# QCTP Tool holder holder



## SamI (Dec 14, 2018)

After getting fed up of hunting for the tool holder I was using less than 5 minutes ago I decided to do something about it!




Just one of the many locations that tool holders get left!

I thought I had taken more pictures of the process but hopefully it's enough to give you the idea.

I made a tool holder holder using angled aluminium.  For my tool holders 25mm x 50 mm (1" x 2" for the American readers) worked well.  I took one long length, enough for 15 holders:




Drilled it and attached shorter sections (didn't measure these but were about 45mm) for the tool holders to slide into.  I then drilled 5 holes and riveted it to the backsplash:







And while I was at it I made a simple holder for my live centre, drill chuck and a chip brush which is mounted to the rear of the lathe.  This was held in place with a nut and bolt as I could get access to the back of the base cabinet from inside.  Before this the chip brush lived on top of the switch box in the picture which in reality meant it lived in the bucket! 




All in all I'm quite pleased with how it went.  A few points to consider for anyone thinking of doing similar:


I used aluminium because it is easy to work with but more importantly it is soft so wouldn't damage the holders.
There were a lot of sharp edges left after saw cutting.  I found tumbling for about 90 minutes in ceramic pyramids made them nice and smooth did a much better job than using a file.
I would have liked to have drilled and tapped everything into place but I only ordered 3mm thick angle so even with countersunk heads most sensible bolt heads would have stuck out.  Rivets were a compromise however they stick out the bottom of the holder a little so it has to hover above the splash guard.  I can't see this being an issue.  I also didn't fancy tapping 30 holes by hand with a small tap.
In hindsight I would have spaced them slightly further apart.  I left 50mm (2") between the drilled holes.  This works perfectly for my regular holders but larger tools such as boring bar holders and my parting tool are a tight fit (i.e. can't get the next tool holder in).  Not a problem for me as I don't have a boring bar holder and i only have one parting tool that takes up that much space so that one can go at the end.  Worst case is it takes up 2 places.
If left as cut and tumbled it can be a bit tricky to get the holders back on the rack.  Rounding the corners of each post made getting the holder back in place much much easier.
Anyway, thanks for reading and i hope this post may be of use to some of you!  If anyone has their own take on tool holder storage I'd love to see it!


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## mmcmdl (Dec 14, 2018)

And your lathe is now your tool holder , holder , holder .  Let's hope it ends there !


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