On Sep 26, 8:25 pm, "DoN. Nichols" wrote:
On 2008-09-26, Jim Wilkins wrote:

On Sep 26, 1:24 am, bill wrote:

anyway, I have a set of S&D drills that came in a cardboard box - and
inside the cardboard box, more boxes, each with a drill wrapped in
paper and plastic inside - well, that's a pain, so I want a drill
index (9/16 to 1 inch X 1/6ths). Huot makes a suitable index but by
the time I buy it and pay shipping the index will cost me more than
these cheap chinese S&D drills - of course I'll then have a nice Huot
drill index ...

I bought the Huot index and discovered that several of my Chinese S&D
drills are too long for it.

So -- sharpen them a few times. :-)

Good Luck,

The longest is 1-5/8" too long. It's a US-made 33/64, the tap drill
for 9/16-18, so there's no official place for it in the index anyway,
or for the 17/32 tap drill for 5/8-11 or the 21/32 for 3/4-10. The
first two are also clearance for 1/2" bolt shanks if welding shifts
the original tight 1/2" hole.

I bought the $25 "5 Piece Super Stubby.." S&D set for extra vertical
clearance on my small Clausing mill. For occasional hobby use on mild
steel they aren't bad. They are packed in a wooden box with two
notched strips to separate them which is considerably more space-
efficient than the bulky Huot index. The Huot S&D index puts two rows
of bits in one tilting block, so they need finger clearance all around
and aren't packed in close rows like their other models. A good point
of the Huot is that it is twice the size of the fractional index and
two of them fit nicely on top of it.

You could make a considerably smaller storage box with two wedge-
shaped wooden blocks facing in opposite directions so the points of
one row rest on the wood of the other.

Jim Wilkins