# Organize And Store My Er-32 Collets......finally



## brino (Sep 3, 2015)

I got my first ER-32 collet set for my old lathe years ago. Since then I have bought many more collets from ebay and my local used tool store, both imperial and metric.

Up 'til now they were all thrown in a box making it a long process to find the right size for a job.
No More!

I started with a piece of left-over luan plywood that would fit into a tool-box drawer. I marked out and drilled a grid of 1-1/4"(I think) holes with a Forstner bit.



I added some MDF strips on the bottom for legs (and some strength); one each at top and bottom edges and one between rows near the middle.

I once made a comment here worrying about wood in contact with metal due to the wood absorbing humidity and keeping it against the metal. At that time someone suggested soaking the wood in oil (if I could figure out who said it in what thread, I would give credit!). So I soaked it face-down in a tray with clean motor oil overnight, then let it hang and drip off the following day.

I left space at one end of the drawer for the lathe adapter and pin wrenches. It turned out alright:



All that's left is to add some little labels below each of the collets marking the size.
Not only will they be easy to find, but I'll also see what sizes I am missing.

Organizing is never finished....what to do about those large drill bits......hmmmmm.

-brino


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## mikey (Sep 3, 2015)

Nice and neat, Brino!


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## Ken_Shea (Sep 3, 2015)

Nice and neat is right!
Who ever suggested the oil... it was a good one, I've personally experienced rusting with items stored in direct contact with wood. 

Ken


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## T Bredehoft (Sep 3, 2015)

My shop is in the same room as my furnace, I don't have a problem with moisture.  I used a similar idea for R8 collets and tool storage, but I put it in a drawer beneath the PM@5 mill (mounted on an old kitchen counter.) I used two pcs of 1/4 Luan, with holes in each, to keep the collets straight. I put a reinforcement rib between the two layers, too. 



There is a 3 insert face mill out, and the black thing in the back holds a slitting saw.


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## kd4gij (Sep 4, 2015)

Come on now, that is just way to neat for a home shop.  Every time I clean up my shop it takes months to find any thing.


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## T Bredehoft (Sep 4, 2015)

kd4gij said:


> Come on now, that is just way too neat for a home shop.  Every time I clean up my shop it takes months to find any thing.


It's neat because I remember to close it before I run the mill. The counter is covered in chips. And, the drawer in 9" deep, I'm afraid to put anything small in it knowing that something large will eventually cover it up. 

Yeah, I have lots of trouble finding where did I put that mike down?  I have three zero to one mikes, never can find one.


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## brino (Sep 5, 2015)

Ken_Shea said:


> Who ever suggested the oil... it was a good one, I've personally experienced rusting with items stored in direct contact with wood.



If I remove a collet from the drawer it now has a slight ring of oil on it instead of rust, but just on the outside tapered face not enough to foul the grip by getting onto the inside surface.




T Bredehoft said:


> My shop is in the same room as my furnace, I don't have a problem with moisture.



That's a good arrangement. Always heated and some constant air flow is ideal.
My shop is in a 2-car garage (that I can no longer park in!). I do keep it above freezing in winter, and warmer when I'm in it. Humidity is uncontrollable.



kd4gij said:


> Come on now, that is just way to neat for a home shop.  Every time I clean up my shop it takes months to find any thing.



Notice that I only showed that one drawer....it is now the most organized part of my shop.

I emptied that drawer by moving taps/dies and their associated tooling to THREE other drawers (imperial, metric and thread handles/charts/measuring tools), it was impossible to find anything in there. One of those other drawers originally held large taper-shank drill bits; 1/2 up to just over an inch. I still have no good place/solution for those drill bits....sigh.....
Anybody got some good ideas for large drill-bit storage?

This summer I moved a aluminum extension ladder off the back wall of the shop and now store it outside. I build a whack of storage shelves in that space....they are now almost full, but the shop is really NOT much more organized! What happened to all that new storage space?

I often feel like I do more clean-up and organization that actually building/making anything.
My wife always says I do more vacuuming out there than in the house.

