# Tap and Die Storage and Organization - What Do You Do With Yours?



## pontiac428 (Sep 28, 2020)

I had thoughts on this topic after the discussion here https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/general-ratcheting-tap-holder.87158/page-2#post-781141 

And I re-visited a tool storage dilemma I seem to have with taps and dies.  Right now, I have a couple of premium and a couple of decent tap/die/drill sets.  That works out to five or six boxes and a couple of indexes of threading tools.  The cases for some of these sets are compact, and at least one is too big for a tool cabinet drawer.  When I burn a tap or die, I try to replace it with like, but not all of my sets are truly sets anymore.  I'm considering a way to organize and store what I've got.  I can either break sets down into fine/coarse/metric and load new Huot indexes, or I can use sorting trays and sort by nominal diameter (fine and coarse together, dies together with taps), or I can use my current system (blah), or I can ask Regis to poll the audience.

How do you manage your inventory of taps, dies, and tap drills?


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## DavidR8 (Sep 28, 2020)

Definitely interested in this as I am accumulating a larger number of taps and dies!
(Was poised to ask the same question so thanks!)


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## jaek (Sep 28, 2020)

Bought a box of coin envelopes from the office supply store, write the size/style on the envelope, and put them in a cardboard box that holds them in a manner that I can flip through and find the one I'm looking for.


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## Aukai (Sep 28, 2020)

My Craftsman are in their case, Snap on chasers in their case Drill hogs in their cases, and my Greenfields are 3 types per box, by size, in a roll away drawer, and a bunch of miscellaneous ones in a bulk organizer box.


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## DavidR8 (Sep 28, 2020)

I’ll snap a pic of my disorganized mess 


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## Aukai (Sep 28, 2020)

Mine take up 3 shallow drawers


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## macardoso (Sep 28, 2020)

I have a wooden box project box for my taps and dies. #8 and smaller go in a removable shallow tray, #10, #12, and 1/4" go in one section, >1/4" goes in the next (I don't have a ton of these). The final section has all my metric taps, left hand taps, specialty taps, and dies. There is one long section which holds all my tap wrenches, die holders, and tap guides.


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## BGHansen (Sep 28, 2020)

Most of my loose taps and die are in a drawer in a storage cabinet in the shop.  Organized by size in HF storage tubs.  The card slot in the front of the tubs have a bent piece of sheet metal that slides into the slot to mostly close off the front.  Brother label maker for the ID labels on top.  Some tubs have two sizes (4-40 & 5-40, 12-24 & 12-28, etc.).  Those are separated in plastic bags with Sharpie written on the bag for the size.  Also have tap drills in each of the tubs.  Most are just setting loose in the tubs, tap to tap contact.  Frankly, haven't noticed any dulling with this method.  It's not like I'm driving down a bumpy road in my shop.

Also have 5 or 6 tap/die sets in the box.  Those are stored on a general tool rack.

Also have most of my end mills, cap screws, machine bolts, etc. stored the same way.

Bruce


My shop-made storage cabinet.  Drawers are on full-extension glides.  Drawers are made from 1/2" plywood.



Taps and some loose dies.  Arranged by size in HF bins



Most of my end mills are stored by size, # of flutes and HSS vs. carbide



Typical hardware storage


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## pontiac428 (Sep 28, 2020)

Bruce, that drawer set you made is gorgeous!  In all honesty, this is the solution that I need, not just for my taps, but for my whole tool library.  Somehow, I manage to foul up most projects made in wood (hey, it's not a uniform or stable material!), but I can also do some potential horse-trading with people who can work in wood better than a 6 year old in exchange for welding or metal work...  I will do Damascus in exchange for figured maple!


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## mksj (Sep 28, 2020)

Not as many tap and dies as Bruce , I buy most of my hand taps in sets and have dies in boxes, or package of multiples as backup. I have a large HF 72" tool chest that I use for most of my tooling that fits in flat drawers. Tap and dies are in one drawer for the most part, also have a Snap-On set that has served me well through the years with backups, but for day to day use I mostly use the tap sets in the boxes. Dies I have boxes with multiple adjustable round sets. Hand tapping tools in the same drawer along with extensions. Imperial is on the left and I keep my metrics taps on the right, everything in ascending sizes and tolerances. I have a separate drawer at my lathe and mill that have some specialty tap/die holders for each machine. Makes it much easier to see everything in one draw, I previously had it spread out in multiple smaller drawers and it was a real PTA to find what I was looking for.  

