Where to start....
Ok, bear with me here. I live in your average home, nothing fancy or overly spacious, it's a stretched out bungalow, but it was built in the 60's. At any given time in our house we have 143 projects on the go, from running ethernet and setting up access points around the house, to building a garden shed. We don't have a shortage of projects around here trying to make this house the way we want it. We however do not use contractors all the time, a lot of projects are done by us, so we have invested in a lot of tools to help with the projects.
The most used tools are my drills, I have three impact drivers, and a hammer drill. Now let me explain why I have 3 impact drivers. Sometimes, DeWalt has these great deals on impact drills after the holidays, I was in the need for some new batteries and the cost of a new battery was roughly the cost of a new impact driver kit that included battery, charger, and impact drill. I digress...
So my issue is not with having enough tools, but rather knowing where each tool is at any given moment. There is one impact driver that I like to use because it is a 3-speed impact which is great for delicate jobs and demanding ones. That was going missing all the time. Sometimes it would go missing in the same room as I was in - it fell into the garbage after i knocked it with a piece of lumber.
It got me thinking, if only DeWalt had a way for me to keep track of my tools, and sure enough, they do! It's a cool looking system, but it's a lot of extra money, and I already had my tools. So I looked for a replacement - plug and play solutions. Nothing... Then I said f*** it, I'll just make something.
The process was simple, figure out the commonality between my drills, and the method to track. I looked at building my own sensors, not impossible, but the form factor would be huge! I also thought, there's likely a better way to do this, surely someone solved this. Then I rememberd, I used AirTags for a few other items. The AirTags have a cost, but the tracking service is free, and they work well.
I then went away with a caliper and an AirTag, did a bunch of measure ments, then measured my drills. Found the hole patterns, sizes of screws needed, and started mocking it up in Fusion360. I printed off samples to test how things would fit, detrmined clearances, interference, and all of that stuff.
What I ended up with was a final product that actually doesn't get in the way, it fits all my drills, and if they ever get stolen or lost. I have a quick way to try and find them again. What it really does for me is helps me keep organized.
I went through this process solve a need that was unique to me, after posting it on Reddit, it appeared as if there were a bunch of people who also had that same issue, or they just wanted something kind of strange to hang off their drills.