-brino


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## ogberi (Sep 5, 2015)

I'd suggest a bike cable and lock on the ladder.  We still have problems with 'scrappers' toting off anything made of aluminum, brass, or copper here in Florida. Not so much where I live, but it's pretty bad down where I work.


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## uncle harry (Sep 8, 2015)

brino said:


> I got my first ER-32 collet set for my old lathe years ago. Since then I have bought many more collets from ebay and my local used tool store, both imperial and metric.
> 
> Up 'til now they were all thrown in a box making it a long process to find the right size for a job.
> No More!
> ...



I have a large supply of polypropoline drops ranging from 1/2" to 3/4" thick from a client who makes custom restaurant cutting boards. I make all sorts of tool-holding from this stuff. It machines well and resists oils and other shop fluids. The drawback with this material is labeling. Little or nothing sticks to it.


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## brino (Sep 8, 2015)

uncle harry said:


> cutting boards



Harry that is a great idea....never thought of that.
I do collect the old cutting boards from the kitchen when they get ragged or stained.
I have used the plastic ones for various low-speed bushings.

-brino


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## Millalot (Sep 10, 2015)

brino said:


> I got my first ER-32 collet set for my old lathe years ago. Since then I have bought many more collets from ebay and my local used tool store, both imperial and metric.
> 
> Up 'til now they were all thrown in a box making it a long process to find the right size for a job.
> No More!
> ...



Soaking the wood with oil is a good idea, I have accumulated a lot o tooling in various cardboard boxes. So before storing tools in them I soak the boxes with heavy oil this helps preventing moisture and chemical reaction against the tools.
Your ER racks have reminded me that I have some spare office folder drawers in a steel cabinet these are 2" deep would be ideal for ER collets.
Millalot.


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## brino (Oct 17, 2015)

update....I finally got labels printed, laminated, cut and attached.......
brino


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## Kiwi Canuck (Jan 11, 2017)

Brino, nice job on the Collet organizer, how did you get the labels to stick? I thought with the oil soaked plywood it would make the labels near impossible to stay on.

I thought you may have to cut 3/8" strips of thin alum, screw them on and apply labels or (or use lamacoid and have it engraved for a real professional look) 

Don't those empty spaces just yell at you to complete the set? I know it would for me.

David


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## brino (Jan 11, 2017)

Kiwi Canuck said:


> nice job on the Collet organizer, how did you get the labels to stick?



Hi David,

I printed the small labels on a full sheet, cut them apart then laminated them all at once, then cut them apart again, and finally used hot-glue to attach the labels. If you look close you can see some of the glue squished out around the labels. I got rid of most of the little "strings" it leaves behind. I kinda wondered if it would work too, but so far none have fallen off.




Kiwi Canuck said:


> Don't those empty spaces just yell at you to complete the set? I know it would for me.



Every time I see them!...........but then I close the drawer 

Seriously, I gotta take a picture and keep it on my phone so when I'm out at the tool store I know which ones I need.

-brino


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## C-Bag (Sep 4, 2020)

brino said:


> Organizing is never finished....what to do about those large drill bits......hmmmmm.


So did you come up with something for those large drill bits? I’m going through the same problem. I wish I could find a simple plastic open channel tray that could hold the drill bits in place in a drawer. They make that kind of tray for drill cores so I can’t just go down to HF and pick me up one


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## mickri (Sep 4, 2020)

My ER collets came in these yellow cases.  I screwed the cases to a piece of plywood.  The collets have the size written on the end.  I keep them in ascending order.  The two I use the most are the 10mm and 12mm.  They live in a collet nut.  I have two other collet nuts that get used for whatever other size collet I happen to need.


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## savarin (Sep 4, 2020)

brino said:


> I once made a comment here worrying about wood in contact with metal due to the wood absorbing humidity and keeping it against the metal. At that time someone suggested soaking the wood in oil (if I could figure out who said it in what thread, I would give credit!). So I soaked it face-down in a tray with clean motor oil overnight, then let it hang and drip off the following day.


