I had been using a collet holder for years to hold my indicator stem with when setting up a project on my Haas. It worked fine but at the cost of tooling and not using that collet holder in actual machining I decided to build something dedicated to the task.
I had a cat40 holder that had once been a very nice 2 flute indexible cutter. Had been...before the accident that wrecked it. I machined the holder down to the face and drilled a whole through for a 3/8 S.H.C.S. then made a shank out of aluminum that bolts on. It's also machined with a c'bore in the back that mates to the holder so it's centered, that way I can also use an edge finder in it if I like. The thumbscrew bottoms out against a small piece of brass that tightens against the shank so I don't burr the shank or edge finder up.
It was a very simple thing to make but is very useful. If the hole ever gets lose from wear I'll bore it out and sleeve it with steel but for now it's working great.
![[Image: fEwRUh.jpg]](http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/923/fEwRUh.jpg)
I had a cat40 holder that had once been a very nice 2 flute indexible cutter. Had been...before the accident that wrecked it. I machined the holder down to the face and drilled a whole through for a 3/8 S.H.C.S. then made a shank out of aluminum that bolts on. It's also machined with a c'bore in the back that mates to the holder so it's centered, that way I can also use an edge finder in it if I like. The thumbscrew bottoms out against a small piece of brass that tightens against the shank so I don't burr the shank or edge finder up.
It was a very simple thing to make but is very useful. If the hole ever gets lose from wear I'll bore it out and sleeve it with steel but for now it's working great.