After John (Doubleboost) posted pictures of his spring tool holder, and all the mention of them recently, I had a productive weekend making my own.
The first video I saw on the topic mentioned that they are often used for holding form cutters, such as could be used to make the shaped handles for lathe feed screws. With this in mind, I made mine to take either a standard 3/8" HSS tool or a wider form tool.
I saved a lot of machining by using the portable bandsaw to slab out large sections. This also leaves a few pieces that can be used for other projects.
In looking at examples of factory-made spring tool holder, I saw that some had an insert in the bottom, bridging the spring gap to provide some sideways rigidity. Easy to do, so why not? Note that the spring slot is cut last, since its purpose is to take out some of the natural rigidity of the holder.
The finished tool holder. You can see the side tool slot, which could be used for a threading bit or a small form tool. The third setscrew at the far corner is used with the corner one to hold a wide form tool across the front of the holder.
I haven't cut anything with it yet, so I can't give you a report on how (or whether) it works.
The first video I saw on the topic mentioned that they are often used for holding form cutters, such as could be used to make the shaped handles for lathe feed screws. With this in mind, I made mine to take either a standard 3/8" HSS tool or a wider form tool.
I saved a lot of machining by using the portable bandsaw to slab out large sections. This also leaves a few pieces that can be used for other projects.
In looking at examples of factory-made spring tool holder, I saw that some had an insert in the bottom, bridging the spring gap to provide some sideways rigidity. Easy to do, so why not? Note that the spring slot is cut last, since its purpose is to take out some of the natural rigidity of the holder.
The finished tool holder. You can see the side tool slot, which could be used for a threading bit or a small form tool. The third setscrew at the far corner is used with the corner one to hold a wide form tool across the front of the holder.
I haven't cut anything with it yet, so I can't give you a report on how (or whether) it works.
Mike
If you can't get one, make one.
Hawkeye, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jan 2013.
If you can't get one, make one.
Hawkeye, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jan 2013.