How many times have you gone to the garage, opened the drawer to your toolbox, and found that the tape measure you need isn’t exactly where you left it? Or have you finished working on the car and slammed the hood down, only to realize there is now a wrench shaped dent out the top of your hood? While these situations are frustrating, even more dangerous ones can occur if a tool is accidentally left inside an expensive piece of industrial equipment. In our series on practical, around-the-house applications, today’s blog brings us to the garage.
When I was younger, I remember having to be told countless times to put back the tools I had borrowed from my dad’s toolbox. I was notorious for borrowing a tool, using it for some project, and leaving it with that project until I rediscovered it at some future time. It wasn’t until I bought my own toolbox that I realized just how annoying this was. With a few HSI parts and some simple components, a quick glance at a light could tell you whether or not that pesky neighbor returned your tools. Similar to what Blake suggested last week, several of HSI’s steel sensors can easily detect the metal in wrenches, screwdrivers, or just about any other tool you don’t want walking off. For those tools that don’t have enough ferrous metal, a magnet can easily be attached and used with any variety of our standard proximity sensors. Or you could wire a sensor for each drawer to a camera that catches “it wasn’t me” that keeps leaving your tools around the house.
At HSI, we are continually innovating solutions to new and old problems; part of this includes our brainstorming sessions where we try everything from the simple to the crazy ideas. Whether it’s detecting if your kids left the toilet seat up (see Ryan’s article) or a high accuracy sensor for an aerospace or medical application, our team is dedicated to finding a complete solution to the most difficult problems you bring us.
