Too many drill bits

[dwright406]

My Dad built hot rods all of his life, he passed away a few years back and among other things I inherited a box full of drill bits.
The box has always resided under my work bench and I would have to dig through it to find something.
So anyway I am finally sorting through them trying to put them in some kind of order, I laid them out in a 24" x 24" tray.



My dad had a nice Larson drill bit cabinet that was always stocked up, and these were his extras that didn't fit in the cabinet, they are mostly new, most were in the sealed packaging, from human hair size up to 3/4", and a few oddball bits mixed in as well.
I don't have a nice cabinet like he had, I'm working on other storage solutions. I have a metal cabinet with a few empty drawers I'm thinking about making dividers for to keep the different sizes separated. Does anyone else have any good storage ideas?

 

[APEowner]

It's hard to beat the Huot cabinets Link

 

[1320stang]

Drill a block of wood

 

[383 240z]

Take one of each of your extras, but in a box and mail to me, I'm not kidding, I'm looking to buy a bunch of bits to fill in the holes on some of the drill sets I keep next to certain machines. PM me if your interested. Keith

 

[lilredex]

Huots are nice to have, I have them, but they do waste a lot of space with the way their drawer dividers are set up. They are OK for the smaller sizes, but over 5/16" or so, they quickly run out of room, when you have larger quantities.

If you have spare drawers available, I'd approximate the size needed, and bend up some "U" shaped sheet metal troughs to fit the space.

That was my idea before I found the Huots.

 

[gorilla]

You've made a good start, I think the next step would be to bundle all the drills of the same size together with a tie wrap or masking tape. Then I would put them back in the 24'X24" tray and see about making some dividers. A drill cabinet is the best solution for a working shop but this idea may be good enough for a home shop.

 

[383 240z]

How about soup cans for the bigger ones? Fill the cans up standing up right, put them on a shelf just like your pantry, Use those stackable cans and double up. Keith

 

[Steevo]

You do understand that your "problem" will be seen as something akin to "my girlfriend is too pretty" or "my cars are too nice", right?

Gosh, I feel really bad for your "too many drill bits" situation.

Thin the herd if it is a burden.

Oh, and who inherited the Larson cabinet?

 

[NUTTSGT]

All those bits would give me reason enough to buy a bottom box just fro drill bits. I'd make dividers for each drawer and fill it up.

 

[bazzateer]

Less a case of "Too many drill bits" and more a case of "Not enough drills" !!!

 

[road]

Glad to see I'm not the only one with an abundance of " extra " drill bits.
I used a couple of small parts drawer boxes, sized each bit and labeled each drawer with the decimal size and the fractional size , metric / standard or letter / number.
I even sorted out the brands, Butterfiled / Dormer etc..
Then I went on a sharpening spree with the drill doctor.
After that I did all my taps the same way, took me most of a weekend

 

[bob from indiana]

Oil them up and put the ones you will not use for a while in bundles by size with zip ties and store them in an ammo can. They won't take up much room and they will be ready when you need them.

 

[wssix99]

You do understand that your "problem" will be seen as something akin to "my girlfriend is too pretty" or "my cars are too nice", right?

Gosh, I feel really bad for your "too many drill bits" situation.

This could be serious. Drill Bit Hoarding is a very deep and complex psychological issue. I think an intervention is required.

Maybe if we take the bits off of the OP's hands, we can help solve this problem?

 

[PCO6]

... Does anyone else have any good storage ideas?

I store mine in Plano boxes.

View media item 33183

 

[pepi]

As suggested I would take one each size to work with and store the rest, like sizes bundled together, ammo box was a good idea. Hell you would need to hire 10 people with drill doctors to keep that inventory sharp and ready.

Just curious are you now building HotRods, do you use the things your wonderful dad left to you?

 

[Ray-CA]

Here are a couple of ideas....

 

[USA Tool Supply]

You may want to take one of each size to fill your drill index box that you work from and store the others. Hopefully they are bundled by size. Durham or Huot make nice products, but anything made of metal could be pricey. You have a good problem !

 

[TurnipTruck]

I have several shallow drawers lined with squares of scrap corrugated plastic bed liner from pickup trucks holding taps and drillbits.

 

[Mandres]

Why not sell some to garage journal members who will honor your dad's memory by putting them to work?

 

[fourjeepin]

Nice problem to have. . And like others have said, I would go with a Huot. I have had one in my amazon wish list for a couple of years.

