BXA Tool Holders

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BROCKWOOD

H-M Supporter - Gold Member
H-M Supporter Gold Member
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May 26, 2017
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I bought enough material to make 14 BXA Tool Holders. Cut the bar in half. Found I had no good way to secure & work 12" under the mill portion of my G0773 Combo. Divided that & began making 3. I bought Randy Richard's Dovetail kit for this purpose & it worked! I don't remember who I got my QCTP from. Shars most likely. They take a different hex key for the 4 securing bolts than for the 1 height adjustment stud. I didn't really try to identify what they might be, but rather got a diameter from them & went with SAE parts. Even then, there was a delay getting 3/16 - 24 x 2.25. So I settled on the 2.5 length.

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Not beautiful, but functional! All that's left is to make thumb nuts.
 
McMaster-Carr has a huge selection of all kinds of fasteners. I got some dog point metric ones to replace some crappy ones in some of my tool holders. Also got some assortments of socket head cap screws, flat head & nuts so I didn't have to keep going to the expensive hardware store.

I bought some more BAX tool holders when Shars had them on sale. Nice to have everything set-up to make use of the quick chage system.
 
BTW, I have this theory, maybe conspiracy based, that the complaints about the "soft" hex screws in Asian holders are due to using an imperial hex key instead of a metric. The fit seems ok with inch, but is not quite big enough, and will twist out under enough load.

You heard it here first.
 
I've looked through McMaster's selection for tooling - but not for fasteners. I'm happy with

AlbanyCountyFasteners.com

Finished the thumb nuts & all ready put to use!

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BROCKWOOD said:
I've looked through McMaster's selection for tooling - but not for fasteners. I'm happy with

AlbanyCountyFasteners.com

Finished the thumb nuts & all ready put to use!

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Click to expand...
You should take a look @ McMaster's fastener selections. Lots more choices and in various quantities. I finally bought several sets of metric cap screws, etc. a bit expensive to start with but have used them often enough to make it worth it.
 
Winegrower said:
BTW, I have this theory, maybe conspiracy based, that the complaints about the "soft" hex screws in Asian holders are due to using an imperial hex key instead of a metric. The fit seems ok with inch, but is not quite big enough, and will twist out under enough load.

You heard it here first.
Click to expand...
That explains it! I have a mixed bag of no-name Chinese AXA holders and have no problems with any of the set-screws. Maybe it's 'cause I have and use metric hex keys.
 
I had a dozen CDCO BXA holders and wanted more, but they didn't carry any that could hold 3/4 or 1". I bought 6 Accufinish off Amazon that accept 3/4 for about same cost as CDCO with shipping was. Bought a length of HRS locally that would make 13 holders, but started with 6 homemade unit trial. Ones I made hold 1" holders and boring bars that I couldn't buy.

Took some time to make, but not hard. I bought the dogpoints and wave washers off Amazon, the long set screws from McMaster. Made the knurled rings. Used gun blue to finish them. Finished when pandemic started, and used quite a bit since. Holding up well. All costs together, cost same or more to make vs buy.

If I could buy them I would, rather than make more. Me personally, would only make more if could not buy them.

Never had any issues with CDCO set screws, but always use metric keys. The Accusize and home made are both US set screws, so keep them out as well.
 
I've gone to only using metric in my machining area. Find it easier to use. Like for drilling a tap hole, just subtract the pitch from the nominal diameter for the common "coarse" screws. No looking at charts. No fooling with fractional, letter or number bit sizes. Damn I wish this country had gone metric in the '70s.
 
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