A CNC machine makes money when the spindle is turning. Every minute an operator spends looking for the right holder, the right insert, or the 0 to 1 inch mic that walked off to the next cell is a minute it is not. Most of that time is a storage problem, and it is one of the cheapest problems in the shop to fix.
This page is about setting up Lista cabinets for CNC tooling: what goes in which drawer, which of the cabinets we stock suit each job, and how to key them so the expensive tooling stays accounted for.
Start with what you are storing
Machine shop tooling falls into four groups, and each one wants a different drawer.
- Tool holders. CAT, BT and HSK holders with the tool in them. Heavy, bulky, and expensive to damage. These are the one group we spec per shop; more on that below.
- Perishable tooling. Inserts, end mills, drills, taps. Small, many distinct items, and costly in aggregate. They want shallow drawers with a lot of compartments, and a lock.
- Workholding and accessories. Collets, pull studs, vise jaws, parallels, wrenches, and the vises and rotary tables themselves. Used every setup. The small parts want to live at the machine; the heavy ones want a Rollout Tray.
- Measuring tools. Mics, calipers, indicators, gauge blocks, pin gauges. Delicate and easy to lose. They want shallow drawers, one layer, with a home for each tool.
The mistake we see most is one cabinet trying to do all four jobs. Holders end up in a shallow drawer they barely fit, inserts end up in a tall drawer three layers deep, and nobody can find anything. Split the jobs and each cabinet gets simple.
Drawer heights for CNC tooling
Lista drawers come in eight heights from 2 to 11 inches, and every one of them is full extension and rated for 440 lb. The heights that matter in a machine shop:
| Drawer | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| 2 in | Inserts in their boxes, drill bits, taps, small end mills, pull studs. With dividers or plastic boxes this is where compartment count comes from. |
| 3 in | Mics, calipers, indicators, collets in trays, wrenches. Everything in one layer where you can see it. |
| 5 in | Collet chucks, boxed cutters, vise jaws, cordless tools. |
| 7 in | Shell mills, drill chucks, boring heads, small vises. |
| 9 in and 11 in | Fixtures and anything you lift with two hands. One per cabinet, at the bottom. |
| Rollout Tray | Vises and rotary tables. The tray pulls out so the load lifts straight up instead of being dragged off a shelf. SC-TCF for SC cabinets, DW-TCF for DW cabinets. |
Before you pick heights, measure your tallest item in each group. The full list of heights and how they add up to a housing is on the drawer layout page.
Tool holders: call us and we will spec it
CAT 40, CAT 50, BT and HSK holders are the one part of a machine shop we do not recommend buying off a list. Two things drive the layout, and both are specific to your shop:
- The assembled length. A holder may be 4 to 5 inches on its own, but the cutter in it can be a 2 inch end mill or a 12 inch drill. The longest assembly you want to store decides the drawer height, and the drawer height decides how many holders fit in a cabinet.
- The count. Twenty holders and two hundred holders are different cabinets. How many you run per taper, and how many live at the machine versus the crib, sets how many drawers you need and where they go.
Send us your holder count by taper and your longest assemblies, and we will come back with a drawer layout and a delivered price. Spec my tool holder storage.
Vises and rotary tables: Rollout Trays
Heavy workholding does not belong in a drawer or on a fixed shelf. A vise on a fixed shelf gets dragged off at arm's length, which is how people hurt their backs and how shelves get gouged. Lista Rollout Trays fix that: the tray slides out and the vise or rotary table lifts straight up from the front.
Rollout Trays fit two Lista cabinet types. For an SC cabinet the part is SC-TCF; for a DW cabinet it is DW-TCF. They are quoted per order, so tell us what you are storing and roughly what it weighs, and we will spec the trays and the cabinet around them. Quote Rollout Trays.
Six cabinets we stock for machine shops
All of these ship in one to two weeks, with freight included to the contiguous 48. Prices are delivered.
At the machine
HS07-0801 $4,511.70
4 × 2 in, 3 × 3 in, 1 × 5 in
Eight drawers and 129 compartments on casters. Inserts, collets and wrenches for one machine, parked beside it and rolled to the next job.
Between machines
MP07-0601 $3,236.38
2 × 2 in, 1 × 3 in, 2 × 5 in, 1 × 7 in
The compact footprint, 22 3/16 in wide, for the gap between two machines where a full cabinet will not fit.
