New Project: Plans for a MT3 Die Holder (for 1″ and 1.5″ Dies)

Here’s a set of plans for a handy Die Holder that fits any lathe with a #3 Morse Taper tailstock.

The aluminum body of the die holder holds the die perpendicular to the axis of the spindle rotation and rotates freely around a steel shaft firmly inserted into the tailstock. This ensures that your part is threaded perfectly.

Here’s a picture of the Die Holder with a 1.5″ die inserted:

Here’s a picture of the Die Holder flipped 180 degrees with a 1″ die inserted:

I got the idea from Steve Bedair’s Die Holder and I adapted it to look similar to a smaller die holder sold here by LittleMachineShop.com.

I created the plans myself using Autodesk Inventor. It was my first attempt using the software, and my first time drawing up plans for the machine trade – so if there are any errors please let me know and I’ll do my best to fix them.

Here are the plans (in PDF format):

MT3_Die_Holder_-_1.0_to_1.5_Inch.pdf (999.4 KiB, 1,934 hits)
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Tags: Intermediate, Lathe, Tools, Units (in)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 1:00 PM and is filed under Lathe Projects, Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Forum Responses to “New Project: Plans for a MT3 Die Holder (for 1″ and 1.5″ Dies)”

barryjyoung Says:
June 25th, 2010 at 8:52 AM
Tyler Tyler he's our man, if he can't do it no one can GoooooooooooooTyler!

OK, I need Inventor from Autodesk. Your drawings look mahvelous. Um, if I come and measure your die holder will I see a bunch of +.001/-0.000 measurements? I don't think so. Those tolerances are way too tight, this is a die holder not a Lasik machine. Save the precision for stuff that matters.

Really really nice effort Tyler.

Barry
Tyler Says:
July 3rd, 2010 at 6:37 PM
… Um, if I come and measure your die holder will I see a bunch of +.001/-0.000 measurements? I don't think so. Those tolerances are way too tight, this is a die holder not a Lasik machine. Save the precision for stuff that matters.

I assume you're talking about the dimensions of the shaft. I was trying to make it clear that you needed to make the hole in the body of the die holder at least .001 larger than the diameter of the shaft, any smaller and it wouldn't fit (hence the “-0000). I really need to read up on dimensioning and tolerances – I tend to over-complicate things. Please don't come over armed with an arsenal of high precision measuring equipment … my die holder won't hold up to the scrutiny. My hole actually ended up being about .004 oversized, which was disappointing to the perfectionist in me, but perfectly suitable to lazy part of me (aka the voice of reason) that kept me from scrapping the part just because it wasn't as snug a fit as I was trying for. Even at .004 over, the tool functions perfectly.

But yes, you're absolutely right. I need to learn what's important and what's not when it comes to drawing up my projects. I think I'll revisit my copy of Blueprint Reading for the Machine Trades that you gave me!
johnny123 Says:
August 17th, 2010 at 5:35 PM
Hello

Can you actually turn the holder when cutting the treads with only the knurl as grip? I am soon gonna make one of these(smaller scale) and was wondering how you use it?

Johnny
Tyler Says:
August 18th, 2010 at 12:22 PM
Hi Johnny,

I've found the grip to be adequate even on very large threads, but that's partly because the barrel is a large diameter so it's easy to grab. If you decide to make a smaller version it might not be as easy to use by hand (although it might, since you'll likely be making smaller threads and using smaller dies). Some designs have a hole drilled in them for a “tommy bar” to provide extra leverage. I've never needed one so I didn't put that in my design.
johnny123 Says:
August 18th, 2010 at 2:11 PM
Cool! I was thinking a tommy bar adition would do it. Thanks
Zoomie Says:
September 29th, 2010 at 2:13 PM
Tyler,

Nice design. I just found a dimension i thought you had omitted. I guess i should be more observant!
Tyler Says:
October 3rd, 2010 at 7:19 PM
@Zoomie, I'm glad you found the dimension. I get an email message on my phone whenever someone posts to the site, but if I'm out of town I really can't follow up until I get home. I just got home and logged in to check the plans to see if they were indeed missing the dimension you mentioned, but I saw that you'd edited your post (I don't get an email when posts are edited, only when someone posts new posts).

Anyway, I'm glad you found the plans to be complete. In the future please feel free to bring any descrepancies to my attention. I make a lot of mistakes, so the more people point them out the more I learn.
Mocka Says:
October 31st, 2011 at 4:42 PM
Hi Tyler couuld you please tell me about the Autodesk Inventor i would like to purchase it.
lokii Says:
November 1st, 2011 at 12:16 AM
Hello & welcome, What do you want Inventor for?

There are a number of alternatives you could try, Autodesk Inventor is not cheap.

Try doing a search for Rhino3d, Vectorworks, Varicad, and Solidedge, these are the cheaper end of the market.

Inventor, Solidworks, and Solidedge are the mid range of the market (solidedge has offerings for both bottom & middle markets)

If you want to do 3D design then any of the above will do the job very well, unless you've got a bottomless money pit don't even bother to look at NX or Catia.

However if you just want to do 2D drawings, then I will recommend Draftsight, I use it for all of my 2D stuff and the best of all it's FREE, and it's made be the same people who make Solidworks & Catia.

I hope this helps

Lokii
Mocka Says:
November 1st, 2011 at 1:29 AM
Good work thanks for all that info.
lokii Says:
November 1st, 2011 at 1:50 AM
Your welcome.

If you have any more questions just ask, either start a thread or PM me

Lokii