongly resembling the cheap egg crate mattress toppers that you might have seen or used before, there are some notable distinctions about this new Gearwrench foam liner.
First, you could buy a mattress liner and cut it to fit your tool drawers, but will it ever stay flat?
These were designed to fit inside 2″ deep tool box drawers, and I would presume that they ship flat and not rolled up.
Gearwrench, designating the foam for automotive tool use, made sure the material is oil and solvent resistant.
The sizing has also been optimized for hand tool organization, as opposed to comfort or sound suppression.
These liners look to be pricey, but might work well for keeping your hand tools nice and tidy in a tool box, especially a mobile box that can shift everything around.
My first thought about these amounted to “egg crate foam, really?” but it could actually be useful. It’s also seemingly more practical than improvising with less expensive foam products designed for other consumer or professional needs.
Jared
Pretty good idea actually. The price seems like the biggest drawback. I really like having foam cut-outs in the drawers of my toolbox I’ve done it to so far – but that’s not free either and takes considerable time.
I might have to consider this for a drawer or two. There’s other ways I think are better to organize some tools – e.g. I prefer a rack that holds pliers on edge for more density but still easy access, removable trays for sockets, grip- rack for wrenches, etc… but this could be great for single or more unique tools like pliers too long to fit in my plier-specific drawer, tire pressure gauge, manual impact driver, ratchets (if I didn’t already have cut-outs), hammer….
Looks like you could cut out the pyramids easily too if you wanted a permanent shape for certain tools (e.g. those tools that come in their own small boxes for example).
Organizing my tools is almost a separate hobby for me, so I appreciate another option!
What I really need now is someone to invent a cheap moldable sheet material that air-hardens so I could just quickly press my tools into it and have a perfect fit.
Jared
P.s. a couple drops of hot glue in the corners of a tool box before installying a previously-rolled foam mat would probably solve the curling issue, so I don’t think that would be an insurmountable problem for someone who wanted to try this method with cheaper materials.
Randy
Thanks for the idea Jared. Now I have an excuse to break out the glue gun.
William Adams
One approach to that is to:
– make a form the size of your drawer
– arrange the tools in the form in a mirror of the desired layout (as if from the underside
– cover with a piece of stretchy cloth such as a T-shirt
– secure the cloth with dowels at the corners
– cover with a piece of plywood with a hole in it
– spray expanding insulation foam in through the hole
Only suitable for tools which won’t be damaged by the heat/pressure of the foam expanding.
https://makezine.com/2011/08/30/how-to-form-fitting-case-drawer-liners-from-old-t-shirts-canned-foam/
William Adams
Original link:
http://www.machinistblog.com/pamper-your-tools/
Benjamen
I actually tried this, the foam leaked through the shirt and got all over the tools.
William Adams
That’s mentioned ad the second link — apparently this is dependent on the brand and type of foam.
Jared
Great link. I’ve seen that article before actually. I thought hard about trying it. The only thing that stopped me was that I didn’t love the idea of cloth being the outer surface. Closed-cell foam cutouts seem nicer to keep everything clean.
Any ideas for alternate materials?
If I could find something stretchy, not too expensive that would wipe clean, I would immediately use that process for a bunch of my yet unorganized drawers.
Jared
I was thinking about this some more because I really like the idea of getting more of my drawers organized – I might try making a fiberglass tray with a similar process.
Seems to me I could build a simple wooden tray the same size as my drawers, lay my tools down in it, add some foam for finger cut-outs, then lay a sheet of polyethylene over it (e.g. drop cloth should work) and fiberglass over it. I’ll probably need some loose fibers to help get into the tight curves and corners, but I think it just might work and look kind of cool.
I would fiberglass up the sides of the wooden box a bit, then trim the panel when I take it out to adjust how high it sits in the drawer.
If it works, it would give me a rigid tray that’s paintable and easy to clean – and completely custom.
Jim Felt
We’ve used a likely similar equivalent foam as part of our Studio Travel Pelican/Tundra and Anvil cases and even earlier US made Halliburton aluminum cases.
So far they seem to fail (as in crumble) in maybe 25+ years? So zero real worries.
I’m ordering some of these to test. We shall see… (Though not about the “25 years” part).
