Best tool holders according to redditors

Bars: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MOMIA9A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Tape: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M11Y73Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The tape is a bit expensive, but regular felt tape didn't stick well.

Oh man, I wish I were crafty and skilled enough to machine metal...

My Fiancee got this for me as a gift and I love it, here's the link: Jewelers Universal Holder

I was looking at mini holders and couldn't find anything I liked. The top is a hex grid with circular holes for pegs and you can adjust it for all kinds of base sizes under 50mm

There's even a Desktop Version of the Jewelers Holder (though its a little more expensive)

I bought most of this stuff locally. It's on my belt for about 9 hours a day, and I use each item on my belt easily 25 times a day. It's second nature to reach for any of my tools, and if I don't have it on me, I panic a little.

• Custom Leathercraft 1518 Tool and Knife Holder
  
• Techni Edge Pocket Slide Utility Knife
  
• Husky Precision Screwdriver Kit (Cheaper at Home Depot)
  
• Titan 11009 Fits-All-Phillips Screwdriver
  
• Ceramic Utility Blades
  
• Any ol' pen, currently an RSVP
  
• Any ol' needlenose

Or just buy one of these

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Work-Holder-CLAMP-VISE/dp/B000RB547G/

or

https://www.amazon.com/Hand-Free-Universal-Holder-HOL-173-00/dp/B0058EDVXQ/

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. They're not my highest quality work but I'd call them good enough for tabletop. Especially if I was doing an army of these. This is the vice I use. It's pretty handy, especially for filming.

There's a decent one for like $25 that you can buy.

It's not quite as fancy and smooth to use, but it's highly functional for irregularly shaped objects such as rings that can be difficult to hold in place.

I'm not sure about foods, though imagine some exercises could be beneficial. Years back I injured my hand, nothing serious but a bit of scar tissue limited how much I could bend my finger. I ended up seeing a physical therapist that specialized in hands. Perhaps you can talk to one or just find out information through online searches for exercises to help steady your hands. I know, not a ton of help, but maybe it's a start.

In terms of things specific to mini painting, a good holder can help. I use something like this. You can also get a table mounted version which sometimes I'll use for very fine detail freehand work. That allows me to also use my other hand to help steady the brush if needed. Place the index finger of your other hand against the brush just below the bristles and apply a light amount of pressure. I think you'll find this gives you an increased amount of control.

When I paint, I find I often extend my pinky (on the hand holding the brush) and will rest it on either the figure or the figure's holder while I paint. It's something I do without thinking most of the time. It helps my hands (the one holding the figure and the one holding the brush) move together and gives me a sense of greater control.

That machine is a combo lathe/mill. They are "hobby" level machines, not capable of very good precision or accuracy, but they have their uses in small shops.

At the minimum you will need:

Some kind of toolpost, I would recommend a knockoff of a quick change toolpost from Aloris, they are affordable and will be good enough. This would be a good choice

A drill chuck to go in the tail stock. The taper on the tailstock spindle is probably something like a MT1 or MT2.

Measuring tools will be required to use the machine. A basic assortment would include a pair of calipers, a couple of micrometers (0-1" and 1"-2" range), and a couple of dial indicators.

These are kind of the basics, and you will find you need more tooling as you want to do different jobs.

I'm using this one:
https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/101/4400/Apprentice-Collet-Chuck-7-Piece-Set

I think the Beal might be slightly nicer, but have no complaints about the Apprentice. Both use ER32 compatible collet inserts so you have a huge range of options if you want to buy more specific ones for special things. I also know some folks who went straight to the machinists ER32 collet holders which can be cheaper but most of the holders for those are MT2 with a drawbar which precludes putting long skinny things through them into the headstock.. and it was easy to find a woodturners version that fit my lathe :)

A picture and an coherent explanation on the custom sized insert is worth a million other words so I'll point over at David Reed Smiths article on knitting needles and collet chuck inserts: http://www.davidreedsmith.com/articles/knittingneedles/knitting_needles.htm

Scroll down in there to the bit about the "one-slit sub-collet" for details. I might well have even gotten the idea from there (his website is a wealth of interesting ideas). I haven't used these in the scroll chuck, but I think they should work reasonably well if you're careful where you align the slit.

I haven't used a pin chuck (I assume you mean one kind of like this https://youtu.be/XEwEG_sYGFU?t=146 - not the "pin chuck" used for holding tiny drill bits - which I have used quite a bit). That looks super handy for things you want to turn with inside openings that are large enough to register in a stable fashion (I don't think I'd use it for things a lot bigger around than they are thick maybe? have to try it..). I've used a tapered peg held <various ways> in the headstock to as sort of a jam-it-on-there holder which works pretty well with a light hand. The trick with those is to have just barely enough taper to matter to get a good grip.

I've also picked up some MT2 collets - akin to these https://www.amazon.com/Collet-Set-2MT-7/dp/B002YPFSEM (although I've only bought a couple of onsies that I found cheap). They're pretty handy for really small stuff and are best used with a drawbar through the headstock to pull them closed (you can easily make the drawbar out of some appropriately sized all-thread).

For fitting an MT2 taper the critical thing is that you have good front and back contact so it's better if the taper is a bit concave than convex. The fellow who gave me the idea is John K Jordan (the "other" John Jordan as he notes.. heh) who uses a brass gauge with a U at each side matching the major and minor diameters he wants plus marks for the length, part each side to where the gauge slips over, then remove the middle. A slightly dubious looking but seemingly fine URL that has a PDF of his class describing this is at: http://nebula.wsimg.com/036285412d6ef72ec47c952e88ecf282?AccessKeyId=8E1EC0DC707F1FE36FCB&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

I don't think I'd use the MT2 trick for these pegs though, because you want the sides of the tenons to be straight/parallel to get them to glue nicely into whatever you're putting them into... unless of course you bought an MT2 taper reamer and reamed the holes to match.. but even then getting the sizing right would be a lot trickier than just a straight tenon.