 

[gayler]

Take one of each of your extras, but in a box and mail to me, I'm not kidding, I'm looking to buy a bunch of bits to fill in the holes on some of the drill sets I keep next to certain machines. PM me if your interested. Keith

PM me also if interested!!

 

[lotsoftools]

I'll tell you what not to use: http://www.fastenal.com/web/product...1%20Drill%20Dispensers%209and%20Displays%22|~

I have one and it *****. Takes up too much space and the dividers move around.

 

[dwright406]

Just curious are you now building HotRods, do you use the things your wonderful dad left to you?

Yes I am, I take on one full resto at a time in my home shop, and do small side jobs as well.

They will get used, I like some of the ideas so far, I appreciate the inpu from everyone.

Btw I do own a drill doctor as well, and I have 3 drill indexes that are full of the bits I'm working with.

I'll include some more pictures of the cabinet I have in mind and such when I get a chance.

 

[fireguy]

We drill through S/S sheet metal. So we go through the bits. Does the Drill Doctor actually work? Or is it cheaper to toss the dull bits?

 

[Jim C.]

It's hard to beat the Huot cabinets Link

My thinking exactly! With so many drill bits, a Huot cabinet might be the best way to go.

Jim C.

 

[dwright406]

I have a stash of these akro bins that I sorted the bits by size in from 1/16" - 1/2". This is what is left after I topped off my 3 indexes.




I have this metal cabinet with just enough unused drawers to fit all of the bits in.



I can fit 4 bins per drawer, although I will have to modify a few of the bins to get everything to fit, or find some bins that are a little longer.

After filling up a few drawers, this is what I have left, a few bits larger than 1/2", hole saws and oddball stuff.

 

[wdrumheller]

You've made a good start, I think the next step would be to bundle all the drills of the same size together with a tie wrap or masking tape. Then I would put them back in the 24'X24" tray and see about making some dividers. A drill cabinet is the best solution for a working shop but this idea may be good enough for a home shop.

This is what I did, and bought some drill cabinets. Good investment.

A label printer was helpful too for professional looking labels.

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

I store mine in Plano boxes.

View media item 33183

Your out of order numbering makes my OCD hurt...

 

[justanengineer]

I bought a POS (as in, the cheapest one they made) 26" Cman top box at auction for my taper drills and taps, $10 and I filled that sucker. Its not the best solution but it works. Two weeks ago I got a Huot drill dispenser for my small straight shank bits, 1/16-1/2" for $5, another auction. I still have to dig through boxes and begin filling it, but Im already on the hunt for more of them to hold endmills, reamers, and other cutting tools.

You could make one of these

http://archives.tools.oneofakindantiques.com/4022_antique_cleveland_twist_drill_co_cabinet_8.htm

 

[PCO6]

Your out of order numbering makes my OCD hurt...

Think about it. Three shelves - 12 boxes per shelf for 2 and 10 boxes on the third shelf. The numbering works just fine.

 

[gahrajmahal]

We made gifts of a lot of my dads stuff to his friends. The tools I have received from deceased friends always reminds me of them as I work around the old garage.

 

[drmarkr]

We drill through S/S sheet metal. So we go through the bits. Does the Drill Doctor actually work? Or is it cheaper to toss the dull bits?

I've had/used them for 10+ years. Yes, they work. Takes a little practice to get good at it, but saves loads.

I keep a bin near the drill press and when one gets dull, I toss it in. When the bin starts filling up, I fire up the DD and spend an hour sharpening what might be 30-40 bits.

For the record, I got some wood when I saw the OP's pics of all those bits.....

 

[dwright406]

Alright I have all of the drawers loaded up. All of the drill bits are spread among 8 drawers in this cabinet.
The first row of drawers is from 1/16" to 1/4"



The second row of drawers:


The last 2 drawers, up to 1/2" in the left drawer. The right drawer is full of the larger bits up to 3/4", hole saws, bits for wood, masonry, glass, concrete etc...



Overall I have a pretty good stock of most sizes from 1/16" up to 3/4", although I only have one 1/8" bit, I will have to look for more 1/8's.

Eventually I would like to find a nice cabinet like the Huot, which is very similar to my Dad's old Larson cabinet, this setup will have to work for now.
This cabinet that I used I picked up at a garage sale for $5 over the summer, the rest of the drawers are full of things like measuring tapes, flash lights, tire repair and so on. It's missing a few drawers at the bottom, but I can't complain for the price.