Organized Drill Bit Drawer

This project describes how to quickly fabricate dividers for storage drawers. The drawers are dovetailed with a plywood bottom. Since there ere are plenty of how-to articles for cutting dovetails, this just focuses on the dividers.

The trick to quick fabrication and frustration free layout is to lay the dividers in place, drill pilot holes through the top for machine screws that attach from the underside. Nails are used to keep the dividers pinned so the divider doesn't shift position while drilling the second hole. This system lets you easily remove dividers if you need to change things around.

Tools

• Fine finish saw ( product listing on Zoro )
• Bench hook
• Scissors
• Razor knife
• Pencil
• Drill
• Impact driver

Materials

• Nails
• Mahogany
• 35% wool (get the good stuff)
• Machine screws
• Spray adhesive

That little saw in the photo is $11 USD on Zoro. For the price, it is a really nice tool for making fine cuts. The bench hook and that saw is used to cut all of the pieces to length.

Cut the felt to size, and dry fit to make sure it is going to fit.

Spray the felt and drawer bottom with adhesive, then let it flash out until it looses the shine (a couple of minutes).

Start at one corner and work your way back.

If it is a little too big, push the felt into the corner with the end of a ruler, or cut it with the razor knife.

To decide how wide to space the dividers, I put the smallest drill bit I hand on the felt, then made sure I could still get my fingers in to pick it up. For my fingers, that was 1-1/4".

Make a gauge block to set the width between the dividers.

To attach the dividers drill the pilot hole from the top down through the drawer bottom. Then use a nail that is slightly smaller than the drill bit to keep the pieces aligned with the hole. Firmly hold the divider, pull the nail, and screw from the back side.

This shows the machine screws on the back, and the position of the dividers on the front.

This is ready for work. No more digging through the tray of random drill bits!