chuck key holder

[Little Rabbit]

Rather than throw out a retractable key ring with a broken belt clip, I fixed it to my drill press with some hard drive magnets. The only hiccough was making sure the magnets were spaced to the outside of the reel so they didn't cause the chain to bind.

Now I never loose my chuck key, by eliminating the need to never put it down in the first place.

[mklotz]

Magnets have a seemingly magnetic attraction for swarf, chips and other shop detritus.

I have a keyless chuck but I stick my mill/drill depth stop quick nut to the frame using a magnet glued to the nut. Since it always stays up there away from the area where chip generation occurs, it works fine and doesn't collect whiskers.

However, there are uses where exposure to swarf is unavoidable. An extension magnet used to pick up stuff dropped on the floor (old guys like me with bad backs love 'em) will inevitably grow whiskers of swarf whenever it gets near the floor. I solve this problem by wrapping the magnet in aluminum cooking foil. When the whisker load gets too great, simply unwrap the foil over the trash can and the swarf falls into the bin. Rewrap with new foil and you're good to go.

It's handy to remember the foil trick whenever you need to get a magnet near the swarf hot zones. Magnetic bases for indicator holders stuck on the lathe ways are an immediate example; your work will suggest others.

[Raytonian]

Magnets might be useful to have around but swarf sticking to measuring instruments, drills and some other tools can be a pest. I therefore made a demagnetizer from an old contactor that I keep ready for quickly fixing items that unnecessarily got magnetized.