A Channel Lock Pliers Holder for 1/4" Pegboard

A white 3D printed holder on white pegboard with a pair of red-handled channel lock pliers standing in it, handles up and leaning away from the board, and the steel jaws showing below the holder

Channel lock pliers (tongue-and-groove pliers, if you want the proper name) are hard to keep on pegboard. They're long, the head is heavy, and the handles spread apart. Hang them on a pair of hooks and they swing, slide around and fall off when you grab the tool next to them.

This holder works like a holster. The pliers drop in jaws first and stand there with the handles up, ready to grab.

Download the holder and screws free on Printables

The files are on Printables: an STL for the holder, an STL for the printed screw, and a 3MF with my print settings.

Drop them in, pull them out

Front view of the holder on pegboard with CHANNEL LOCKS lettered on a raised tab on the front, the red handles standing up out of the slot and the tips of the jaws showing under the bottom

Jaws first. The pliers go into a slot in the slanted top. The jaws come out through the bottom and the handles stand up out of the top.
The handles lean out. The slot is tilted, so the handles lean away from the board and you can get your hand around them.
The jaws stay underneath. They hang below the holder, close to the board and out of the way.
Grab and go. Pull up on the handles and the pliers come straight out. To put them back, drop them in.
It's labeled. "CHANNEL LOCKS" is on the front, so they always go back in the same place.

Size

Render of the empty holder on pegboard, showing the rectangular slot in its slanted top and the CHANNEL LOCKS label on the front

The holder is 1.8" wide and 5.1" tall (45.7 x 129.1 mm), and it sticks out 4.9" (125.0 mm) from the board. The slot is 3/4" (19.1 mm) wide. It holds one pair of pliers.

How it hangs

Render of the back of the holder, showing two keyhole slots one above the other, each with a round opening at the bottom and a narrow slot running up from it

The holder hangs on two 3D printed screws, the same ones I use on my magnetic chisel holder and my epoxy & glue bottle holder. The screws go into the board first and the heads stay out. The holder hangs on them.

They grip the hole. The 1/4-20 thread is slightly oversize, so it bites into the edge of the pegboard hole.
They center themselves. A tapered tip drops into the hole and lines the screw up as you start it.
They take a flat-head screwdriver. The head has a slot for an ordinary screwdriver.
They lock the holder on. The underside of the head is a cone. The two keyhole slots on the back, 3" (76.2 mm) apart, have tapered lips that fit that cone, so the holder can't pull away from the board.

It fits standard pegboard with 1/4" (6.35 mm) holes on 1" (25.4 mm) spacing, and I tested it on 3/16" (4.8 mm) thick board. It is not for IKEA Skådis or other slotted boards.

Printing it

The holder prints standing upright, the way it hangs, with no supports and no brim. The STL is already in that orientation.

I printed mine in white PETG on an Original Prusa i3 MK3S with a 0.4 mm nozzle and the stock 0.20mm QUALITY @MK3 profile in PrusaSlicer 2.9.6: 2 perimeters, 5% gyroid infill, 5 top and 4 bottom solid layers. PrusaSlicer estimates 7 hours 38 minutes and 96 g of PETG for the holder. The two screws are extra. The Printables page has the full settings and my config file.

What else you'll need

Two printed screws. The screw file is on the same Printables page.
A flat-head screwdriver to drive them.

Putting it up

Pick two holes in one column, 3" (3 holes) apart, one above the other.
Start a printed screw in each hole. The tapered tip centers it.
Turn each screw in with a flat-head screwdriver until the underside of the head touches the board. Stop there, because plastic threads strip if you overtighten them.
Line up the round ends of the keyholes on the back of the holder with the screw heads. Push the holder flat against the board, then slide it down until it stops.
Drop your pliers in, jaws first.

To take it down, lift the pliers out, then lift the holder up and pull it off the screws.

More pegboard holders

These use the same or similar printed screws:

Get the files

Channel Lock Pliers Holder for 1/4" Pegboard on Printables. It is free under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license. If you print one, please post a Make there and tell me which pliers you put in it.