Machinist tool organization

[xyzeugene]

Hi,

Can some of you post how you organize your machine tools - I see here mostly automotive and rarely see any machinists tool boxes.

Thanks!!!

 

[Falcon67]

Lathe and mill tooling in this, inspection tools in a regular Cman intermediate drawer set.

 

[Keep]

Here is one I built for my drill press. Holds all my taps and drill bits:

Felt lined:

Slides over the base to use the wasted space under the press:

 

[Terranova]

Use the search function, you'll find awesome info like
This thread.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174553&highlight=LilScorpion

 

[A_Pmech]

When I changed paths from aircraft mechanic to machinist the organization of my tool boxes dropped dramatically.

 

[ctgoodman]

Slides over the base to use the wasted space under the press:

Great idea. I totally plan to steal this idea and build one too or modify an existing piece.

 

[Jim B]

+1 That's a great idea!

 

[Terranova]

Check this version out from woodsmith.

http://www.woodsmithshop.com/download/707/3-in-1-drill-press-upgrade.pdf

 

[Keep]

Thats sort of where I stole the idea...lol Picked it up in a "Shop" magazine and customized it for my spot.

Just make sure you buy casters that are tall enough to clear the base of the press, made that mistake....

 

[dcmus]

I have a HD 56 in box with most of my machinist stuff. Gradually moving the mill specific tooling to a Craftsman 2 pc unit.

 

[astroracer]

Most of my mill stuff is in a small Kennedy roll-a-round. The lathes have their own work cart where I keep the carbides and lathe specific tooling. Both of my lathes are in one room while the mill is just outside the door. With the mill as a new addition, running back and forth for tooling has been an issue, but I am getting this stuff organized where it is most commonly used.
Mark

 

[larry_g]

Hi,

Can some of you post how you organize your machine tools - I see here mostly automotive and rarely see any machinists tool boxes.

Thanks!!!

Can you show us yours? Mine is a mess scattered about the shop, a lot of them on the girts of the building below.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[mechan]

Ripped off image, but basically the same organization in a lot of the shops AF wise in my limited experience ...

Everything was cut and shadowed in vidmars.

The drills and reamers under 1/2" for fractional, numbered, and lettered where kept in their metal boxes everything larger was cut in.

Consumables for the lathe were taken out of stock and checked off, so they would typically stay with the lathe or mill.

End mills, slitting saws, etc were cut and shadowed in.

Large items for the mills and lathes were kept on racks / shelves and shadowed or labeled.

Hand tools were all cut and shadowed in.

Universal world wide numbering system scribed on more or less the majority of the stuff in the machine shop, so it was identifiable.

 

[rsanter]

I have a 40" craftsman bottom box that holds all my measuring tools as well as the 1-2-3 blocks and parallels
I have a 44" HF box that holds all my lathe tooling
Bits, bars, chucks, drill bits, reams, centers...etc
Then I have a 33" snap on bottom box that holds all of my mill tooling, the rotary table and the index heas sit on top when not in use

Bob

 

[zkling]

I'm almost ashamed to say I primarily use a kennedy stack, but not the typical tiny top chests (can't stand those). Thin drawers without dividers make good machinist storage IMHO. One tip I use is to accordian fold heavy paper and use that to keep taps, end mills, reamers, etc from rolling and hitting. The V's form perfect seperation. For larger cutters for woodruf key, dovetail and the like I put on end in a block of foam, deep drawers come in handy for that. Most of my measuring tools I keep in a 33" top box, again lots of thin drawers for indicators, mics, etc.