Patent ID: 8650994

Claim:
A tool station block comprising: a) four sides, a top and a base, the base structured to fixedly and non-rotatably couple to a y-axis machine turret, the block having an x-axis extending through the top and the base and the y-axis extending perpendicular to the x-axis; b) the sides comprising one or two tool-holding sides, each tool-holding side having a plurality of tool-holding positions, each tool-holding position for each block being selected from the group consisting of O.D. tool slots extending between the top and the base, and I.D. tool bores in, and perpendicular to, the tool-holding side, with at least two of the tool-holding positions spaced along the y-axis; and c) the sides further comprising two non-tool-holding sides, wherein the non-tool-holding sides oppose each other on opposite sides of the tool station block; wherein when the tool station block is used, selected tools for machining a work piece are fastened in the tool-holding positions, the tool station block is mounted on the y-axis machine, and the y-axis machine is operated by programmed commands controlling the order of use of the selected tools to machine the work piece.