I have a separate drawers for tap drills, stubs, regular imperial and metric drills, along with several other draws for different drilling and coring cutters. I use a separate HF 18" cabinet at my mill and lathe for all their related equipment. Works out nicely, I have my mill and lathe opposing each other and the HF cabinet is the 3rd leg of the triangle. I added a maple laminated top the the 72" HF cabinet so I can use it as a work surface, also has a 6" vise and electrical strip. Less expensive and more functional then those modular garage cabinets. Hardware is in metal cabinets similar to what Bruce has done.


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## DavidR8 (Sep 28, 2020)

Is it possible to buy the plastic containers taps come in?


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## Cadillac STS (Sep 28, 2020)

I keep taps in tubes along with the proper drill size   That way if I want a certain tap I already have the drill for it. And with the drill only for that purpose they stay sharp and ready. 

Skips the step looking up the drill size then finding the drill bit.


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## francist (Sep 28, 2020)

DavidR8 said:


> Is it possible to buy the plastic containers taps come in?


Like these?....


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## DavidR8 (Sep 28, 2020)

This is my current method of storage. Please don’t kick me out because they aren’t protected from each other 






@francist 
Yes those are exactly what I mean! 


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## llamatrails (Sep 28, 2020)

@*DavidR8

Well, they are pretty cheesy containers ...  *


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## darkzero (Sep 28, 2020)

DavidR8 said:


> Is it possible to buy the plastic containers taps come in?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



I buy the telescoping tubes like francist posted from Mcmaster. I don't use em for taps but I do use them for various tooling. I searched for a while & could only find a good selection of them from Mcmaster. All the other places I found were the manufacturers or distributors where you have to purchase them in large quanities for each size.

On the same page below I also buy the cut to length tubes that use end caps. But I don't buy the end caps they sell for them, I'm cheap & just use regular vinyl caps. I use those for my end mills that didn't come in their own containers.

But I know you are in Canada & Mcmaster doesn't ship internationally. I hear there is some sort of way for Canada though & I've seen that AvE gets orders from Mcmaster.

I'm not laughing at you though, I have a very small collection of taps. You'd laugh if you saw how I store them & how very little I have. You probably have more than me in just that one pic. 

https://www.mcmaster.com/shipping-tubes


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## francist (Sep 28, 2020)

The small clear ones with the rubbery caps are available here through ULINE — price is about a dollar a piece for 1/2” x 4” with two end caps. Not exactly cheap for storage tubes.

-frank


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## darkzero (Sep 28, 2020)

francist said:


> The small clear ones with the rubbery caps are available here through ULINE — price is about a dollar a piece for 1/2” x 4” with two end caps. Not exactly cheap for storage tubes.
> 
> -frank



Oh wow! Is that 4" length for a dollar or 4' (feet)? If 4" that is expensive. 4 feet of 1/2" is $1.61 from Mcmaster & doesn't include the caps so if ULINE is actually 4'/48" with caps that's pretty cheap.


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## darkzero (Sep 28, 2020)

Oh BTW, they say you can just cut the tubes with scissors & you can but I use this cheap mini HF chop saw. It works perfect for cutting them & does a very nice job. Funny I've had this saw for years & never used it on anything until I started using those tubes.


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## francist (Sep 28, 2020)

Haha, I wish! Yes that’s 4 inches. The tube is 65 cents and the caps are 25 cents a piece, based on quantities of 25. Price goes down a bit with volume, but not crazy lots.


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## darkzero (Sep 29, 2020)

Ah I see. I suspect it's that caps that make up the high price. Like the caps from Mcmaster, they cost $10.70 for 100 of the 1/2". But they do have square ends to prevent rolling. I don't care about that so I just buy plain vinyl caps from them. For comparison 100 of 1/2 vinyl caps are only $5.16. They fit a bit tight on the tubes at first but once they've been on them for a while they stretch out to size.

I'm sure there has to be other suppliers for this sort of stuff both here & Canada but I haven't searched in a while.


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## Ulma Doctor (Sep 29, 2020)

i have 3d printed tap protector tubes, and small boxes for storage


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## darkzero (Sep 29, 2020)

Ulma Doctor said:


> i have 3d printed ... protector tubes



Me too! Well, just one but it's a genuine!


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## addertooth (Sep 29, 2020)

I bought a mid-low grade set, and when I need to do some serious work, I get a high quality tap/die and replace the matching one in the set.  For basic work, I just use the one in the set.


