When I got a new cordless drill, I splurged and bought an accessory kit for it. The kit had a set of drills, a couple sets of screwdriver bits, a quick change countersink/driver gizmo, and some other stuff. It was pretty nice, except for one thing that made it really annoying: the case.

Image of the tool case.
This could be either side of the case. They look the same. Also, I just noticed that the logo is upside down if you have the latch pointed toward you (as it would be when you open it). Now there’s another thing about the case that annoys me!

Now I could rant for a while about why blow-molded plastic cases blow, but today isn’t the day for that. No, this case has a bigger problem.

Both sides look the same!

Well, it’s actually worse than that. You see, this case is set up so that when it’s closed, all the little bits are held in tightly. But if the case is open, and right-side up, the bits are easy to pluck out of the case and use. Great, right?

Well, yeah, but if the case is opened upside down, the bits will fall everywhere.

And both sides look the same. The odds say you have a 50/50 chance of guessing right. Which in practice means you have a 90% chance of getting down on your hands and knees with a flashlight to find the bits that ricocheted under the workbench. Which is extra-fun when it’s a machine shop with a floor covered in razor-sharp bits of metal!

So mark the top side!

Image of the top of the tool case, marked with a piece of white tape. The top is otherwise identical to the bottom.
A piece of tape solved the problem. Nothing to do about the logo, I suppose.

A lick of white electrical tape (yes, that’s a thing) fixed the problem.