Show me where you keep your milling / lathe tools!

[Weldingrod1]

I went a very different way on my lathe tool storage!
I have shelves behind the lathe.
Yes, they pick up some chips, but it's very convenient!
Wouldn't work for a large swing lathe, though.

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[Ken226]

In the drawers of one big toolbox, and on a steel pegboard.

 

[Ben17484]

Thanks for all of the inspiration guys. It’s given me a lot of food for thought. I think I need to get some of the ‘bins’ that go in tool chest drawers to make my tool chest a lot more organised. I think I’m leaning towards getting a sheet of steel and drilling holes in and attach the Mill (or the wall behind the mill) to keep my mill tooling in to save space in the tool chest. Special shout out to @davidpbest - that organisation is something else!


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[Ben17484]

In the drawers of one big toolbox, and on a steel pegboard.




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Very nice. Thats a very tidy shop you have there!


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[Ben17484]

If you have a dovetail type QCTP (Aloris, Dorian & clones), you've probably seen the 3D printed holders for those. These for example (ebay link) are $14 for a set of 4, or "Make offer".

You could screw a bunch of those into the tire on a wheel from your outdoor grill, or a bigger wheel (bicycle?) if you have more holders. Dont screw into a pneumatic tire though.

I’d seen people with these, but assumed they owned a 3d printer. I’d not seen them for sale before. I like them. I’ll probably get some of these.


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[Ben17484]

I just keep it all in drawers now. Keeps the clutter down, something I have to work hard for in every other space. The mill is left of frame, lathe opposite the mill to the right, all in a 12'x12’ partition, so the rollaway is central to machine work.

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I wish I had space for another tool chest. I have a medium size one now, but don’t have space for another. Otherwise I’d probably go this route.


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[Ben17484]

I welded up this stand for my benchtop mill (RF-30 clone), set the width to fit these wood drawers I had already. Also made the steel drawer on top to fill in the 4" space remaining above the 3 wood ones. (Not shown, cover on the sides to keep chips out of the drawer slides)

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One wood drawer got a false-bottom, with a bunch of holes for all my R8 tooling. Since I don't have enough R8 stuff to fill that drawer (yet!) I put some other stuff in there too, and some duplicates of collets that don't need to be there, so I have lots of room to buy more R8 junk (metric collets, keyless chuck, who knows?)

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The tallest tools (chuck and boring head) barely yet comfortably fit in the drawer, which is a happy accident.

The lathe stand (below) is older, made before I had a welder, so it's screwed together from plumbing pipe, with a plywood top. Surprisingly rigid, being anchored into the concrete wall in back in several places.

The steel drawers underneath are a Craigslist find, which just happened to fit so perfectly that I had to hoist the lathe + table up slightly, and trim some of the cast iron off the plumbing fittings, to slide it in. When I lowered the lathe, it now partly rests on the steel cabinet. There is still weight on the floor flanges at the bottom of the table, but less than before, so the drawer unit is a "press fit" it actually added more rigidity to the table! That perfect fit is also a happy accident, not planned ahead of time.

It's more storage than I need for the lathe, so some mill tooling is in there too.

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As you can see, there are also blue plastic bins right under the lathe, those go all the way back to the back wall, lots of storage for smaller things.

Nice job on the mill stand. That looks great. Lots of room for storage in those drawers too.


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[Ben17484]

80/20 extrusion plus printed tool holders for the lathe. That helped a lot. Tool chest with narrow drawers and bins for general stuff, plus an antique metal canning jar cabinet for stuff, and wire rack shelves for stock. I'm afraid that is too disorderly for a picture!
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I’ve kind of tried this with my lathe, but I don’t have the printed tool holder holders. So I just hang them on the aluminium extrusion. It doesn’t really work as they aren’t stable enough. I think I’ll buy some of the printed holder holders and attach them to my extrusion as you have.


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[davidpbest]

just wanted to comment on @davidpbest documenting his shop. Should his building ever burn down, or be broken into, he has a record (maybe not fully current) for insurance. Folks, it's a great idea to do this so that you have an off site record.

But there is another risk of making it public. You are documenting where things are. So consider making it a private record. You don't want someone knowing where you live or your tools live, and where you store things. Unless of course you have a big dog that likes to chew on some unwanted intruder.

David has one of the nicest basement shops I have seen. His is constructed so well. Even the way he did his machine ingress/egress .. it's very impressive. I'm sure there are others, but David documented it, and the space he has to work and layout is fantastic. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching his videos as well.

To your point on insurance, I have a couple of riders on my homeowners policy to cover specific categories including the shop, musical instruments, and artworks. My worry about the shop is a total loss in a fire or earthquake (Portland OR is overdue for "the big one"). The EQ policy is separate coverage and has a 20-percent deductible, but the shop and other named items are only $1,000 deductible. Of course, theft is a concern for for things that could be carried out of the shop, but not likely for the large pieces of equipment (thanks to my pet ocelot who protects the place from intruders). Taking a quick scan, it looks like the split is about 50-50 in terms of replacement value for machinery versus what the insurance company deems "hand tools" - including things like 80-pound rotary tables, Kurt vises, etc. LOL. It helps a lot to deal with an insurance company that knows how to write coverage for unique situations and don't require individual receipts for every item. Anyway, in my case that's Chubb - they have the links to my photo and video documentation which the underwriter says is "more than sufficient".

 

[woodchucker]

This is a good topic to take out separately.