Dorian Bxa Qctp Too Low For New Pm-1340gt

Roddy

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Well I finally had time this weekend to wire my vfd to my new PM-1340gt and do the initial break-in, which went perfectly thanks to all the information gathered here on this site from you good folks. The machine really is smooth. About the time I ordered the machine back in march I went ahead and picked up a Dorian BXA qctp and some assorted tooling. This morning I milled the t-nut and mounted the post. To my dismay, all the indexable cutters, which are 5/8" are about 1\8" below center line with the tool holder adjusted as high as it would go. The boring bar is even worse at 1/2" low. I'm assuming something has changed on the lathe to lower the top of the compound being that I've seen many of these 1340's with BXA tool posts mounted to them. Measuring from the top of the compound to center line of the bore I get 1.6875" which puts it more in the cxa range. 3/4" and 1" cutting tools just barely work, but I'll have to shim up the tool post to use the boring bar. Anybody else have this problem or am I just missing something?
IMG_20150920_142619935_HDR.jpg IMG_20150920_142233695.jpg IMG_20150920_142334702.jpg
 
Well you have 2 options. You can shim the tools in the holder, or shim the tool post on the cross slide.

Looking at the photos that looks a lot bigger than an aloris bxa. More like a cxa.
 
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Your tool holders look like they are for 3/4 to 7/8 inch tools. I did the math on a CXA Dorian not long ago it was perfect for a 16 inch lathe.
 
Wow that was fast.
Well you have 2 options. You can shim the tools in the holder, or shim the tool post on the cross slide.
This is correct. As all are low I will most likely shim the post

Your tool holders look like they are for 3/4 to 7/8 inch tools. I did the math on a CXA Dorian not long ago it was perfect for a 16 inch lathe.
This is correct. The toolholders came with the bxa post as a kit with a range from 5/8" to 1"
 
My Dorian BXA works just fine on my 1340GT. I could be wrong, but your tool post looks a big bigger than a BXA.

VFD Installed.jpg


Correction: Your tool post looks fine, but your holders may be suspect. All of my holders are either for 5/8" or 3/4" tooling, but I cannot use smaller tools in the 3/4" ones.

Second correction: Sorry, I missed you saying your holders are for 3/4" and bigger. Nevermind. :) Nice looking lathe though...
 
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The tool holders are Dorian D1 for turning and the D2 for turning and boring. These are the only turning holders Dorian has in bxa, but I do think that's the problem. Pretty much all other manufacturers' bxa tool holders are 1 3/4" tall, Dorians' is 2 1/4" tall and that's the 1/2" I need. I'll just have to pick up some Aloris holders and save the Dorian holders until I get some bigger cutting tools.
 
"Standard" BXA holders are slotted for 5/8" tools (at least Phase II, Aloris, Grizzly, Shars, etc). Dorian sells BXA holders made for 3/4"-1" tools... at least some years they did and still do(there product line has bounced back and forth from year to year).

Your picture makes it look like you have a 3/8" or 1/2" tool in a 1" tool holder. If you put a 3/4"-1" tool in there, I bet it would work. Or, if you put a 1/2" or 5/8" tool in a "normal" tool holder, I bet it would work just fine.

Aloris et all. tool holders will work with your tool post.

Nice job in the t-nut.
 
The tool holders are Dorian D1 for turning and the D2 for turning and boring. These are the only turning holders Dorian has in bxa, but I do think that's the problem. Pretty much all other manufacturers' bxa tool holders are 1 3/4" tall, Dorians' is 2 1/4" tall and that's the 1/2" I need. I'll just have to pick up some Aloris holders and save the Dorian holders until I get some bigger cutting tools.

Hey Roddy,

Yea, that's why I didn't buy any of the Dorian tool holders. I figured they would be too much for my 1340. I bought a bunch of BXA holders from Matt at PM. Now his BXA holders are 3/4", but have more meat below the tool slot which means a 5/8" tool will work as well as the 3/4" stuff. If I use any of my 3/8" tools I will likely have to shim the tool in the holder. I haven't yet felt the need to buy 3/4" tooling for this lathe yet. The 5/8" stuff works fine so far.
 
The tool holders I've used were set up so that the top of the tool was near the top of the slot, not half way up. You are undertooling your lathe using half inch or even 5/8 tools.
 
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