Making some tool holders for a BXA toolpost

[Buckshot]

I'm lucky in having a metals warehous place only about 5 miles from my home. They always seem to have a lot of drops available. Another nice thing about the place is that it is kept fairly neat and they don't mind you wondering around Anyway, one time I was there I'd picked up this bar of steel that seemed of a usable dimension for 'Something' down the road. One day it happened to dawn on me that it was just about the right size for tool holders for my Aloris type BXA toolpost. So in the above photo I clamped it oin the bench vise to clean off all the old grease and gunk that was on it.



As you can see in the photo the bar had been cut off in a shear, and while Cal-Mesa has a mojo big shear, it wasn't in the same league as what was used to part this thing off



Cleaned up both ends.



Set it up in the vise and then established my X, Y, & Z co-ordinates. Yes it has some considerable overhang out of each side of the vise, but most of the cuts would be reasonable.



The first was to begin the 5/8" cut for the tool slot. This cut was 1/4" deep.



In the process of making the final cut to depth.

[Buckshot]

Adding a radius cut to the tool slot, and finished.



I don't have a capable band saw, so after laying out the cuts I took the bar to a local machine shop (Rettig Machine) and for $20 they cut the bar into 7 pieces. Back in the vise they were reduced in thickness for final flycutting 2 at a time. I don't have a photo of that op.



Nor do I have a photo of the slot being machined on the rear preparatory to cutting the dovetails.



Beginning the cutting of the dovetail. After both sides were cut on all the blocks with this smaller cutter, I swapped out to a 1.375" OD dovetail cutter to bring them to final side. No photo's of that however. Just a larger cutter is all in any regard.



And here they all are And the way they look here is the way they remain. I've not yet drilled nor tapped the holes for the sockethead crews for holding tools, not have I done the similar work for the height adjustment. I got all excited about finding a use for that bar of steel, and then the whole thing just kind of petered out. I do have a tapping head, and it'b be fun to use it, but I have no burning need for the extra toolholders But it was all fun! Offhand I don't recall what it was I was supposed to REALLY be doing, when I did this instead?

.............Buckshot

[smokeywolf]

You gonna blue them when the machining is finished?

[DougGuy]

Those are quite nice!

I learned a neat trick, I learned that I could buy a Kennemetal carbide insert tool, with like a 1"x1" shank, and simply mill a dovetail right into the back side of it and slide it onto my toolpost and they work a charm!

[Moleman-]

They look great! I've been tempted to make a few for HSS bits with a back rake angle built into the tool slot like the old Armstrong holders. They don't seem to cut as nice without any back rake and if you grind it in then the tool height changes with every resharpening which is a minor annoyance but as you go further back on the bit through resharpening the back rake cut gets deeper and deeper until you have to just grind it off and start over. Probably not worth the hassle but it annoys me just the same.

[Green Frog]

Buckshot,

I made one or two for my AXA set a few years ago. It's a good project to learn machining techniques, and it's always nice to have a couple of extra holders, especially in some oddball types that would cost too much to buy and just use on very rare occasions. I'm not sure I would have made them all identical like you did though... I wanted a "blank" one that I could put a special tool in or use for some special app. JMHO, YMMV.

Froggie

[cwheel]

As usual, great looking work Buckshot. I've been thinking about making a few for my AXA just so I can use bigger tool bits. Aloris made the slots in the AXA just a little small for me, as a old retired machinist I have buckets full of 5/8 highspeed steel form cutters ground years ago to use in larger machines. No illusions that my little Bermingham 14 X 40 will power up a full cut on a 5/8 bit, but lots of nice form cutters ground I'd like to use every once and awhile. Might I ask what angle dovetail cutter you are using, might get one coming this way. Thinking that if I use 4140 I can let these soak in my forge for half hour or so and make them a little harder when finished. Guess it wouldn't matter much, at least in my case, never be able to take 1/2" cuts with the 2 hp. on my lathe.
Chris

[Jeff Michel]

Great job! I just made 6 for an Aloris MXA I just picked up. With thirty holes to tap, I didn't even hesitate, out came the tapping head and from start to finish, five minutes. My hand just can't handle it as well as it once did.

[smokeywolf]

Making holders for my Dorian post would be a bit more of a job; its a Quadra (indexable) and a CA.