Where do you put your chuck key?

The things you need close at hand when working in the lathe? Things like keys for the QC tool post and tool inserts and the toolholder needed for the job but not for the current operation?

The obvious place for the chuck key on the Boxford is on top of the headstock with the spare tool holders on the back of the cabinet behind the bed but is that good practice (I always stop the lathe before reaching for anything but leaning over to get a different toolholder seems wrong somehow)?

Maybe this is a naive answer, but I use a magnet to attach the chuck key for each machine to the machine.

I have scrounged unwanted loudspeakers, dismantled them and extracted the magnets.

I tried the same with a failed computer hard drive - but the magnets were NOT a useful shape!

MC Black

Got these when on offer at Lidl.

Steve.

I also use a Lidl magnetic product, but a small magnetic shelf attached to the Myford base below the headstock. A similar shelf at the tailstock end holds centre drills etc.

These shelves don't hold a lot of weight, but are convenient for smaller items. IIRC they came in a set of 3 different lengths or as a single longer item. The magnets just hold the shelf, so don't magnetise what is placed in them like the magnetic rails can.

Nigel B.

I have a couple of shelves behind & at the side of my lathe..

George.

This is giving me a serious case of 'workshop envy' mine is very much a work in progress as I endeavour to bring order to 20 years of chaos. I am at least able to use the place now but it is still not somewhere I would willingly post photos of.....

Mine goes on a magnet on the head stock, specifically the belt cover.

That sounds like a more practical solution for my workshop in it's present half finished state. Cheers everybody.

The method that was constatnly drummed into me as a youngster has (with modifications) remained with me;.......everything hangs on the wall rack behind the lathe.......When you are ready to turn on the lathe, you pull the lathe over twice by hand (ie one complete revolution)...you put your finger on the start button.....you look at the wall rack..IS ANYTHING MISSING?....if not then push button...if something IS out of place/missing, then WHERE is it?

Nowadays in my 'micro workshop' I don't have a wall rack but everything is in the small chest of drawers under, and to the right of, the lathe. I still pull over the lathe by hand and still glance into the open 'lathe' drawer before pushing the button.....nearly 60 years later!

.....Nobody should be concerned by super nice, well ordered, clean, incredibly well equipped workshops.......Do the owners actually make anything? I have known no less than 4 people who set up beautiful workshops when they retired...then they died and people were asked to go round and take what they wanted ...the original owners never got to make anything much, they were too busy building the perfect workshop......

Well I have put up shelves & made storage. The cost was nearly nothing. Upvc shelves from old Facia boards. Tool rack from an old drawer side & A4 drawers from Staples. I will make something soon. Honestly.

Steve.

I like the facia board shelf idea.

My lathe is sited against a pillar, so there is no place for a handy shelf. Instead I've made tray that can slide along the lathe bed. The chuck keys and tool-post spanner are retained by Terry clips as in the photos.There's a recess for the tail-stock.

Edited By Gary Wooding on 08/05/2020 15:57:09

Wrong question! Should be "where did I put that chuck key?"...

I know exactly where it is....... It's lost......

I keep both the chuck key and the toolpost key held in spring clips fitted to the gear cover of the head stock so that they NEVER get lost . Sad to say, everything else does .

TBF that does depend on you being properly in the habit of replacing them in the clips every time you put them down..... I'm not usually quite that organised

Oh how I envy all you organised people!

Fitted over the hinged flat cover over the Headstock of my lathe is a plywood "shelf" with raised edges. The Chuck Key, when not in use, lives there along with spare Chuck Jaws, Micrometer Stop and a load of other things.

And before anyone says it; Yes I am aware of, and guard against, the danger of stuff falling onto the chuck guard or the bed!

Howard

Not so much envy as astonishment! The only cleaner workshops I've seen have been in F1 and Indy car.

I'm not even going to think about showing my mess. Other than to say lathe chuck keys sit on top of the headstock and drill chuck keys are stored in the drill chucks.

Andrew

Andrew,

You've cheered me up, no end! No longer alone!

Howard

Me too

That's my current method. I think I'll stick with it then