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Tap Organizer/Dispensers
- Thread starter projectnut
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2017
- Messages
- 5,244
It’s all about cost for me because folks get carried away sometimes. There are a couple of those card catalogs around and they have become some kind of collector thing or used by beaders and quilters so one is $1000 and the other $400. I picked this up a while back for $20. I’ve had to take other projects first. I think it’s an old hydraulic fittings bin. HF sells these great hd drawer organizers and I cut them up for different sizes nuts and bolts.
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- Joined
- Apr 14, 2014
- Messages
- 3,142
An update on tap organization.
I got a chance to start organizing the taps this afternoon. As expected there were slightly over 500 so far, but that only includes wire numbers and fractionals 1" and below. I still have to use a drawer in the printers cabinet for metrics, pipe sizes, and anything over an inch.
The Huot cabinets certainly help, but it's a bit of a mixed bag. The organizer for the numbers provides a slot each plug, taper, STI (special thread insert) and bottoming taps for sizes from 2-56 thru 12-28. There are no provisions for sizes 0 and 1, or any left hand taps. There is however sufficient room behind the compartment slots to store additional taps.
As for the fractional sizes it's a little more complicated. There is only 1 slot for each size. That means no separation of plug, taper, STI, or bottoming styles. In addition the sizes over 5/8" are only large enough to accommodate 2 or 3 taps at most. I'm glad I purchased 2 of the fractional organizers because I needed all the room they both have for sizes 1/4" thru 1/2" All the slots are full with a few stragglers in storage in the number size cabinet.
If you're considering these style cabinets be aware the fractional size ones are for the most common sizes only. Unfortunately my collection has nearly 60 uncommon sizes like 4-36, 1/4-14, and others used on older machinery that are now considered obsolete. There are also no provisions for specialty taps like left hand.
With the majority of the taps moved to the organizers I'll be able to rearrange the drawers in the printers cabinet to better organize the drills. I'm sure there won't be a compartment available for each size and style, but at least I won't have to sort through a big pile to find what I need.
I got a chance to start organizing the taps this afternoon. As expected there were slightly over 500 so far, but that only includes wire numbers and fractionals 1" and below. I still have to use a drawer in the printers cabinet for metrics, pipe sizes, and anything over an inch.
The Huot cabinets certainly help, but it's a bit of a mixed bag. The organizer for the numbers provides a slot each plug, taper, STI (special thread insert) and bottoming taps for sizes from 2-56 thru 12-28. There are no provisions for sizes 0 and 1, or any left hand taps. There is however sufficient room behind the compartment slots to store additional taps.
As for the fractional sizes it's a little more complicated. There is only 1 slot for each size. That means no separation of plug, taper, STI, or bottoming styles. In addition the sizes over 5/8" are only large enough to accommodate 2 or 3 taps at most. I'm glad I purchased 2 of the fractional organizers because I needed all the room they both have for sizes 1/4" thru 1/2" All the slots are full with a few stragglers in storage in the number size cabinet.
If you're considering these style cabinets be aware the fractional size ones are for the most common sizes only. Unfortunately my collection has nearly 60 uncommon sizes like 4-36, 1/4-14, and others used on older machinery that are now considered obsolete. There are also no provisions for specialty taps like left hand.
With the majority of the taps moved to the organizers I'll be able to rearrange the drawers in the printers cabinet to better organize the drills. I'm sure there won't be a compartment available for each size and style, but at least I won't have to sort through a big pile to find what I need.