Storage of taps, dies, slot drills and end mills

[Peter Wood 5Participant @peterwood5]

| would welcome any suggestions for a methodical and cheap method of storing taps, dies mills etc

 

At present all my end mills and slot drills just go into a box. Taps and dies are kept in individual poly bags and then different types eg. ME, metric, BA etc, then go into a larger poly bag. All the bags are were originally labelled with felt tip but this soon wears off.

 

The result is that I seem to waste hours searching for the right item.

 

There must be a better way!

 

Peter

[Peter Wood 5Participant @peterwood5]

[wheeltapperParticipant @wheeltapper]

Hi

I store my taps, milling cutters and reamers in blocks of wood with appropriate holes drilled in them.

 

Don’t use oak, apparently it reacts with the metal.

 

I’ll put some pics on later if you are interested.

 

Roy.

[wheeltapperParticipant @wheeltapper]

LIke this

the wood is given a good wipe over with oil before use.

 

Dies are normally kept in dedicated holders hanging on the wall.

 

Hope this gives you some ideas.

 

Roy

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

15 mins to make all those blocks Roy, not bad!

 

Clive

[wheeltapperParticipant @wheeltapper]

Well, 15 minutes to go and take the picture.

 

Roy.

 

 

BTW Clive, have you started that Nemett engine yet?

 

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Peter

 

I use RAACO wall mounted cabinets – drawers labeled with “Dymo” tape

For screwing kit – one drawer per thread size containing tap(s) & die. For some commonly used sizes also tapping drill ( and clearance too if you can be sure not to use this in error when tapping!) . Just remove drawer from cabinet and carry to job then return all on completion.

Counterbores together in one drawer.

Small end mills/ slot drills again 1 drawer per size.

 

Larger milling cutters, boring tools such as Roy shows, go in those little storage trays, available from Machine DRO, in the drawer of a Bisley cabinet ( bought very cheaply at the local tip!)

 

Centre drills, countersinks and reamers – I use Roy’s method of the wooden block and they live on a shelf near the drill press.

 

I may be a bit fussy but I also have RAACO cabinet drawers for each size of fastening I use frequently. Hence if I want (say) a 6BA nut bolt and washer they will all be in one drawer and again I just take this to the job . Folk may say I’m fussy but I used to keep this stuff all together in a box and it took me ages to find anything. It did take me a while to sort out but now I can put my hand on the thing I want straight away.

 

Cheers

 

Norman

[Chris GunnParticipant @chrisgunn36534]

I made some wooden blocks just like those shown above, which I shuffled around on a shelf for ages. My blocks hold a range of taps, eg BSF, together with the right tapping drill. It is easy to grab the right tap together with the right drill, with no rootling around. When I needed a particular tap, it was always in the last block I found. Then I made a wooden ply turntable supported off the wall, and located by the drill, and attached the blocks to the turntable together with drill stands with number, letter, imperial and metric drill stands. Now whatever I need is a short spin of the turntable away. It is amazing how much valuable time this simple device has saved, and it took an hour or two to make. I am just sorry I did not think of it 40 years ago.

Chris Gunn

PS I also did a similar thing with my morse taper drills, using an old pulley as a base, a wooden turntable about 9″ diameter, and all the drills arranged in a spiral.

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

I just keep mine in a boxes metric/imperial, but I do dip them in that molten plastic gunk to preserve the cutting edges, same with reamers. Saves a lot of space and it doesn’t take long to find the right one. Especially when you only have two

 

Steve

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I use MDF, two bits the top one with holes right through, the bottom plain.

 

3/4″ holes are a good size for storing ER25 collets.

 

Neil

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Hello Roy, I am cutting my teeth on a little 2 cyl. steam engine first, all made from Bronze/Brass from my scrap box.

Basically just to get the feel of the Vertical slide on the lathe which bluntly is a bit of a hassle.

None of my vices will accept more than 50mm so may have to re-kit before I start.

 

clive

[Anonymous]

Small taps, up to about 1/2″ get stored in custom trays like this:

 

 

Larger taps tend to be stored in individual boxes. Dies are either loose on a shelf or in boxes, as are Coventry dies.

 

Reamers tend to be stored in individual boxes; I don’t have many reamers, as I prefer to bore where possible. And yes, I know that can be read two ways.

 

Larger milling cutters are stored individually on shelves. Smaller cutters are stored in the boxes they come in. I have a fairly limited range of the smaller cutters. I tend to design a lot of my own parts, and do a lot of CNC milling where the cutter size is less important. For existing designs I’ll change the design rather than use a weird and wonderful size, especially an imperial size.

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

I use plastic tubes that the domestic engineer donates to me on a regular basis, these normally contain vitamin C tablets or multi vitamins. They are around 20mm diameter and can be cut down to accomodate various materiels.

I mount these in scrap boards of MDF, pine or whatever comes to hand. With a small quantity of light oil or paraffin they provide a rust free storage environment for many small components including taps, milling cutters, drill bits etc.

