How To Organize Allen Hex Wrench Keys Using Drill Index Drawer Cabinets and Benchtop Storage
- May 26
- 3 min read
Updated: 9 hours ago
Allen hex keys seem to eventually just pile up in a drawer or toolbox compartment and you end up wasting a lot of time digging through them trying to find the perfect one. I have not been able to find an off the shelf solution that allows storage of excess loose hex wrenches that are not organized in their individual storage. I need something that can hold a lot of extra wrenches of the same sizes.
I use drill index drawers, Huot brand, and they are fantastic. Mine are old, second hand, and yes the inserts are plastic. The advantage of the plastic inserts is that the drills do not scratch the paint/metal leading to rust, the drills are isolated from the metal box, so they won't rust if the box rusts, the dividers have rounded bottom corners, making it easy to get drill bits out, and the plastic can be replaced with 3D printed inserts.
VEVOR has some metal drill indexes with ball bearing drawer slides. Ball bearing drawer slides might seem like a nice feature at first, but they may not stand the test of time like the metal friction slides of the Huot boxes. The VEVOR dividers are metal and welded in, so they can not be changed. The bottom corners are sharp 90 degree corners, making small drill bits difficult to lift out of the corners. This can be solved with some cut to size tool drawer rubber/foam mat, or 3D printed inserts.
Common hex wrench kits have 26 wrenches that cover the metric and inch range, so about 13 wrenches of each unit. This VEVOR drill index cabinet has 29 compartments. This is perfect for storing the range of loose hex wrenches we have.
WHERE TO BUY:
Time to break out the label maker and add the hex wrench size labels.
I was thinking that it might make sense to organize the inch and metric together in a way that they alternate based on their size.
This drill bit holder could be a good benchtop solution, however it does look like it takes up a lot of benchtop space. I prefer a cabinet with drawers that can be undermounted.
WHERE TO BUY:
PORTABLE DRILL STORAGE FOR MULTIPLES OF THE SAME SIZE
This is another drill storage issue. Most drill sets only have space for 1 drill of a certain size. Popular drill sizes like 1/8 or 1/4 may have 2 slots. But if you have more than that, they just get thrown into the space between.
I need a portable drill storage that allows me to store multiples of the same size. I should focus on fractional sizes only.
This looks like a good, inexpensive, modular storage solution. Using the dovetails on the interior walls, a custom 3D-printed insert can be made to efficiently organize drill bits into bins. It will probably take more than one of these to organize the whole range of fractional drills.
WHERE TO BUY:
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