Thread: Best tool?

Hello Hutcho,
Apart from the HSS tool holders that came with my lathe,I bought the others on ebay. I also have a couple of carbide tool holders which I only use when I am machining hard metal. Even with a QCTP, the centre height has to be adjusted each time the tool is sharpened. Unless you intend to buy a truck load of tool holders for the QCTP, I think the old style HSS tool holders are more versatile. When I have the correct shims for my tool/toolholder, I use a pipe cleaner to keep the shims attached when not in use.
Russell

If you have lots of shims, I have heard of people making up shim packs and using tape (masking, duct etc) to secure the shim to the tool so that they can be fitted to a 4 way quickly.
I take Russell's point about needing a lot of QCTP holders if you have lots of tools but it is surprising how few you actually need for the basics. Lots of the QCTP holders are interchangeable so buying new ones once you have more than a few tools is not expensive and the nice thing about the Aloris style is that you can make your own if you have a mill as Ewan points out.

Michael

Ueee

cdco sure looks the beeswax! My centre bolt in my toolpost is 5/8" and the bolt is 2 3/4"high. Does this compare with yours. I surely would be interested in hearing how the QCTP goes on your lathe and if I can guesstimate my sizes correctly I will be importing one very soon.

regards

Old Hutcho

Originally Posted by Old Hutcho

Ueee

cdco sure looks the beeswax! My centre bolt in my toolpost is 5/8" and the bolt is 2 3/4"high. Does this compare with yours. I surely would be interested in hearing how the QCTP goes on your lathe and if I can guesstimate my sizes correctly I will be importing one very soon.

regards

Old Hutcho

Your bolt size wont play any part in the holder,what you need to know is either your centre height or what your lathe will swing.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

Your bolt size wont play any part in the holder,what you need to know is either your centre height or what your lathe will swing.

Pipeclay, centre height measured from where. I know its to the centre of the live centre. My lathe has a 4.5" chuck and will swing about a 10 " to 12" job. I am guessing from your post that I either bore out the QCTP or bush it depending on the size of the hole??


regards

Old Hutcho

Hi old hutcho,
I know a bxa size qctp will fit on my machine, so it should fit on yours. To make it clear though, the height Peter is talking about is the largest dis you can swing over the bed. Our lathes were sold as 11" x 28" IIRC. from the top of the compound slide, where the tool post bolts on to center is also important. This measurement is important as you need to fit the tool, the part of the holder under the tool and have some spare so you don't have the post at the very bottom of the height adjustment. The bolt size doesn't matter as most holders come with a blank t nut that you will need to machine to fit the t slot in the compound.

Originally Posted by Old Hutcho

Pipeclay, centre height measured from where. I know its to the centre of the live centre. My lathe has a 4.5" chuck and will swing about a 10 " to 12" job. I am guessing from your post that I either bore out the QCTP or bush it depending on the size of the hole??


regards

Old Hutcho

If you wish to measure the centre height,measure from the flat bedway to the centre of something held in the chuck or tailstock centre,double this and this will be the swing over bed.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

If you wish to measure the centre height,measure from the flat bedway to the centre of something held in the chuck or tailstock centre,double this and this will be the swing over bed.

Well according to my sales brochure (yes Ive actually got one dated August 1944) its a 10" swing. Does that get me any closer to identifying which QCTP to buy?

regards

Old Hutcho

ps: I appreciate your patience Pipeclay and others to a new (64 year old) newbie.

If you go to the Aloris web site and down load the catalog, in there they show you how to size a QCTP.
Aloris Catalog 2012 -- Tool Posts | Aloris Tool Post | Quick Change Tooling
That will then give you something that you can use as a basis.
I had a 7x20 lathe once with a BXA sized QCTP on it and the only problem I had was a little bit of interference when using large tools, so there are ways around not quite fitting.

Michael

You would probably find that both the axa and bxa would work on your lathe.
The bxa is a little bigger than the axa and therefore a little more ridgid.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

You would probably find that both the axa and bxa would work on your lathe.
The bxa is a little bigger than the axa and therefore a little more ridgid.

To add to that, the axa can only take up to 12mm tools, the bxa up to 16mm (with off the shelf holders). As I already have some 16mm tooling it made sence for me to get a bxa. You can of course mill tooling down to fit. As for getting the tool height correct, r.c has a video about threading that shows him using a nifty little adjustable pointer. His utube name is lathe fan, but someone might be good enough to give us a link, or r.c. may have a pic he can post?

I forgot to mention If your after lathe tooling,drill bits,hss,toolholders or general Chinese tools. Try B N J Tools Nowra

Welder, I would be interested in giving the diamond tool holder a run if the offer still stands. Is it OK if I give you a ring and maybe shoot out to your place over the weekend to have a look?


regards

Old Hutcho

The offer still stands although you will have to come around next weekend as I have a steam engine feild day this weekend.