All tool holders look alike...but now not so much.

[Winegrower]

I have three rows of CXA tool holders, and really need 4 rows. The "big problem" I wanted to address is that they all look pretty much alike. Awhile ago I made some white button tops for them so I could pick them up easier and maybe not drop them onto a spinning chuck...so far so good. But remembering where I put that particular tool I was using slows me down, and sometimes, because of the way I built the shelves, the tip is on the back side and I have to walk around to see the actual tools. And they're all white. This was the situation:



I liked the buttons, but all white didn't help so much. I got some colored bars of HDPE on eBay and made a simple form tool to put a slight detail on each button.





And then divided the holders into "turning" - white, "boring"-blue, "threading"-red, "Parting/grooving"-green and "Specialty/Other" - yellow. The next shot is the "after", now so different and unbelievable organized. You can see that, right?



Then I made a rude tray to hold the "currently popular for a limited time" holders in actual use.



If the tray proves useful, maybe a more elegant model is in the cards. I imagine my hobby productivity will skyrocket with these steps.

 

[DavidR8]

@Winegrower
Nice idea well executed.
Mark Presling made a very nice tray which clamps onto the ways and wraps around the end of the tail stock.
I’ll see if I can find the video of it.

 

[GeneT45]

I use drawers, so I can look down on my tools and see exactly what they are. I have my drawers organized much like your color scheme: basic turning, threading and boring, and parting & knurling & one-offs. That tray is something I will likely copy - at least in concept.

GsT

 

[BGHansen]

Great idea! At my former workplace we called that "visual management". This is a view of my Grizzly G0709 from 5 years ago.

Starting with the top row left to right, there are boring bars, knurling tool, parting tools and an indicator. Lower row left to right was LH/straight/RH turning tools of various insert styles. I lived with it this way for 6 months and moved the least used "insert families" of tool holders to the ends of the rack. I primarily use a RH 'CNMT' style insert, TNMG is #2 (when turning close to a tail stock center). Those two families are now next to each other at my shortest reach. Same for the boring bars and parting tools up top, moved them around as the 1" bar and internal threading bars don't get used much, so they moved to the ends.

Bruce

 

[Winegrower]

This is a view of my Grizzly G0709 from 5 years ago.

Nice, Bruce. "Visual organization". I like it, and your rack design as it provides dense packing of holders, but lets both ends of the holder be visible since sometimes I can load tools off each end.