FILENAMES: barhold1.jpg barhold2.jpg barhold3.jpg barhold4.jpg DESCRIPTION: These are pictures of a shop made boring bar holder for a lathe. Posted by Wild Bill . Bill provided the following description: ================================================================= The images barhold1.jpg (2, 3 & 4) show a 1/2" bar holder made for a turret-type toolpost on an import 9x20 lathe. The material is 1" x 1 1/2" hot-rolled steel.. the length chosen was 2 1/2", but the size can be adjusted to suit your purposes. The 1" thickness was cut down with the piece chucked in a 4 jaw so the block would fit into the turret. The back upper and lower corners are radiused to allow the back face of the bar holder to fit close to the turret center column. After the thickness was reduced (with the block centerline in line with the spindle center), the block is firmly clamped in the turret. This will align the proper height positioning of the center of the bar bore. A pilot hole can be drilled on the lathe with a small sized long drill, chucked in the spindle 3 jaw chuck. For a hole of this depth, drill a short distance then retract the drill and brush the chips off to prevent breaking the drill. The pilot hole can be followed by the size which preceeds the reamer. The reamer can also be passed thru on the lathe. The drilling and reaming can be assisted by using the tailstock to push the block onto them. After the bore is reamed, the screw holes can be drilled for the tap size. You can choose to slit the side of the block or drill perpendicular to the bore centerline, to use set screws instead of the clamp. This block was slit with a hacksaw, then the top half of the screw holes were drilled for pass thru thread clearance. Then the threads were tapped into the lower half, and the holes and edges were deburred. The bar holder will be rigid and the correct height for common boring bars with centered cutters. Any cutting tools that you might grind for a special purpose should have the correct relief angles and a centered cutting edge. 1. End view. 2. Side view 3. Top view. Turret set screw marks visible. 4. Holder with bar in place.