Tool holder suggestions

[Fred in Tassie]

Greetings knowledgeable people

I would like to have a go at making a tool holder for my lathe hand tools, at the moment I have them in a crate, that requires considerable thumbling & searching to find the right tool for my next cut.

Obviously I am looking for something that will provide a visual indication as well as providing easy access. I would prefer something done with timber rather than the steel/magnetic type of holders.

I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. At the worst case, I guess I could bore a few holes into an old dried tree limb and bolt that to the wall.

Best regards
Fred.

[Kev Y.]

Fred, I saw THIS idea at SAturn last year.. it may be what your looking for.

[rsser]

I just used a rectangular piece of mdf with an assortment of slots and holes cut in it, and fixed it to the 'great wall of tools' with a couple of L brackets.

Next time I'd use some 3/4" ply as the mdf has flexed a bit.

This is my storage system. In use, I leave them on the bench on which my lathe sits, with a scalloped strip of oregon on the far edge to stop the chisels rolling.

[journeyman Mick]

Greetings knowledgeable people.........

What about the rest of us Fred? :confused:

Mick

[macca2]

I have a round piece of MDF (good bandsaw practise) with holes drilled in it to take different sized chisels, (about 12 I think), sitting on three 1/4 inch gutter bolts about 6 inches down from the top, inside a large white bucket.
Add a couple of small bolts on the top of the MDF to hold it down and there it is.
Convenienty round and sharp ends protected.

Macca

[TimberNut]

I had some 2nd hand Jarrah floorboard offcuts lying around. nice and strong. Used forstner bits to bore holes about every 70mm or so. Then just cut slots in from the front slightly smaller than diameter of holes. Another length with holes to half depth at same distances (bottom piece).

Fixed lengths to piece of MDF (screwed through from rear and glued). Some rare earth magnets on the front for micellaneous spanners etc, and screws in mdf to hang protractors and rulers off and Voila!

I just slide chisels in slot, and drop into place. If slot and hole are the right size, the chisel can't fall out. Only have to lift about 5cm and pull forward to get out for use.
I like this because it is open (easy to remove shavings and dust - enclosed boxes are dust collectors). Its easy to see all the tools at a glance.

Tip - Jarrah (or similar hard timber, or laminated ply) for top piece, because once you cut the slots in it, there isn't a lot of timber left. If you forget to lift the chisel before pulling forward, you can break it off. The harder the timber, the longer the lifespan of your toolholder.

If you store the chisels tool up/ handle down
1- you don't risk banging tool steels together
2 - visually easier to select required chisel
3 - as tool steel gets ground shorter over time, the bulk of the weight will be in the handle. If you store them upside down, then they will start to tip over as the handle weight exceeds the tool weight.

sorry about the picture, only one I have handy. (and the drawings a bit bodgy I know but you'll get the idea)

Hope this helps.
Ian.

[Alastair]

Ian


Mine is very similar, but combined the rack idea with the REM's. The upper slots are full width, with a magnet set int the back. The advantage to me is that the slots are interchangeable, and it is easier to grab the tool out of the rack.

[rsser]

Wow Ian, love the avatar, ah woops, no, your idea for getting the hard thingies poking up ... ah, no, what forum was this???

[TimberNut]

Alistair.

I thought about doing the same thing with the Rare Earth Magnets to connect to the tool steel of the chisels, and you are right, it would make every slot interchangeable.
The reason I didn't, I tried one, but found that you eventually magnetise the chisel and it doesn't slide as smoothly along the tool rest after that.

If I continued I figured that all that rubbing with a magnetised tool would eventually polarise the tool rest, and then all chisels would stick a bit. I like my chisels to meet as little resistance as possible (gonna find some of that friction free tape Soren Berger uses). Have you experienced this problem?

If I make a chisel handle, I make it the same dimensions as the others so that all that are shown go in any slot.

Not happy with the mini chisel bit. Didn't take my own advice, and stored them tool-down. As mentioned, the tool steels bang together, and they all tilt a bit. Gonna redo that bit, as the large ones are a perfect setup for me.

Ern. Glad you like the avatar. Was going to put something else, but found this kind of eye catching, wouldn't you say? We're all a little bit wood-mad here, and she makes an interesting distraction from technical talk!

[rsser]

I'm told that if you hit a tool shaft with a hammer you'll demagnetise it. Might be a bit rough on chisels though!

As for the tool rest: I keep mine smooth with a file, and if resistance must be kept to a minimum, spinkle a little talc on it.

[Alastair]

Ian


Can't say I have noticed a problem. Considering that you are usually holding the tool down on the toolrest in an overhand grip, or by locking your fingers around the toolrest, I would feel that the contribution from the magnetism would be insignificant.

Regards

[beiffe]

For what it is worth I made mine from two large disks of MBF with a shaft between , the bottom disk was attached to a lazy susan on a square piece of MDF.
The top disk has holes drill to accept the shaft of the chisel and a recess drilled in the bottom disk to accept the handles. Even have a few small holes in the top disk for small chisels. Just need to work out a happy distance for height between the disks so you can put the shaft in from under the top disk and then sit the handle in the recess on the bottom disk.
With this I can rotate and find a chisel I need and I try and group together so gouges together and scapers etc.
This sits on a small cabinet that sits beside the lathe and can be moved around at will

[Jeff]

I have mine on top of a podium type stand. There are drawers in the stand that hold extra accessories such as tail centers, calipers, chatter tool, etc, etc. I have a carry case one of my sets came in, I have that layed out open on top of the podium. The case has a nice set of felted slots for the tools, and layed out open it provides twice the capacity as both sides of the case have the slots for tools. I have learned that putting the tools back in the same order every time allows me to know what tool is where, so I barely have to look to know what I'm reaching for. I've tried a lot of the other stands and like this system the best by far.

[Fred in Tassie]

Thanks Team for your "constructive" ideas and those that have had input into my question. I appreciate your time & trouble.That's what I like about this forum, so knowledgable, so helpfull, so ammusing.

The ony problem I am now left with is what to make, decisions decisions. I may be able to combine a couple of ideas for my application.

I will post (on the forum) my new tool holder when completed. However as of yesterday my MC900 is not operational. I think the large resister type thing that sits on top of the motor has blown. I can't figure out how they got so much smoke into a small item.

Cheers
Fred.

[Kev Y.]

Fred, About that excess smoke.. when we produce electricity we are always looking for ways to reduce the greenhouse effect, just lately we have been experimenting with bonding the smoke molecules to the electrons thus solving our problem, and explaining how come there is so much smoke in a small motor