How to manual machine shallow (sideways) R8 tray

[extropic]

Take a look at McMaster-Carr P/N 629T84. It's a yellow polypropylene compartment box with 6 compartments That will fit R8 collets very nicely, IMO.
Buy as many as you need ($3.10 each) and throw the lids away, if you like.

 

[whitmore]

I have shallow drawers under my mini mill, so I want to lay my collets sideways and I want to make nice little trays. I also have an 7x14 mini lathe.


Most of my _workable_ ideas so far have been to hand carve a positive, make a negative, and cast with paper fiber or sawdust and glue...

Yeah, make a mold (or two or three) and cast a papier-mâché socket for each collet. A little bit of spray paint later, you have
a custom liner to make the drawer into a collet display case. Sounds like a long project, though.

Jim F's grid of wood could be made with U-dips, starting with a 2" wide wood slat and making collet-diameter holes
down the center, then ripsawing to make two notch-edged strips. If you have a table saw, kerfing
the strips and crisscrossing with end-of-tray and sides-of-tray strips is a rapid operation to complete the grid.

Kinda like this wood grid fabrication

Or, kerfed-wood-strip dividers and papier-mâché inserts.

 

[eraserhd]

No need for curved cutouts. Cut a 1" wide+ x 3.1" long x .5" deep slot in your tray. Cut a 1.25" wide x 1.1" long x .625" deep slot off one end. This will securely hold your R8 collets. Modify the end cutout accordingly for end mill holders.

I think I’ll try this and see what happens.