Drowning in drill bits and accessories!!

[Steve Catts]

All,
A little help please! I am awash is drill bits. Twist bits, brad points, spade, auger, masonry, you get the point. Some are utility, some are for fine work. You name it, I probably have it. Some are in cases, some are in rolls, but more are loose. We all know that drill presses don't have much capacity to hold all this crap. I've seen those trays that clamp onto the post of the drill press, but they don't have much space.

More importantly, a tray or horizontal surface doesn't do much for organizing all of it. PLEASE share how you have handled this in your shops! I'm guessing that I am not alone with this problem. Photos welcome!

Many thanks!

[Lisa Starr]

Steve,

All my drill bits and accessories are in very shallow drawers in a cabinet next to my drill press. Top drawer divided into compartments to hold spade drills. Next drawer down, fractional jobber length twist drills, next forestner bits, next brad points. Bottom drawer holds cases with # and Letter drills and the "misc section".

[Chris Luke]

Me? I'm also drowning in bits. But Adam Savage has drawers, lots of divided and labelled drawers. https://youtu.be/1OPSbF6kM9k?t=263

[Patrick Fleuret]

For standard twist bits I use one of these Huot cabinets. That consolidated a real mess of single bits and partial sets. For metric and other types the original cases work well enough. I still have a drawer with about six or eight loose bits, the ones I use all the time.

[Jim Becker]

When I clean out stuff like this, I put them in a box and donate to the ReStore unless a particular item really isn't serviceable. The remainder is in a drawer that I've been gradually making more organized. The things I use the most (Centrotec Festool stuff plus some other things) have a dedicated drawer with custom inserts I cut with my CNC to organize them.

[Andy D Jones]

Roll-around metal tool cabinet w/drawers, under the DP table, over the base.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[John K Jordan]

All,
A little help please! I am awash is drill bits. Twist bits, brad points, spade, auger, masonry, you get the point. Some are utility, some are for fine work. You name it, I probably have it. Some are in cases, some are in rolls, but more are loose. We all know that drill presses don't have much capacity to hold all this crap. I've seen those trays that clamp onto the post of the drill press, but they don't have much space.

More importantly, a tray or horizontal surface doesn't do much for organizing all of it. PLEASE share how you have handled this in your shops! I'm guessing that I am not alone with this problem. Photos welcome!

Many thanks!

I have most of a roll-around tool box dedicated to drill bits. For loose bits I use the shallow drawers and make dividers and bins by cutting down small microfiche boxes to fit. (I have hundreds of these.) For sets of bits the original organizers usually fit fine. For very long bits and extensions I reserve a long section in the back of a shallow drawer. The taper shank bits I use the most at the lathe are stored in one of the shallow drawers just behind me when I'm standing at the lathe.
The deeper drawers are reserved for larger things like sets of Forstner bits in cases, a stack of tap and die sets, and some sets of organizers that have multiple bits of each size.
Large drill bits and spare sets are stored in my little welding and metalworking shop.
Bits sized for the taps I use the most are stored with the taps.
Bits used at the milling machine and metal lathe (screw machine bits and starter bits) are stored in a cabinet on the wall near the mill.
Two other sets of bits go in my traveling tool box I carry around the farm.
Bits that fit certain jigs and mandrels are stored with the jigs and mandrels so I don't have to hunt for the right size.
The only bits at the drill press are two sets of high end industrial bits in 1/64th increments, ready on a small shelf behind the drill press plus two large Forstner bits for drilling recesses that fit lathe chucks.

I admit I have an embarrassingly large supply of drill bits. I've slowly improved my drill bit organization over the last 10 years so I can almost always find what I need in 30 seconds or so. Shallow drawers with custom organizers are the key for me.

JKJ

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I try to keep bits in their proper home, and always know where they are. In the drill index.
Yeah right..... I just search around, and pick up random bits until I find the one. I usually find it within 30 MINUTES. Takes me a few minutes just to find reading glasses so I can see what size they are. I did recently purchase that multi drill bit pack that was on sale at Woodcraft. Luckily, that has most of the common sizes and I haven't lost or misplaced those. Yet. The 1/8" seems to disappear fast though.
Maybe I should stage a digital caliper near the DP so I can find the right bit faster. Can't read verniers anymore. Curse and boon, those digital calipers.