Hanging Drill Bit Organizer (Made From Styrofoam!)

Almost all of us have this problem: Organizing our drill-bits...

In the last couple months, I found that I've been using my drill almost everyday to drill holes. I have a container that holds different sized drill bits, But it's always a mess, And I can't stand things that aren't organized! The box takes up space in my room, Which is pretty small. I decided that I need to find a way to get my drill-bits Off my table, Off my shelves, And off my floor!

I've been searching a pretty long time for a good way to store my drill-bits. After a few weeks of thinking and searching on the internet, To my luck, I stumbled across a "Family Handyman" article that shows an absolutely genius way to store them: In a block of styrofoam!

There were no instructions on how to make it, So I thought I would share the process of me making mine with the Instructables Community.

Materials:

Thick Styrofoam Board Insulation Material (I found it for free, But I don't think it should be expensive)

Spray Paint (I had only black)

Double Sided Tape

Tools:

A Candle or a Torch

Drill Bits (The ones that you're going to mount...)

Caliper (For measuring the size of your drill-bits)

Utility Knife (It has to be extremely sharp)

A long Ruler (30cm / 12")

Black Permanent Marker

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Why: Organize Your Drill Bits! No More Mess!

Protection Gear Needed: A ventilated area to work in, Fire Extinguisher, Preferably also a Respirator

Cost (for me): FREE!

Needed Skills: Not being scared of fire...

Approximate Time: 1.5 hours (You probably have more drill bits than me)

I use only Spur-bits (wood), And Twist-bits (metal), I also have one Countersink bit that I want to hang because it looks like something I could use in the future.

This means that I chose to keep: 4, 5, 6, 8, 10mm Spur-bits (Yup, This is all I have)

And 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10mm Twist-bits.

All of the other bits have stayed in the box (Such as Masonry concrete bits), Because I don't use them.

I found out that sticking a drill bit into styrofoam doesn't work very well. The thick drill bits can't crush the styrofoam and make a hole. I tried to drill them in, But that only made the styrofoam crumble, So that was a fail too... I decided to try melting the styrofoam and it worked! Another good thing about melting it is that it coats the hole with hardened polystyrene, Which strengthens it a bit.

I chose to use a 2mm drill bit to make all of the holes for the drill bits.

First, I Heated the drill bit for around a minute.

After that, I inserted the drill-bit into the styrofoam at a ~30 degree angle. You should see the styrofoam melt and disappear when it touches the drill bit. Do this slowly and carefully, You don't want to mess up. For bigger drill-bits, I widened the hole a bit more, This is pretty easy to do

WARNING: Do this in a ventilated area, The fumes given off when burning styrofoam probably aren't something you want to be breathing in(Though they do have a nice sweet & sour smell)

If you made a mistake (I made only one), This is how you can fix it:

If it's a small mistake, You can fill the hole with PVA "Elmers School Glue", I tried that, But it wasn't good enough for me.

I decided to glue a tiny magnet* to the top of the hole with clear silicone adhesive. This worked well for me because my drill bit can get magnetized.

Now that it is straight, You can move on to the next step...

*I salvaged this magnet out a small speaker, You can salvage magnets from speakers for free too!

First, I marked the size that I wanted it to be with a Sharpie, After that, I used a Utility Knife to cut the styrofoam to the size I wanted. To help cut the styrofoam straight, I used the ruler as a guide, Similar to how a fence works on a table-saw.

The styrofoam I used is pretty stiff, And doesn't make a lot of noise when cut, But softer kinds make an awfully annoying sound. You can put on headphones with music so it won't annoy you. AAARGH!

I'm planning on buying spade bits (If they aren't too expensive) in the future for drilling bigger holes into wood, This isn't a problem because I can always add another piece of styrofoam if I want to add more storage space

I found out have we have a really old can of spray paint, And to my luck, It was full. I painted it black because it was the only color of spray paint that I had, But I think green would look better for my room.

WARNING: Not only should you do this in a well ventilated area, But I also tested out this spray paint on a leftover piece, It it looked like the spray-paint dissolved the styrofoam if I put a dark coat. But if I put a light coat, Then it is okay. I guess it still looks better than before with only a light coat

I put some double sided tape onto the back, And mounted it onto my closet. I think there are adhesives that are meant specifically for styrofoam, But double sided tape sticks strong to styrofoam.

DONE!

Don't forget to Follow me on Instructables & Let me know if you make one, They are really easy to make!