Looking for Solution, Quick Change Tool Holder Storage for Lathe

[LLG]

I am looking for ideas on how I can store my quick change tool holders for my lathe. I have seen quick glances of things on You-Tube that use the idea of shelf mounted to the top of the splash guard. This has some merit as it keeps things in easy reach, but is out of the way when not being use. I am thinking some cleaver solution has already been thought of by others with more experience then I. What are some of the ideas you guy’s use to store and keep your tools from banging into each other yet in easy reach. Any pictures of ideas?
Thanks for the help

[Toolguy]

I have roller tool cabinets for machine accessories. For the lathe tool holders, I line them up across the front of the top drawer. They are all close at hand but well protected from dirt and damage. The rest of the drawers have inserts, wrenches, chucks, tailstock tooling, etc. etc.

[GSWayne]

I put a wooden edge on top of the splash guard that mates to the dovetail on the tool holders. It seems to be pretty convenient.

[daveo]

Ive got a chip pan under my lathe, I thought about putting a sliding drawer or shelf under it.

[mklotz]

Mounting them on the splash guard means you're reaching across the lathe to retrieve them. Forgetting just once to turn the lathe off before doing so could make for a nasty accident. How well do you trust yourself?

[Doc Nickel]

Mounting them on the splash guard means you're reaching across the lathe to retrieve them. Forgetting just once to turn the lathe off before doing so could make for a nasty accident. How well do you trust yourself?

-If you can't be trusted with that, you can't be trusted to operate a machine tool.

Doc.

[_Paul_]

I keep some in drawers but the frequently used ones I have mounted on the back of the lathe headstock.



Paul

[koda2]

Make a rack or buy one

There's a million.....well, maybe a thousand ways to store those holders from simple to a lot of work.



Lots of pictures posted here on different ways. The easiest way I saw was using a DIN rack whatever that was. I think the pic was on this forum.

Dave A.

[Paul Alciatore]

In my past tense, trailer shop I had them on a ceiling rack above the front of the lathe. That could be done in a regular building with a bit more of an extension. In fact, you could even have a kind of rotating rack with several bars to hold them. Spin and grab. And it would all be in normally wasted space above the machine.

Not a great photo of it, but it is in the top here, seen from the end:



When you are in a trailer you think about space in 3D and use every available cubic inch or cm.

[garyhlucas]

Just today I put up a $6.00 wire rack for Home Depot for them. I got the idea when the shop guy put up a wire shelf to hold coolant and other bottles next to the mill and the wire shelf lets chips fall right thru. So I got a smaller one for on the wall behind the lathe to hold tool holders.

[LLG]

Thanks guys. It looks and sounds like the most common way to hold them in any kind of rack is by the dovetail. That makes sense. I did not consider wood from the standpoint of the oil, but I guess it really does not matter. I like the alum angle screwed to a back bone idea. Might look at doing that using my guard as the back bone. I thought about a shelf, but my small area is out of wall space around the lathe. The lathe is under my roll up door so anything from the ceiling is out, but I have used a lot of that space as well. I have searched the board, but I guess I am not using the correct words as I am not really finding anything yet. I will keep going on my quest as I am sure the perfect approach is there just waiting to trigger and idea of how to address for my set up. If others have more ideas, don't hesitate to share.

[Mcgyver]

a rack to hold by the dovetails is easily welded.....you just need two vertical round bars properly spaced that the dovetail of the toolholder fits around

[tmarks11]

I did not consider wood from the standpoint of the oil, but I guess it really does not matter.

flip that thought upside down.

If you do make it out of wood, than oil it VERY well. Wood will tend to absorb and release moisture, promoting local rusting.

The wedge is actually supposed to be a procession surface (if you read the Dorian propaganda), since it is designed to be repeatable to a few 10th (0.0001") when you swap tool holders.

Same thing applies if you store your endmills or drill bits in a wooden block. Soak that baby in oil. Or make it out of plastic instead...

back OT, making the dovetail support out of a material softer than steel is an excellent idea (back to the precision surface thing... don't want to risk scratching it). Aluminum or plastic is my choice. I have seen some folks use a 3D printer to make up some dovetail holders that slot onto the chip guard or screw into the wall.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:224932

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/tool-organizer-for-our-lathe

I am surprised nobody sells these things commercially.

EDIT: somebody does. Found these on eBay ($2.50-$3.75 each, depending on size) a bit simpler than the above. Search for "BXA tool holder Organizer"



Or you can buy a $700 3D printer and make your own for "free".

[wierdscience]

I have a wooden backsplash on the small lathe at work.I just cut some pieces of 2x2x1/4 aluminum angle off at a length that the dovetail in the holder will easily drop over the vertical leg and popped a 1/4" lag screw through the horizontal leg into the top angled shelf on the backsplash.

[Lu47Dan]

I have everything to build my rack from unistrut, I just need to build the end brackets for it.
I have about two dozen used unistrut nuts from various manufacturers to attach the tab to the strut.
I have the mag indicator base tabs made and bent, they were made from 11ga steel. The base has room to move around on the plate so it can be set in place without much attention.
The aluminum for the tabs came out of a dumpster at local scrapyard and has no markings on it. They, the tabs, have to be cut and machined to fit the dovetail yet.
I have various sizes of SS button head cap screws to attach the tabs to the unistrut.
The end brackets are my major hold up as I have not yet decided how they should be made. Cut and weld them up from 1/4" steel or bend them up from 3/8" steel. Or just make an angled adapter for the commercial brackets that hold up my present shelf.
The beauty of the unistrut is the spacing can be changed with very little effort as tool usage changes.
Dan.