Rack for horizontal mill cutters- ideas?

[Pete O]

I need to make a rack to organize & store the bonanza of mill cutters I scored a while back. I'd appreciate any photos or ideas of racks that others use. I'm thinking of a frame of RHS (square tubing) with, say, 6" lengths of 3/4" pipe sticking out near horizontally- but slightly angled upward- to take the 1" spigot bore of the cutters, sorted by thickness. Ideally I want to mount the rack in the 'compactus' shelving unit that I've just installed in the workshop. Don't want to reinvent the wheel and then learn of a better way, as so often I find myself doing!

[Sunset Machine]

I don't have many cutters, but what I have is in a pile. The *plan* is a plywood back and dowels to hang the cutters on with a little shelf for whatnots. Same plan for grinding wheels.

[Dr Stan]

(12-28-2015, 10:17 AM)Sunset Machine Wrote: I don't have many cutters, but what I have is in a pile. The *plan* is a plywood back and dowels to hang the cutters on with a little shelf for whatnots. Same plan for grinding wheels.

Sunset is right on track, use plywood & dowels for your rack and make sure you do not stack mill cutters right on top of each other.  If you separate them with thin plywood or thick cardboard they will not chip each other.

I recommend avoiding using metal for any cutting tool storage, files, end mills, etc.  Wood or plastic are much more appropriate materials for this application.

[Hawkeye]

The plywood with dowels is the best approach. This is what came with my Victoria U2. I added the cardboard disks for the reasons mentioned.
   

[Pete O]

Well I've got plenty of plywood hanging around at present, will pick up some 3/4" dowel and have at it. Do people find it best to sort them by thickness, by diameter, or some other way?

[Sunset Machine]

Like horseshoes, I think. Just let them lay where they land.

[Pete O]

Just got the rack made today. Use a sheet of 20mm MDF plus a thin sheet of plywood attached to the back with a 20mm gap between, 22mm holes drilled through the MDF, pegs consist of 22mm dowel pushed through the MDF and a screw through the thin ply sheet into the end of each dowel from the rear. The rack is mounted in one bay of my compactus, leaning back so the cutters don't fall off. Sorry no photos at present as my phone has died completely.
Nice to get one job off the list, the box of cutters has been in the way for months. Just can't seem to get any time for these little projects lately.