Tap Storage Options

A Lista draw insert would be perfect but that would involve spending more on storing the taps than I spend buying them.
I have yet to come across a Chinese knock-off of their draw inserts - lets face it it is just a bit of injected plastic and can't cost anywhere near what Lista charge to manufacture, seems like an obvious candidate for a Chinese company to copy without putting in any of their own design and development effort.

I'm leaning toward tape or tubes so they can then be pack on top of each other in the smallest amount of space - as I say these will probably be used very infrequently so ready access is not really an issue.

Block of hardwood, with columns of holes of the right sizes. Three rows so I can have starter, inter and bottom.
Left hand end starts at M2.5, and progresses across to M12. The tap teeth never touch each other.
The wood block is rather oily, so I don't get any rust. It is stored upright in a cupboard.
Cheers
Roger

rcaffin said:

Block of hardwood, with columns of holes of the right sizes.

Click to expand...

I should have thought of that. I use the same approach for key seat cutters, large reduced shank end mills and drills, and other tools where the shank diameter is smaller than the edge diameter.

It works well, organizes well, and is inexpensive and easy to do.

I never cared much for having all the sharp points of drills and things pointed up. I still have a scar from the pilot point of a spade drill (for wood) that I got reaching across a tool box in my uncle's work van where he left the bit in the drill motor and it was pointed up. What I reached for was a little heavier than I anticipated and my arm dropped as I pulled whatever it was ( no idea!!) and I got a nice, deep gash several inches long in my forearm. Probably has something to do with my aversion, but to each his own. For taps I seldom use, I keep a pot of dip-deal or seal peel at hand and just toss them in the drawer. Others I just......toss in the drawer. They're tougher than we give them credit for I think. It shouldn't be a case of banging around in there looking for a particular tap anyway. Smaller taps I sometimes keep in the plastic tubes that end mills come in. But that's rare. I'm not that organized.

For cutting tools up to 1/2" that I don't have other storage for I use plastic test tubes:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-Pack-17-...ated-Test-Tubes-with-White-Caps-/381315287064

that I keep in either these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Plastic-Test-Tube-Rack-for-16-18-MM-Test-Tubes-50-Hole-/381315925165

or something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60-Drawer-S...ware-Small-Tool-Bin-Box-Plastic-/322017461581

I had to come up with something fast and cheap when I got a pretty good deal on a bunch of end mills last year.


I realize this doesn't address the original question, but I figured somebody reading this thread might find this useful.

I have the only good way to store taps. So just send your taps to me and I will store them for you.