Scratching My Head On This One

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jttheclockman

jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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NJ, USA.
I will throw this question out there in hope to find a good idea I can steal (sorry borrow). Over the years and I mean many many years, I have been buying router bits of all kinds and sizes. I recently sold some large ones that I figured I would never use so cleaned some space. But I have been collecting 1/4" and 1/2" shaft bits of all kinds. But my problem is many times I would throw away the plastic wraper they come in and then wind up throwing in a box. Then when next project comes up I wind up buying same bit because I can not find other one. probably have many duplicates and so on. But last year a started to clean and organize my shop and that has gone real well and coming down to final little things to do. I decide what I am going to do is buy a bunch of the foam rubber mats that you can stand the bits up in. I do not want to build a cabinet with a rows of drilled holes. Just easier with this foam things. I need a way to store the trays. Was thinking attaching to some thin plywood to give strength and I can pull out a group at a time to see what I would need.

My question is has anyone done this and if so I would like to see a photo. I have a vague idea of what i may do but better minds may convince me to go another route. So before I commit I will see what everyone does to store their router bits.. The ones that come in a set I will keep in ther little containers. I have specific ones I use for specific jobs so will leave those alone too. But the loose ones I bet I have over 100. And they are scattered in boxes around the shop. I need to organize them. probably should have mentioned this too. Have no wall space to hang any cabinets. I either need to put on top of a cabinet as a stand up unit or I do have some space inside a cabinet I just cleaned out that had all my Makita 9volt drill and other tools. By the way, does anyone want to buy some Makita drills 9volt the old Cad batteries. ?
 
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I used to have many router bits for all sorts of woodworking - Dovetail, Rabbet, Rail & Stile, etc. I thought about using foam as you mentioned, but I decided to use 3/4" MDF, cut into 2" squares. I drilled 1/2" or 1/4" holes and inserted the router bit shafts into the corresponding holes. I had emptied a drawer in my workbench and used that drawer for bit storage. I have since moved away from using routers, so I have sold all my bits. I have attached a couple photos of my bit storage blocks.

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KMCloonan said:
I used to have many router bits for all sorts of woodworking - Dovetail, Rabbet, Rail & Stile, etc. I thought about using foam as you mentioned, but I decided to use 3/4" MDF, cut into 2" squares. I drilled 1/2" or 1/4" holes and inserted the router bit shafts into the corresponding holes. I had emptied a drawer in my workbench and used that drawer for bit storage. I have since moved away from using routers, so I have sold all my bits. I have attached a couple photos of my bit storage blocks.

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I just do not want to waste time doing the amount I have. I can never move away from a router. As an all around woodworker I just added some new ones I never used before so that will be an interesting learning curve. have a few projects in mind. yesterday I was cleaning out my cabinet that has my lathe mounted on it. i built that thing many years ago. In the drawers I have alot of bits I use at the lathe. Which may give me ideas of making something just for those. Now I crossover with alot of the same bits so maybe have duplicates and will make other areas for those. Those plastic cases as you show is what I was talking about. I know they are better for protection but they take up too much room and why I would always throw them out. I just bought a couple small cheap cabinets that I need to asssemble. I can use the drawers on them but to me it is a waste of space. I am keeping an open mind and hope to see more remedies.
 
John, this is along the lines of a more structured solution, and I was somewhat resistant to this, until I stumbled upon the Rockler Router Bit Storage Inserts. At $8 for 10, it isn't bad and I bet there is something similar out there that is 3D printable. What I found so appealing about these is that they are designed to hold both 1/4" and 1/2" shank!!!

Here is how I used them in the router table/cabinet that I built. The photo is from during the build, but you get the idea. This "drawer" is directly to the left of the compartment to access the router itself and each level holds 28 bits. I could have easily put 3 levels in the same space, but opted for visibility instead. Mine is not half full (yet).

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I just cut solid wood squares about 6"x6"x2" and drill an assortment of 1/4" and 1/2" holes. Depending on the size of
the router bits, I can get about 20 router bits. It's an effective (simple) way to store them as they are easy to see and do
not take up a lot of space.
 
hooked said:
I think I did something similar to what you are talking about. This is an old picture, but I built trays into the side of my router table and pull the trays out as needed. Not fancy, but Functional.

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This is why I p[osted here. Just looking at your set up I got 3 additional ideas that I now want to do. You have a PM. I would like to talk to you.
 
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