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## NC Rick (Sep 29, 2020)

I'm not the guy to talk to about organizing, I'm listening but I have struggled with it all my life.  I do like this company:





						Red plastic tool box drawer system
					

Tool box drawer organizers




					www.schallercorporation.com
				



With regard to drawers, i have wanted some Lista cabinets for years.  I have never found any I could afford.  What I have done is to buy chinesium tool boxes from Homeless Despot and have had good luck with them.  I particularly like the heavy duty 72x24" 18g. steel one I got most recently (less than a year ago).  I like the way all of them work better than the older snap-on boxes I own.  My big one holds only tooling for the lathe and mill.


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## Papa Charlie (Sep 29, 2020)

I haven't purchased a set of tap and dies in many years. Always seem to end up using about a 1/3rd of them. I have three tool dispensing tubes with a rubber cap and a slit in the top cap to hold my taps. One for metric, one for imperial and one for pipe taps. Work reasonably well, but have often thought about buying one of those drill cabinets with the drawers and the dividers like the shop I use to work in. Of course this was for storing multiple drills of the same size but they were easy to access and of course they hold more than one.

There are some great ideas here. Will enjoy following this thread.


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## yukon_rose (Sep 29, 2020)

pontiac428 said:


> I had thoughts on this topic after the discussion here https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/general-ratcheting-tap-holder.87158/page-2#post-781141
> 
> 
> How do you manage your inventory of taps, dies, and tap drills?



For my taps I bought a couple of Huot 1-60 drill dispensers. I removed the existing labels and made my own. The new labels also include the tap drill size. These work for my taps of 1/2" and less. For the sizes greater than 1/2 but below 1", I have them in clear plastic small parts boxes. The sizes from 1" and up are in an old IBM Punch Card cabinet.

The dies are far less organized - to the point that trying to explain it would sound silly.

Gary


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## BGHansen (Sep 29, 2020)

pontiac428 said:


> Bruce, that drawer set you made is gorgeous!  In all honesty, this is the solution that I need, not just for my taps, but for my whole tool library.  Somehow, I manage to foul up most projects made in wood (hey, it's not a uniform or stable material!), but I can also do some potential horse-trading with people who can work in wood better than a 6 year old in exchange for welding or metal work...  I will do Damascus in exchange for figured maple!


Thanks!  It is nice to open the drawer, pull the HF bin and head to the job.  I've been playing with roll form taps (think that's the term) for CNC jobs on the Tormach.  Tap drill is a different size so those are stored in another drawer.

Thank the Chinese for helping with the storage cabinets.  I recall buying full-extension drawer glides for around $15 - $20 each for 16"'ers.  My cabinets use 22" full extension glides rated at 100 lbs. for $5 each. 

I used 1/2" plywood for the drawer sides and bottoms.  I made our kitchen cabinets with 1/4" oak veneer ply and ended up with over 1/4" sag in the middle of ones with too much stuff crammed in.  I recall moment of inertia for a rectangular beam being something like "base x height^3 / 12".  Cube the thickness as a factor for stiffness, so 1/2" over 1/4" material bumps up stiffness by a factor of 8.  No issues with the drawer bottoms flexing so far.

Bruce


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## Cadillac STS (Sep 29, 2020)

If taps are not organized which is fine it is nice to have a magnifying glass near by to see the labels on the taps easier.


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## Bi11Hudson (Sep 29, 2020)

I actually use a combination of the first three methods in the poll. But the system would only allow one choice.

Long ago, I "stole" some *empty* set boxes so have several "sets". They are divided up based on several systems. First off is Metric, Fractional, and "special" threads such as ACME and "unusual" threads such as 1/2-40. FWIW, I used to do jobs that involved 40 TPI, a loonnngggg time ago. Each of these has their own cases. I have a set of Craftsman taps, Nr6 to 1/2 inch in the original case. The others are built up, over time. Sorted by size, sub sorted by TPI.

Then there are the smaller sizes, Nr4 and smaller. I took (nominal) 1/4 Plexi' and glued up a stand. It contains Nr 4 down to 3/0-120 taps and the appropriate tap and clearance drills. Metric equivilents have a cute little plastic case.

And lastly, there are many sizes that are duplicated because I use them on a regular basis. If something happens at 3AM Saturday I don't want to wait until Monday to order a replacement. These are kept in drawers in envelopes, essentially as they are acquired. There are also a few oddities such as 1-1/2x8 and 1-1/4 IPT that are kept the same way because of their rarity of usage.

