How do you organize your drills ?

[12345678910]

How do you organize your drills ?

I've got the standard individual index boxes  for fractional, letter and number up to 1/2"

I've also got a few 17/32" around for 1/2" screw clearance screw holes.



The big problem is the larger drills

Some are reduced 1/2" shanks that I've turned
some long
Some short
some Morse taper 1, 2, 3

Whatever I've bought, inherited or whatever ove the years.

all in baskets that I have to root through to find something


I don't use them too often, but I'd like them organized
I don't really want to line the walls with them.

It would be nice if it fit inside a filiing cabnet drawer or toolbox drawer


What do you do, let me steal your ideas

 

I'm thinking cheap DIY
 

[ianinsa]

I used to use 2x4 and made an inverted u shape with holes drilled in them so you can stand the bits upright. theb you can stach the "u" shapes.

Store the "stack in a cabinet etc. I was lucky enough to pick up a retail bit storage rack so now i use that for most of my bits, still use the 2x4 racks for morse taper though.

 

Ian

 

p.s. I use the same system for hole saws.

[BCROB]

I bought a pkg of 1 x 12 magnets that screw to the front or side of your drill bench or area , right there at your fingertips.......they surely have a Princes Auto in Toronto  

[Frosty]

I have indecies, a box with indexed drawers and often just drill holes in a block of wood for odd sizes.

 

A guy I used to work with just used a piece of styrofoam, lay a bit on it and give it a rap with a mallet. The bit would be driven into the styrofoam and that was that. I thought his method was elegantly simple, practical and easily replaced.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Dan P.]

Organize? Drills? Hmmmmm, interesting idea!

[Timothy Miller]

I use the commercial drill storage boxes made by Huot they are about 150 bucks each but they save us a bunch of time.

 

Bad link removed, maybe poster can try again ?

[Judson Yaggy]

Drill index for the common ones (letter number fraction) and a big drawer full of oddballs with a dedicated micrometer that lives on top of the pile for when the Mark I Eyeball isn't enough.  

 

I also have a block of wood with all the standard tap/drill combos drilled into it in the appropriate pairs, when I break a bit from the tap/drill set the replacement comes from the index, the index gets refreshed from the big mess in the drawer.  

[yahoo2]

This is my favorite for morse tapers, its an upturned drawer with tapered holes drilled in it, it would fit nicely in a filing cabinet.

Peter ,homeshopmachinist

 

Its on my fantasy "to do" job list but most of my big drills are hand-me-downs and the margins are already damaged from rolling around in a drawer :(

 

I recently saw the Styrofoam technique done with a phillips head screwdriver used to punch the holes. You can stick anything in the holes allen keys, drill bits, die grinders, router bits, chuck keys. The foam grips everything tight so it stays where its put.

[Glenn]

May I suggest you organize them by groups, morris, fractional, letter, number, metric, etc and them small to large with a complete set of holes for each set. Zero to  1/2 inch in one set,  1/2 inch and larger in another set. That way if you want 5/8 inch you get the inch set and the big bits. You need to replace the bit in it's hole when you finish (grin)

[Steve Sells]

I only have 3 drills, 2 have a home in a drawer, the other stands on the bench.  but my drill bits I have in a labeled bit index.

[12345678910]

I only have 3 drills, 2 have a home in a drawer, the other stands on the bench.  but my drill bits I have in a labeled bit index.

 

That's not as funny as you think it is.

 

 

What kind of index do you have for the 1/2 to 2" Morse taper bits ?

[Steve Sells]

yup..  I don't think I have have anything with larger than 5/8 inch shanks.    I  drilled holes in a 2x4 for the ones that don't fit into my metal 140 space or so bit index, and for punches, chisels and drifts I welded up rows of 1, 1.5 and 2inch square pipe stock and I made an index.   I have that mounted to the wall near my forge for keeping them in arms reach with out having to dig in a pile for the one I need.   in this photo it is to the right of my face, painted black.

[Dodge]

I only have three Morse taper bits; 5/8", 9/16" and 3/4" so they stand in the same coffee cup as my other large bits (7/16" and up) The rest are in one of those small cabinets with the small plastic drawers. 11/32 ish down to 9/32 ish in one drawer, 1/4" to 7/32" in another (I have a bunch of those) and all the smaller ones; 13/64 down to what I think is my smallest bits #60 in a third drawer. This cabinet sits on a pedestal under my drill press table. For finer indexing, the index card hangs on a nail within arms reach of the DP

 

We are not a production shop, and I simply don't have room for a conventional index system and I have so many dupes that most would sit in the index drawers anyway

 

Your mileage may vary ;)