Not that I'm shopping for credit but was it this one?
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...in-your-shop-today.14637/page-305#post-453381   post 9126
Yours is way more professional.


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## brino (Sep 5, 2020)

savarin said:


> Not that I'm shopping for credit but was it this one?
> https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...in-your-shop-today.14637/page-305#post-453381 post 9126
> Yours is way more professional.



Nope, but I only know that because my original statement was Sept 2015 and your POTD post was Jan 2017!
Likely a case of "Great minds think alike!" 

-brino


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## Papa Charlie (Sep 5, 2020)

brino said:


> I got my first ER-32 collet set for my old lathe years ago. Since then I have bought many more collets from ebay and my local used tool store, both imperial and metric.
> 
> Up 'til now they were all thrown in a box making it a long process to find the right size for a job.
> No More!
> ...



That looks great, easy to get what you want and keeps them from being damaged.

I have a question regarding the Lathe Adapter. Is this something you made? How does it attach to the lathe?

Thanks


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## tjb (Sep 5, 2020)

Very nice, Brino!  I made similar racks for my 5C, ER40 and R8 collets - some made out of aluminum and some cast acrylic.  There's photos in the 'What did you make in your shop today' thread.

I don't do wood work anymore (quit it decades ago because of asthma), but if did, I think I'd like your idea as well if not better.  Labeling on my sets would be very nice, but I never thought about the way you did it.  I recently made a rack for my commonly used lubricants and made a color-coded label strip in Excel or Word (don't remember which) and taped it on:




It'll probably come loose because of inadvertent drips from the bottles, but I can always make another one.  I suspect hot glue would work on aluminum, but do you know if it will adhere to cast acrylic?

Regards,
Terry


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## brino (Sep 5, 2020)

Papa Charlie said:


> I have a question regarding the Lathe Adapter. Is this something you made? How does it attach to the lathe?



Hi Charlie,

I bought the Beall collet chuck, I have posted about and recommended it a few times; here are some links:

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/is-there-a-definitive-article-on-collets.36227/post-308310
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/is-there-a-definitive-article-on-collets.36227/post-308552
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/is-there-a-definitive-article-on-collets.36227/post-308703
...and here:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/sb9a-using-er32.44580/post-380920

-brino


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## brino (Sep 5, 2020)

tjb said:


> Labeling on my sets would be very nice, but I never thought about the way you did it.



I really like my wife's little office lamination machine for anything I use in the shop.



tjb said:


> It'll probably come loose because of inadvertent drips from the bottles, but I can always make another one. I suspect hot glue would work on aluminum, but do you know if it will adhere to cast acrylic?



So far my hot glue is still holding.
I would think that contact cement would work well for both aluminum and acrylic.....but get the low odor stuff so it doesn't aggravate your asthma.

-brino


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## tjb (Sep 5, 2020)

brino said:


> I really like my wife's little office lamination machine for anything I use in the shop.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks.  Never knew there was such a thing as 'low odor'.  That's good to know.

Regards,
Terry


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## C-Bag (Sep 6, 2020)

THANKS BRINO!!!

Its funny this thread was originally like 5yrs old, so I never saw it. But seeing how you got your collets organized made me want to get some things that have been bugging me organized. Specifically those Silver & Deming drills. My SO had gotten a nice wood box with a sliding plexi top and the SD’s fit in there, but messy. I don’t have a lot of nice wood but I had a chunk of grey UHMW that was perfect. So I drilled it out and voila! While I was doing that my aforementioned SO was at a yard sale and kept sending me pix and none of it was interesting. But undeterred she brought back a little aluminum for .50c. Perfect for my knurler! Can’t believe it. I was going through all these different contortions and here she brings that home!


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## GunsOfNavarone (Sep 6, 2020)

One of the 1st 3d prints I did...I was sold.


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## hman (Sep 6, 2020)

Guns, that is absolutely beautiful!  Not only well organized, but also LABELLED!!!


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