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

[darkzero]

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.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

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

 

[darkzero]

i have 3d printed ... protector tubes

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

 

[addertooth]

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.

 

[NC Rick]

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.

 

[Papa Charlie]

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.

 

[yukon_rose]

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

 

[BGHansen]

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

 

[Cadillac STS]

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.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

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​