Chucks, vises and heavy tooling
SC13-0801 $4,213.24
5 × 5 in, 3 × 7 in
Fewer, taller drawers. Collet chucks, boxed cutters and vise jaws in the 5s; drill chucks, boring heads and small vises in the 7s at the bottom.
Heavy tooling, wide
HS13-0801 $4,837.99
5 × 5 in, 3 × 7 in
Same stack as the SC13-0801 on the wide, shallow footprint: more across each drawer, less reach, and it sits closer to the wall.
Inserts and end mills
SC13-1017 $4,978.44
6 × 4 in, 4 × 5 in
206 compartments in one cabinet. The central crib for perishable tooling, where every grade and geometry needs its own place.
Gauges and inspection
HS09-0702 $3,839.61
4 × 3 in, 2 × 5 in, 1 × 7 in
Counter height, so the top works as a bench for the height gauge. Shallow drawers keep mics and indicators in one visible layer.
Need a stack none of these have, like a cabinet of nothing but 2 inch drawers for an insert crib? The configurator builds any stack the housing allows and prices it as you go.
Point of use or a central crib
Most shops end up with both, and the split follows the tooling:
- At each machine: the holders, collets and wrenches that machine uses every day, in a mobile cabinet parked beside it. The operator never walks for a setup. When the job moves, the cabinet rolls with it.
- In the crib: perishable tooling, spare holders, and anything expensive enough that you want to know who took it. A tall stationary cabinet with a lot of compartments and its own key.
If you are laying out several machines at once, the layout planner puts the cabinets on a floor plan to scale so you can check aisle clearance before anything ships.
Keying a machine shop
Lista locks use a removable core, so the keying plan can change without changing cabinets. A plan that works for most shops:
- Machine cabinets keyed alike, so any operator on any shift can open the cabinet at their machine.
- Crib cabinets on a separate key, held by whoever runs the crib.
- A master key for the lead or the shop manager that opens everything.
Replacement keyed-alike cores run $84.64 and master-keyed cores $113.84, so rekeying a whole row of cabinets is a small job. More on keying at keys and locks.
Chips, coolant and the shop floor
A Lista housing is welded steel with full-extension drawers that close against the frame, so tooling sits out of the chip spray and coolant mist in a way an open rack or a pegboard cannot manage. Two habits keep it that way: wipe holders before they go back in the drawer, and keep drawers shut while the machine is cutting. Slides that start to feel gritty after years on the floor usually feel new again once the bearings are wiped clean.
The bench
Setup work, tool assembly and presetting want a real bench next to the storage. The Lista industrial workbench starts at $1,500.00 delivered, and the workstations add drawer pedestals under the top, so the bench is storage too. The XSWB80 puts a 4-drawer pedestal under the top, from $2,822.92.
Common questions
What is the best way to store CNC tool holders?
It depends on how many holders you run and what is in them, so we spec holder storage per shop. A 40-taper holder may be 4 to 5 inches long on its own, but the cutter in it can add 2 inches or 12, and that decides the drawer height. Send us your holder count by taper and your longest assemblies and we will lay out the drawers.
How much weight can a Lista drawer hold?
Each drawer is rated for 440 lb on full-extension slides, whatever its height. A drawer full of steel tool holders is heavy, and this is the rating that lets you pull it all the way out without it sagging or tipping.
Should every cabinet in the shop be keyed alike?
Usually the cabinets at each machine are keyed alike so any operator can open them, and the crib cabinets holding inserts and expensive tooling get their own key. A master-keyed core lets a lead or supervisor open everything with one key. Cores can be changed later without replacing the cabinet.
What about vises and rotary tables?
Put them on Lista Rollout Trays rather than in a drawer or on a fixed shelf. The tray pulls out so the vise or rotary table can be lifted straight up from the front, instead of being dragged off a shelf at arm's length. Rollout Trays fit SC cabinets (part SC-TCF) and DW cabinets (part DW-TCF), and we quote them per order.
Can I get a custom drawer layout?
Yes. The stocked models ship in one to two weeks. The configurator builds any drawer stack the housing allows, prices it as you go, and ships in three to six weeks.
Do you ship outside Texas?
Yes. Every price on this page is delivered to the contiguous 48 states with freight included.
Send us a list of what each machine runs, or a photo of the current mess, and we will come back with a cabinet and drawer plan and a delivered price. We are an authorized Lista dealer and we can walk the floor with you in Texas. Plan a machine shop.
Setting up a whole plant rather than a machine shop? See Lista storage for manufacturing. Comparing brands? Lista vs Vidmar vs Rousseau vs Lyon covers the differences.