Tap And Die Storage

Anyone have a solution for storage of tap and die tools? I have a big mess in my tool chest and looking to clean it up.



The cheapo set I bought 40 years ago has a box, the blue one, but I also received pieces from my Step father and have acquired pieces I needed for specific purposes. I suppose the first step is to eliminate duplicates........

One thing that's pretty cool, my Step Father did, was put a holder together that has the proper drill bits for each tap, both the tap drill and the clearance drill.

 

Organize it?..............Then how would I find anything? Actually this works just fine for me...........This is the bulk of them , and yes there are many duplicates......There is also Pipe thread in there and lower left corner is all Left Hand Taps & Dies & lots of specialty sizes & and Metric.......

 

I have a set in a plastic case. All the ones that were my Dad's are still in a cardboard box.

 

Taps & Dies, how do you guys work with so few? Duplicates, heck I bet I have 30 of just the 1/4-20 taps. Honestly though I keep all my small ones 2-56 thru 10-32 in a couple of small drawers in a machinist tool box, some of them are in cardboard or plastic end mill tubes and marked what they are. Several tubes with 3-5 of just say 6-32 taps and so on. All my larger ones, #12 and up are just in small drawers with dividers in them, so all of one size is in each little compartment. A lot of my taps have the tip ground and shaped for a specific purpose or job. My dies all stay in the individual plastic case they came in. Labeled on the outside with 1 die per little box, all in a separate drawer.

My taps range from 2-56 thru 7/8” both in fine thread extra fine thread and coarse, along with metric taps from m3 thru m16.
I have hundreds of taps, not quite so many dies along with 100s of reamers and endmills. Drills are all in cases with drill bits larger than 1/2” in wooden stands marked and the bits are in order of there sizes. All my taper shank bits for my lathe are in 1 drawer of a box. There is only about 15-18 of them.

 

I have about a 60lb fishing tackle box trying to contain my collection of taps and dies. I'm in the process of converting over my old small roller cabinet over to a used large Snap-On cabinet where I will dedicate 1 or 2 drawers just for threading tools. I bought some 1/2" thick white starboard that will be cut to the size of drawers, and routed and countersunk to serve as an organizer similar to the flat cases that new sets come in.
I just need to repaint the top chest portion to match the recently repainted lower box.
-Donny

 

Glad I am not the only one with a collection like this.

 

Lets see.......

 

My tap and die storage leaves a little to be desired but it's a compromise between "neat" and storage space needed. These are the ones in the garage. Another drawer full along with a Huot's tap storage "cabinet" in the shop.

 

I'm sooo tapped out, suppose I could die from such disorganization.

I have a standard 80pc craftsman set of SAE and Metric from about 2000, and then I have a hand full of individuals that I put in a fishing-tray. One lives on a shelf, the other in the toolbox near the containers of drill bits.

 

I moved into this house in 76, about the guy across past away, I never met him, was in a home then. I helped his brother liquidate his estate, found buyers for most of his stuff. When I ask how much for his Craftsman drill press, he said he had no idea, I told him I would pay half of new, he liked that so I bought a lot of his tools. I bought a cabinet of draws and in one of them was taps and dies from #6 to 1/2", I used them more than I ever thought I would over the last 40 years, Thank You Mr. Lee.

 

I tried a few solutions before going with a rack of clear plastic parts organizer drawers.

That way, I can have several taps (taper, bottoming, machine feed, roll, etc) in a drawer and have enough drawers for all the common sizes. I also find it handy to put the correct ~70% tap drill in the drawer with the tap, sometimes I want a looser or tighter tap drill, but 95% of the time it's just fine.

 

I sure wish I could find a really good die set with a good die wrench. Seems like they are all cheap ones. Anyone have luck with finding decent ones?

 

If you want good dies, they are round, split and adjustable. They are shiney and made of High speed steel not carbon steel. As a general rule they come individually not in sets. These are pretty decent does for the money.

HSS, Machine Fractional, Standard 1" OD Round Dies | DrillsandCutters.com

I have about a dozen I bought from them and use them in my lathe with a die holder under power. They cut good and have held up well to several years of abuse. Buy them individually as you can and build a nice collection.

 

Do you know if they sell a good die wrench for the dies

 

They sell wrenches for the dies, not sure how good they are. The one I use is probably 60 years old and belonged to my father. Most of the dies I use go in the holder for my lathe tailstock.