Taps, excepting pipe and the one large machine size, only get as large as 3/4 inch. Threading dies are kept with the taps for the most part. With the same systems. Tap drills only get as large as 1/2 inch. The drills, other than the small tap sizes, are kept in indeces. Spares are in envelopes in deep storage, same as the spare taps.

My systems will probably be useless to the average person. The extent of my tap sizes is rather large because anything I used at work was usually duplicated in my personal shop. Usually *at my expense, not my employers'*. Add to that the small sizes used in my model building and (ex)motorcycle maintenance and the sets are extensive. ++*Edit*++To acknowledge the above post, I have magnifiers at several locations in the shop as well as a portable glass in my pocket. As well as my eyeglasses.

Bill Hudson​


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## Cheeseking (Sep 29, 2020)

Ha I’m at that point of relating to needing the magnifier lupes held at just the right angle to be able to read tool markings! I settled on various versions of slim plastic tackle box type containers to somewhat organize taps and cutters.


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## hman (Sep 29, 2020)

(1) My inch "go to" set.  Drill & tap index bought (populated with Cleveland D&Ts) from McDonald Industrial in Albany, OR some years ago - old and dusty on the store shelf, and a real bargain at somwhere in the $100-200 range.  The little can on the red base is my "tap dip."  It's a vintage 35mm film cassette.


(2) My "equivalent" metric set,  I bought the base not too long ago, and had forgotten how many mistakes it had in it (first saw one back in the '70s).  But useful nonetheless.  I add PVC half-pipes on the sides to store the dies.


(3) A storage drawer set I got (at a garage sale?) a few years ago, for my inch spares, dies, and larger sizes.


(4) Tap and die wrenches, more taps, etc. in plastic bins nearby.
PS - I have a number of odd-pitch metric taps & dies.  If anybody needs such an animal, PM me and I'll look to see if I have what you need.


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## shadetreedad (Oct 2, 2020)

One day years ago I got tired of digging through my bucket of taps/dies and grabbed an old 2x12 board and drilled some holes in it for them. Took a couple tries before I got the spacing close to right. Most of them have the taper and a bottoming tap. Metrics are in the Irwin container they came with plus some additions. I still have my spare/extra taps in that bucket.


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## Aukai (Oct 2, 2020)

Some of mine


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## Liljoebrshooter (Oct 2, 2020)

I need to figure out a way to hold my large taps.  Just something I have been adding to the collection.

Joe


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## Barncat (Oct 3, 2020)

I did the holes in a board method also. I had been told that they will rust where contacting the wood, but my previous smaller board had taps in it for more than a decade with no rust, so I don’t really worry about that. Maybe all the cutting oil leftover on the taps keep them from rusting.


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## savarin (Oct 3, 2020)

Not owning as many taps and dies as you guys I keep them in the tubes they were purchased in.
I use predominately metric but did amass a reasonably large collection of Whitworth sizes.
To store those I used a 25mmx300mm x400 pine plank, screwed a sheet of thin ply for a lid then used a forstner bit to make the holes for the dies and router bits for three taps and a clearance drill.
They looked very neat and every thing needed was together.
I soaked the wood in clean engine oil for a few days as an anti ruse and that appeared to work fine.
The major problem was I lent it to what I thought was a friend who absconded with the lot so I dont even have a photo of it.
I've been meaning to do it again for all my metric taps etc but I need a round tuit.


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## DavidR8 (Oct 3, 2020)

savarin said:


> The major problem was I lent it to what I thought was a friend who absconded with the lot so I dont even have a photo of it.


Jeepers, that really sucks!


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## hman (Oct 4, 2020)

Good grief!!!  With friends like those ... who needs friends?


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## Superburban (Oct 4, 2020)

Cadillac STS said:


> If taps are not organized which is fine it is nice to have a magnifying glass near by to see the labels on the taps easier.


Having just upgraded to a smart phone, I have been playing and discovered that if you open the cameras, and then zoom in it will focus close enough to read a lot of small print. At least with this Iphone 7.

Great thing to remember at yard sales.


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## Cheeseking (Oct 4, 2020)

Yes. Ive used the zoom in on a cell phone pic trick here and there. Also had to do it in cramped places where my head was too close to what I was trying to read and couldn’t back up enough to where my eyes could focus. Frustrating.


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## Cadillac STS (Oct 10, 2020)

A source of plastic tubes if you want to store them that way is searching “scroll saw blade tubes” on Amazon. Can get 20 with a rack for $13 or so


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