Adam Savage's Favorite Tools: Quick-Change Tool Holders!

Adam loves using his shop mill not just for machining parts, but also for drilling holes. And he recently started using an R8 quick-change tool system to reduce what can often be a time-consuming process. For example, center spotting, drilling, tapping, chamfering, and putting counter sinks into plates would require switching out bits with corresponding collets with every step of the process. Adam demonstrates this quick-change tool post system by completing a series of drilling operations that normally would take over an hour in just 15 minutes!

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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

[backpacker]

Leave it to Adam to explain what a mill is by telling us about it's probable role in a post-apocalyptic world. Love it!

[MatthewMe]

The feeling of adding that level of speed and versatility to a major tool can be incredibly liberating. It gives you back the most precious resource you have for creating - time. And to add that to a mill for only about ~$800, something that can save 45 min to an hour with each major use? It pays for itself quickly if you're a regular mill operator. Great add!

[Cattelinoable]

Adam, please take note from a journeyman machinist and soon to be retired machine tool instructor. Your videos on machining are for sure entertaining and most informative for a weekend hobbyist. Think like a machinist please. Machinists would not do all operations to each hole and then move to the next. Before I get into specifics let me help you get more efficient. Don’t use a center drill on a milling machine. Invest in spot drills instead. You will find it most efficient and effective to spot drill your hole locations deep enough so that a countersink tool is not needed, saving one operation. ALWAYS countersink threaded holes BEFORE tapping them. Formula for correct depth on spot drills is for a 90 degree multiply your desired countersink diameter by .5 for correct depth. For a 118 degree spot drill, multiply your desired countersink diameter by .3. Back to the process. Complete all locations with one tool. Reset RPM accordingly, change tools, repeat. When you change tools and complete a hole location, changing RPMS each time is time consuming at best. Hope all this helps. Happy to do a virtual call with you anytime to share more knowledge.

[arthurlittle]

I am a machinist. Nice tool. They're very handy for short runs. Lol I was just thinking "why doesn't Adam just put a tap-matic on his drill press?", When he said his disclaimer about the method. BTW. What he did was a counter bore. A counter sink is conical. No biggy. Nice! Thanks!

[scepts]

Honestly seeing someone who really cares about what they do is a true joy. Recently I talked to a botanist, and I have no interest in botany. The way he talked about it though draws you in. He really cared was a joy. Same feeling from Adam. I think that was the magic of mythbusters. They did it for money sure, but it feels like it was an after thought.

[akshaybhawar]

Adam showing his machine like a boy showing off his toys to his friends in very exitment I love this guy very inspiring

[martinslagle]

19:45 I always called that a counter-bore as it creates a flat-bottomed hole. Counter-sinks make conical bottomed holes. At least that's how it works in my head.

[intjonmiller]

That quick change looks awesome! I'll have to find one now. Quick FYI: Wood/plywood is not an ideal choice for tapered tooling racks. It holds moisture and can wick away any light oil, promoting rust. Most people who build a rack like you're using end up regretting it. Personally I love HDPE or UMHW for that. Even a dollar store HDPE cutting board would be a better choice than wood. Otherwise give it a good coat of furniture wax or similar, if you haven't already.

[JohnSmith-gmfj]

My thought is that 90% of the folks that would have had this back 30+ years ago are the AVE type folks who have all graduated to CNC mills with auto-changing tools. It's still cool. Good Purchase!

[ntsst]

Back in the late 80's in Pittsburgh you could get incredible metal working machines like this sometimes for nothing. As the mills began closing for good, press brakes, shears, punch presses, milling machines, lathes, and anything else you could think of became available extremely cheap. What couldn't be auctioned off would sometimes be given away provided you had the means to transport it from where it stood. This is how my father started his machine shop. I love maker channels like Adam's. They take me back to my childhood watching my dad turn raw steel into all kinds of useful parts!

[chrishenning]

Just today I drilled and tapped 676 holes in an aluminum fixture plate on HAAS Vf4. Took 2 hours. I cant imagine guys doing that manually on a Bridgeport. Awesome!!

[robertbrandenburg]

13:25 i suggest to first chamfer the hole before you tap the hole. This in connection with the burr that occurs after tapping.

[Vickie-Bligh]

Wow, you would think that a quick change item like this would be popular. I have quick change stuff for my simple drill and won't do without. Thanks, Adam for this show-n-tell and demo.

[DracoTorment]

just a tidbit of information for you, when you "countersink" for a caphead screw (or anything with a larger hole ontop a smaller one) it is called a counterbore not countersink

[apostolrobert]

Last year we cleaned the place I work at and found an optical DRO, I put it away so it doesn't get thrown away, even if it's not working, it's still a pice of art, the place where I work at got over 50 years of history and some equipment is really old

[rootvalue]

I think they’re called counterbores for cap or shouldered screws, as opposed to countersinks for flat headed screws. Love the ingenuity of this system.

[andreassiegler]

Next item to put on the wish list: A Tapmatic tapping head :-D
Have one and totally enjoy every time I have to do multiple threads!

[gushowe]

Adam, thank you for adding to the collective conscious and sharing your knowledge! You are an asset to us all and i thank you very much for all your time!

[DrSuperKamiGuru]

I really appreciate stuff like this because I have a manufacturing job where efficiency is everything. Seconds matter when you are producing literally thousands of the same thing every day. Even at home when building something in the basement or repairing a fence, if you have to swap between tools frequently it's very satisfying to figure out a way to do it efficiently.

[JockMcBile]

5:20 As you said it was a long intro to make your point. BUT, I do like your stories/examples. Because for Me, it helps me connect the WHY, and helps Me remember. I don't often have similar things to your life. But I try to connect the examples you tell us, to things I'm having a hard time with, in my life. So Thank YOU.