Mill tool storage

[Aussie Mike]

Hi All,

Recently upgraded to a CNC mill and for my first project machined up some storage racks for the tooling.

I used to keep most of my mill tooling in drawers under the bench but that usually meant they ended up all over the top of the bench. In an effort to try and be a little more organized I've started making storage racks for everything.

It's been a fun exercise in learning to drive the CNC mill while making something useful at the same time.

Here's the racks for the R8 tool holders

With some room to expand...

One thing I'm enjoying about this CNC machine is once the program is written it's easy enough to knock out multiples or tweak the program for other tools.

Here a couple of racks for ER40 collets.

Working on racks for my R8 collets and Morse taper drills next. Hopefully this will help me to stay a bit more organized and make stuff easier to find.

Cheers

Mike

 

[LXCam]

Those are sweet looking. Are you making these out of angle or bar?.

 

[bmk]

Those are nice. Here's a tool holder I made.

 

[zkling]

Very nice, what mill are you running?

 

[Aussie Mike]

The holders are made from some 100mm x 50mm x 6.3mm 6061 structural angle. The 6061 seems to machine much better than most of the extruded aluminum sections.

Nice holder setup BMK. I like how you've labelled all of the collet positions. I think I'll have to dig out my number punches.

The mill is a LAGUN FTV-2S with a Prototrak MX2 2 axis retrofit. It's an old setup but still works great and is easy to drive.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Air21]

I run a manual FTV-2, how do you like the R8 ER collet holders? That mill is pretty tall and wrenching on the drawbar for me requires a step. I've eyeballed those holders thinking I could shift my tool change process down onto my level.

 

[bczygan]

OP,
Beautiful!!!

I just passed on a set of ER40 collets for $100 and could kick myself.

Bill

 

[2oolhound]

Very nice, I like the way the 2 rows of collets are offset making it more compact.

What a clean, spacious shop you have.

 

[Aussie Mike]

I like the ER40 collets. I had a manual drawbar on my old HAFCO mill and it is just as tall as this one. I'm fairly tall so could reach the drawbar OK with a stretch. Changing tools was a pain and the ER collets save a lot of time. Just need to hold the spindle brake while you loosen them off so it takes two hands. I bought a better collet spanner that locks onto the collet nut rather than a regular C spanner and it made the job easier.

I have to say I'm loving the air drawbar on the new machine.

Cheers

 

[JoeFin]

I know keeping everything put away in draws doesn't look as fancy but I don't have to worry about dust or condensation or both accumulating on my mill tools

But yes I've been meaning to do some thing better then to just place my Accura-Flex collets in a box in a draw. My CNC uses Kwik-Switch tooling. I don't have to get to the top of the mill to change tools - (thankfully)

 

[mdbeck1]

It's looking organized. Take a look at this thread for ideas: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174553

 

[Aussie Mike]

It's looking organized. Take a look at this thread for ideas: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174553

That's a great thread, Thanks for the link.

Cheers

Mike

 

[mdbeck1]

That's a great thread, Thanks for the link.

Cheers

Mike

Glad you enjoyed it. I've spent many an hour reading it.