How do you store H Mill cutters?

One of the folks here was extremely kind to me, and Im now the proud owner of about 150 pounds of various horizontal milling cutters, from form cutters to slab mills. Ive got cutters till Doomsday and a bit beyond

Now this begs the question..whats the best way to store these in a fashion that is easy to pick out a cutter and use, but protects them from each other? Space limitations are the killer, as in any shop.

Anyone have any nifty ways to suggest?

Gunner

"The British attitude is to treat society like a game preserve where a certain percentage of the 'antelope' are expected to be eaten by the "lions". Christopher Morton

Reply to
Gunner
Loading thread data ...

Would it be possible to build something like a wine rack (or spice rack), with a spot for each cutter, and mount it on the wall of your shop? Ken

Reply to
Ken Vale

I've seen this done. All the saws sorted, hung on pegs against the wall. Looked pretty reasonable, but it does take wall space. Maybe behind the mill?

Steve Smith

Reply to
Steve Smith

I recommend outsourcing the storage function. Keep them off-site, so they won't be in your way.

There is a lovely cabinet beneath my horizontal mill which would make a fine storage depot.

Al

Reply to
Alan Raisanen

HA ha! Now *that's* topical.

I was gonna say, just throw them all in a big tin bucket, that seems to be the way most of them are stored, when I find them.

:)

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

Reply to
jim rozen

You could also extend this idea by swinging plywood leaves on stout hinges, with pegs on both sides, on maybe a 6" spacing. I've seen this used on a larger scale for light stuff (model airplane parts). Sort of flip through the leaves. If the leaves were say 1' wide X 2' high, you should be able to fit up to a dozen cutters per side. Of course, this works better for slotters than for some 3" wide 10 lb. plain milling cutter.

Pete Keillor

Reply to
Peter T. Keillor III

On pegs, with disks of cardboard or plastic in between. Pegs on wall, or vertical on shelf.

John Martin

Reply to
JMartin957

I have mostly 3 and 4 inch staggered tooth mill cutters. I make wooden box that looks a lot like an old fashion cheeps box, and put in dividers. I try and make sets by "1/16 th" when practical. When I want to get fancy, I make the bottom of the box circular with a 3 or 4 inch diameter.

Jeff Lindemuth

Reply to
Jeffrey Lindemuth

I haven't gotten around to setting up better storage for mine yet. I've got approx. 500 cutters of various types and sizes currently stored in milk crates(!!)

I'm keeping my eyes open for salvageable rotating racks like you'd find in a book store or an auto parts store display. Stacked Lazy Susans, so to speak. That seems to be the most efficient configuration I can think of. Just place it into a corner of the shop as near to the miller as possible. Actually something like that would be easy enough to fabricate myself. Since you only need a narrow "window" of access, work benches could be placed on either side of the rack, as well. Even if it was in a corner.

Reply to
Artemia Salina

My solution may not be the best, but at least it doesn't take up much valuable space in my shop.

I have a melt pot of resin protector for cutters. Every one of my cutters gets a dip after I purchase or resharpen them. To remove the cutter, I slice the resin in a couple spots and remove it without ruining the resin shape. When I'm done the cutter goes back in the resin protector.

With the cutters in protectors, they are just stacked in drawers by size and function. I label the drawers as to what's in it. One cabinet holds tons of cutters this way.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

I also obtained a large quantity of slab and form cutters and slitting saws at an auction. To store them I built 6"Hx6W"x18L" (internal dimensions) top opening plywood boxes. The cutters are stored vertically not laying flat. To keep the cutters from banging into each other I use 6"x6" squares of polyethylene sheet to separate them. I cut the squares from the sides of kitty litter jugs. They are a little thicker than milk jugs. The sheets are tough enough to prevent metal to metal contact and thin enough that they take up very little space. For protecting slitting saws and very thin cutters the tyvek sleeves for 5-1/4" floppy disks work well. I had to find some use for the hundreds of 5-1/4" disks that I threw away. I was originally going to use the disks themselves for dividers but I found the polyethylene sheets worked better. If you don't have a cat, you can buy thin polyethylene sheet from a plastic supply house. It isn't very expensive.

If you leave a little space in each box, you can flip through the cutters much as you would a stack of record albums. Lids on the boxes are optional but recommended. You can also make the boxes stackable.

It is my personal opinion that if you keep the cutters in a box rather than hanging them, rust is much less of a problem.

Regards

Reply to
Ron Leap

I like the old jewelry store displays - press a button and trays rotate and show you what you 'want'... They are out of mode now - so maybe maybe...

Maybe a D size drawer case and a wood (ply?) inserts that have holes for the cutters - or foam for lay down mode...

A dozen rolling tool boxes fitted in foam - a drawer per shape per type per metal... :-)

Martin

Reply to
Eastburn

Forget all of this Gunner -

Just ship them to me. Then your problem will be dealt with !

Martin :-)

Reply to
Eastburn

Ha ha. My wife (bless her soul) says that I should get a giant-sized one of these, so all I have to do is press a button down in the shop, and one of the machine tools rises up on a carrosel to floor level. A push of the button again and that one slips out of sight, to be replaced by the next one on the line, etc.

"Just think how much room you could save, with all those lathes..."

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

Reply to
jim rozen

Just a quick note, from what I've learned in a past thread... cardboard can cause some rust too. Not sure if it's the glue or some other factor, just wanted to bring it to your attention.

-- Lynn "I have opposable thumbs, and I'm not scared to use em" Amick

formatting link

Reply to
Lynn Amick

If you have a table saw, you could just cut slots in a board such that the cutters would fit into the slots and have whatever's remaining be the spacer. To create both sides of the box, just cut your slotted board down its length. Kinda like one of them CD racks..

In fact, you can get those CD cases cheap/free at some CD stores (it won't have the plastic insert that holds the CD). Just slip your smaller cutters into those cases and the cases into some CD rack (Saturday morning garage sale).

Regards,

Robin

Reply to
Robin S.

Not a bad idea, making up such a rack. Im afraid the plastic CD racks probably wouldn't hold a hundred pounds of side cutting staggered tooth cutters though..and the slab mills..they are a bit more problematic. Think of a 10 lb razor sharp beer can

Gunner

"The British attitude is to treat society like a game preserve where a certain percentage of the 'antelope' are expected to be eaten by the "lions". Christopher Morton

Reply to
Gunner

THat is a hoot.

Actually, Industry does use something like that - but vertical. Schlumberger in Simi Valley has one - it held parts in bins shelf x would have parts ....... and y have ..... a up/down control.

The bins were about the size of a 6 drawer desk. It stood almost 2 stories tall.

Some toy - but it put a lot of stuff in close quarters on the production floor. THe floor was a semiconductor PCB production area - so the parts were more or less light weight.

Martin

Reply to
Eastburn

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.