Stuart
Are you referring to standard pick and pluck foam, or contoured in a similar manner to this? Ah – the wavy liner inserts?
Many types of plastic and foam products deteriorate over time, but some – and I would hope a type designed to be oil-resistant – might last longer than others.
Keep in mind that many plastic and foam materials are made from organic substances.
Jim Felt
Ultimately each form has eventually failed. Crumbled maybe is more accurate.
fred
It may be that this foam is more stable over time. Depending on the chemical composition some foams seems to disintegrate within a few years – and that seesm to happen to some that are said to be oil-resistant.
After Stuart posted about Kaizen foam (9/26/2016) I’ve notice ads from folks who offer customized Kaiezen Foam inserts for various toolboxes – and others who make foam “shadow-boards” – but imagine that the prices might be pretty steep. Here are 2 sources that I’ve seen:
https://kaizeninserts.com/
https://www.osaapamerica.com/shadow-boards
Stuart
https://toolguyd.com/fastcap-kaizen-foam-organize-tool-drawers-review/
Leonard
I been using this for years.
https://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Grip-Original-Non-Adhesive-Cabinets/dp/B07773PQG7/
I lined my job box drawers with it. I shipped my job box to Tokyo via ship and when it arrived everything was still in place. I was impressed.
Robtr8
I got two packages a couple weeks ago.
#1 Be careful opening the package, if you just try and pull a sheet out of the sleeve, the sheet rips.
#2 Have a very sharp pair of scissors to cut the sheets with. A knife will only tear it.
It works great for stuff that tends to roll around the the drawer, socket extensions and such.
It works OK for wrenches. It certainly keeps them organized and tilted up to easily read but you can’t get as many wrenches in the same area as a traditional wrench holder.
Nathan
So perhaps I misread it. Is that foam pyramid removeable without cutting?
Or do those tools mat them down. Take that plier picture – does the head of the pliers mat them down to lay even with the handles in the valleys. OR, do you have to remove the pyramids to get that set in place?
Seems like a neat idea, might be worth a try. At this point however I have other sorting and stacking devices (Like TEKTON wrench trays) that I wouldn’ t really need this.
Stuart
I assumed it simply compressed the foam a bit.
Nathan
I assumed that too but the close up on the foam got me wondering.
Joatman
They appear thin but would probably work ok for sound insulation in a studio. Not quite as thick as pro sheets but would definitely work.
Jim Felt
Wouldn’t “pro sheets” equivalents from a foam vendor would be much more cost effective then these small and branded precut sizes?
Though there are fire retardant and dB rated versions for sure.
Frank D
Had hoped it might have been sheets of some more plastic / rubbery substance. Not just re-purposed pyramid foam. Depending on the climate and exposure, this stuff may just last a number of years before it starts to crumble.
Flotsam
I might be interested in trying but $40 is a bit steep to just try. Reality is that for pliers i prefer a pliers rack (too many pliers), sockets best on rails and there are already good wrench organizers as well.
Stuart
Acme has 20% off right now, so $32. Plus shipping, though, unless as part of a $199+ order.
Jared
I’m in the same boat for those same tools.
E.g. pliers racks use way less space – so if you have a lot of pliers it’s almost necessary to stay organized unless you’re going to commit multiple drawers to them. Sockets I prefer a rail/tray so I can easily grab the kit and carry it to my job – pretty much the same for wrenches.
However, this would be nice for a drawer or two of more specialty tools or ratchets. Especially where you might change your selection later and not want to bother with foam-cutting.
P.s. another of my favorite organization tricks was to rivet a socket rail to the side of one of my drawers so I can stick my extensions to it. That way they are all laid out in a neat row, don’t take up any extra space, and can be reorganized easily by moving the clips.
Lee Hopkins
it looks line normal foam if so i would not use it. I used a similar product in a case for sensitive equipment. I found that moisture is adsorbed in to the foam thus touching the equipment causing rust. unless it is a closed cell foam like kizan type foam i would not want my tools laying on a sponge (i live in Houston 80+ Humidity all the time.
Steven B
Too tough to clean! Put one wrench back with grease on it and that foam will dirty up any tool placed in that spot for a long time. It’s not a terrible idea, but I’d hold out for something easier to clean and more durable.