 

cheers

 

CB

Edited By CoalBurner on 26/01/2012 22:42:03

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Crayons etc often come in boxes with plastic trays or in plastic wallets that are about the size for taps. I have one annoyingly still full of wax sticks. So I make mini plastic tool rolls with individual pockets for each tap by simply stapling along the seams and have incorporated a paper list of the sizes under another layer of plastic.

 

 

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I have to agree with Roy, don’t use Oak. it will rust steel. This is what I learnt from my farther when I was a lad when I asked him why he had to use brass screws in a coffee table he was making from some reclamed Oak.

 

Regards Nick.

[BERTOParticipant @berto]

Hi Peter .

MEW issues 107 , 128 , 137 , & 140 have some ideas that may help you .

 

Regards..

IAN

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

many years ago, I ‘picked up’ and old office KARDEX filing system. These were postcard sized cards which were used for addresses, work progress etc, and were stored flat in a nest of drawers which are about 3/4 inch deep x 24inch long and 7 inch wide. Sling away all the cards and their suspension system and you have a set of super storage drawers – perhaps keep 1 drawer to use for the progress of your model build. With a few wooden divisions, I store taps, dies, drills, reamers, silver solder, marking out tools etc etc. Each can have its own drawer. Perhaps look on flea bay

 

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

This is what my KARDEX system for tap storage looks like, chewing gum tins are good for tiny taps – bottom drawer is a set of chasers.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Here’s my solution:

 

Taps

 

Dies

 

 

The boxes were scrap timber which we used to be able to purchase for 50p a sack from my employer. The tap box had contained a Mercer surface gauge and , I think, the die box was for storing glass photographic plates. The tap box contains pretty much all of my collection: BSW, BSF, ME (26,32,40), BA and metric coarse. I don’t have many taps above 1/2″ (12mm). The base is 1″ tropical ply and there is some minor evidence of rusting on some shanks, presumably from the tannic acid in the timber. When I made the base 20 years ago I put a drop of oil into each hole. Perhaps I should repeat this. The dies are in solid mahogany and do not seem to have attacked the dies but they are in less close contact.

 

Cheers,

 

Rod

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

The tins that sugar free mints come in are handy – the small rectangular ones will hold the screws for a project while it’s dis-assembled. the long tubes are ideal for wire-ended resistors – I got a colleague who gave up smoking to give me all his empties, about 3 or 4 a week.

 

Neil

 

Sugar free MONTHS? What was I think of?

Edited By Stub Mandrel on 27/01/2012 20:14:02

[SpringbokParticipant @springbok]

Wheeltapper beat me to it I use some old wooden floor blocks suitably drilled and a cheapo label maker to indicate what the size is ie; nBA, what die size type of tap or die

ergo BA.BSF.METRIC, BSP. BSW. ME. Works a treat as long as you remember to put it back whenever you have finished with it.

Bob

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi,

 

I’m not keen on keeping items such as taps, reamers, end mills etc loose in drawers or tins etc as the edges can be damaged by the continual rummaging for the correct size. I much prefer the drilled wooden block method. Before I lost most of my stuff I also used colour coding methods, e.g. with drills I painted the flutes, red for imperial, blue for metric and so on, blocks coded to match. I also kept taps and the tap drills in sets in blocks, taper, plug and drill each size all together.

 

Takes a while to organise but it saves so much time as well as keeping the tools safe. I’m at present reorganising but have decided to go all metric, with some imperial inevitably in the UK , and that simplifies the task. As I said it takes time but as the old (Hindu?) saying goes, “How do you eat an Elephant?” Answer – “A slice at a time”. Well, time for some slicing

 

Regards

 

Terry

Edited By Terryd on 28/01/2012 06:31:36

[Peter Wood 5Participant @peterwood5]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

Like Terry, I am not happy to have the tools loose in a tray. At present I try to keep them all in their individual tubes etc albeit they are then all mixed up in a bag or box.

 

I particularly like Roderick’s idea as I have kept a number of the wooden boxes that chinese tools are often delivered in. The box that my height guage arrived in, though a bit bulky, would be just the right size to accomodate a number of custom made wooden trays for taps and dies.

 

The wooden block method seems the best solution for milling tools. I feel a spell of carpentry coming on.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Yes it had to happen, I keep my cutters etc in plastic boxes and I stack them. Cleaned the lathe and turned and as I did so, ‘Crash’ down came the plastic box with all the cutters in it.

All over the concrete floor and I spent ages looking for all the small ones.

Hopefully no damage but i will have to eyeball all of them later.

I think now I will have to come up with secure storage!

 

Clive

[wheeltapperParticipant @wheeltapper]

That reminds of a time when I kept one of those 115 drill boxes next to the pillar drill.

I always kept the lid open and one time I reached up to the shelf to get a box, knocked another box and that landed on the lid of the drill set.

 

Have you any idea how long it takes to find, then pick up, then sort 115 bloody drills?

 

Now all my drill sets stay closed until I need one then it’s opened on the bench, away from possible falling things.

 

Roy.

[Author]

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