R8 Collet storage

[BaldricParticipant @baldric]

I have acquired about 40 collects with my Bridgeport milling machine, and I would like to store them on a rack on the wall. One option I have seen it to use they type of rack sold by Arc Eurotade **LINK**

I have seen pictures of similar ones mounted vertically, does anyone (Ketan?) know if the one sold by Arc can be mounted that way rather than sat on a shelf? I have sent a message to Arc but wondered if others have done it.

Has anyone got any other ideas on how to store them on the wall? I have considered varnished wood with holes in it, perhaps mounted at an angle to fit more in the given space. Would a similar idea be good for morse taper drills?

Baldric.

[BaldricParticipant @baldric]

How to store collets

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Baldric on 19/09/2018 12:34:46:

Has anyone got any other ideas on how to store them on the wall? I have considered varnished wood with holes in it, perhaps mounted at an angle to fit more in the given space.

.

Wood [especially Oak] is not generally a good idea

The dense plastic chopping boards, available from IKEA and others are a good source of more suitable material.

MichaelG.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Within a week of one of the chaps at our MenzShed making a wooden rack for a set of Black Smith drills (1/2" shank), the shanks had rusted, and the drills were difficult to remove from the rack. The drills cleaned up ok, and I made a rack from steel. I used 1/8" sheet steel (there was some laying around), cut three pieces, the top two have the holes for the drill shanks, the three layers are bolted together with 1" spacers between. At one end there is a commercial cast drill rack for 1/16" to 1/2" by 1/64ths, set up to rotate.

Ian S C

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Posted by Baldric on 19/09/2018 12:34:46:

I have acquired about 40 collects with my Bridgeport milling machine, and I would like to store them on a rack on the wall. One option I have seen it to use they type of rack sold by Arc Eurotade **LINK**

I have seen pictures of similar ones mounted vertically, does anyone (Ketan?) know if the one sold by Arc can be mounted that way rather than sat on a shelf? I have sent a message to Arc but wondered if others

Baldric.

I have one from Arc, a little bit flimsy but fine for the price & does the job, if you drill some screw holes in the feet lugs you should be able to wall mount it.

Tony

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I bought one of those 1" thick kneeling pads from Wilkinsons and made a sharp edged punch which cut easily into the foam. Put it in a shoe box and have 16 spaces for collet storage. Worth sticking two together for deeper support.

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

I bought a small kitchen cabinet from a boot sale for $2. Made a rack for inside and Bob's in the family again. Has 2 doors for pristine storage. Could not make one for that.

[Chris GunnParticipant @chrisgunn36534]

Baldrick, I have a cunning plan, make a turntable of sufficient diameter to hold the collets, and a bracket to support it and hang it off the wall, or support it on the arm that holds the DRO if fitted. The turntable can be spun to pick the right collet. That said I only use about 10 collets on mine, 6,10,12,16 and 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8 for standard endmills/slot drills, plus M1 and 2, plus a drill chuck. these are mounted on the DRO arm so close to hand.

Chris Gunn

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

If you do make one out of metal (or plastic, or wood…) you can speed the job up by using an appropriately sized Rotabroach cutter. They are all a 3/4" Weldon shank.

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

Have seen racks of similar style to the Arc-Eurotrade one linked to mounted on the wall. They stick out rather a long way if mounted in their design orientation. If you turn it round to reduce stick-out the collets won't sit properly in the holes. Might even fall out. I tried adjusting the (smaller) sheet steel collet rack that came with my DRO system to a steeper angle to reduce the horizontal projection and it didn't work out very well, had to put it back to the standard slope which was very similar to the slope on the Arc-Eurotrade unit. Single metal sheet top plate doesn't give enough support to the collets.

Have seen a "terraced" wall mounting system for collets with single rows of collets angled so collets in each row clear the row above when being withdrawn. Looked effective with minimal stick out. From memory it was a zig-zag folded metal sheet with appropriately positioned holes so most likely a commercial product with commensurate price.

This is a similar idea :- **LINK** but the angles look different. Second small picture shows how it would be screwed to the wall. Appears to have plastic infill beneath the metal plate to support the collets.

This is an Arc stye plate rack arranged to be mounted at a shallow angle on a wall :- **LINK** . Top plate is double with suitable spacing between the two plates to give more support to the collets.

Single thin sheet will hold collets fine if the angle is shallow. Be looking at sides more than end of collets but I don't see that mattering. 4 rows of ten collets would probably work well. I'd cut 3 wooden strips with 4 zig-zags from 1/2" or 3/4" material to support the collet carrying strips. One at each end, one in the middle. Use whatever "not wood" material is convenient for collet carriers. Steel, alloy, HDPE ( which can be a pain to get a clean hole in) or whatever. Offcut of the thick plastic used for soffits ought to work well, I've been saving a couple of feet for years waiting for the right application of this sort.

Clive.

[BaldricParticipant @baldric]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Clive,

Your links look like they are what would be suitable, and your idea of how to make my own matches with the thoughts I was having.

I have found this **LINK** which is from Gloucester tooling, also on page 6 here for a far cheaper price, this looks like it is fairly thick so hopefully will hold the collets better than a thin sheet metal one.

Chris,

I have seen the rotary ones, but for the number of collets I would need quite a few, although one may be useful for the commonly used ones or for the ones to be used for the current task.

Baldric

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

As I have dry lined walls in my workshop I used Terry clips screwed to the wall

**LINK**

It wouldn't be too difficult to get a bunch of these  and screw them to a piece of ply etc

Regards

 

Edited By FMES on 22/09/2018 11:58:42

Edited By FMES on 22/09/2018 12:08:00

[BaldricParticipant @baldric]

Thanks for all the posts.

Just to follow up what I ended up doing, I ordered a unit from Gloucester Tooling, there are 2 sheets with holes I spaced about 20mm apart, although not originally designed for vertical mounting I have used it that way. Since taking the photograph I have put it on a shelf on the wall, I have added 2 holes to the "base" so it can also be screwed to the wall for additional support.

Baldric

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 19/09/2018 15:29:06:

I bought one of those 1" thick kneeling pads from Wilkinsons and made a sharp edged punch which cut easily into the foam. Put it in a shoe box and have 16 spaces for collet storage. Worth sticking two together for deeper support.

I wish I had seen that before spending £10 on a custom block of foam for my eyepiece storage case!

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