- Joined
- Dec 17, 2012
- Messages
- 630
The solution may be obvious to some people but if so, why didn't you speak up earlier? 
Something about buying a tool that gets good reviews but I find extremely problematic makes me wonder if it is just me. I didn't want to mess with it because I didn't want to ruin a $100 toolpost set. I also didn't want to just abandon the toolpost and buy something else.
I have been really frustrated with my A2Z QCTP handle sticking out the wrong way and tangling with my tailstock handles, live center, drill chuck and anything else down on that side of the lathe. Frustrated enough that I was working on a replacing the toolpost. Well, tonight I had enough of it and set about fixing it.
The toolpost has a collar that has a cam on it that when you turn it, it pushes out a piston to press against the tool holder. The little pistons are just under 1/2 in. diameter and are undersized with an o-ring to provide a friction fit in the cylinder. When tightened, the handle on mine would be at about the 2 o'clock position and would hit things like the quill lock on the tailstock, Well, I try as a general case to make the smallest modification that will solve the problem. My options were, move the handle, turn a new cam, modify 15 or so tool holders or something else. I opted for something else.
I didnn't want to dive in and start performing surgery on it immediately. I took the toolpost apart and started looking over things. I removed the pistons and measured them and the amount of turn that it took to engage the cam. I knew that if I took too much, the cam wouldn't be able to pin the tool holder to the toolpost. Instead of just jumping in and cutting things up, I got out some stock to mock-up a sample. Turned a piece of AL to the same diameter and parted it off the same as the original pieces. It was trial and error and ended up being about 0.032 in. to get the handle to turn enough. That brought it to about the 5 o'clock position, which was well away from the problems it has been causing. The toolpost still locked perfectly. Since I didn't have any o-rings for a second set of pistons and figured that it would be easy enough to make replacements if I screwed up, I went ahead and did the surgery on the originals.
Something about buying a tool that gets good reviews but I find extremely problematic makes me wonder if it is just me. I didn't want to mess with it because I didn't want to ruin a $100 toolpost set. I also didn't want to just abandon the toolpost and buy something else.
I have been really frustrated with my A2Z QCTP handle sticking out the wrong way and tangling with my tailstock handles, live center, drill chuck and anything else down on that side of the lathe. Frustrated enough that I was working on a replacing the toolpost. Well, tonight I had enough of it and set about fixing it.
The toolpost has a collar that has a cam on it that when you turn it, it pushes out a piston to press against the tool holder. The little pistons are just under 1/2 in. diameter and are undersized with an o-ring to provide a friction fit in the cylinder. When tightened, the handle on mine would be at about the 2 o'clock position and would hit things like the quill lock on the tailstock, Well, I try as a general case to make the smallest modification that will solve the problem. My options were, move the handle, turn a new cam, modify 15 or so tool holders or something else. I opted for something else.
I didnn't want to dive in and start performing surgery on it immediately. I took the toolpost apart and started looking over things. I removed the pistons and measured them and the amount of turn that it took to engage the cam. I knew that if I took too much, the cam wouldn't be able to pin the tool holder to the toolpost. Instead of just jumping in and cutting things up, I got out some stock to mock-up a sample. Turned a piece of AL to the same diameter and parted it off the same as the original pieces. It was trial and error and ended up being about 0.032 in. to get the handle to turn enough. That brought it to about the 5 o'clock position, which was well away from the problems it has been causing. The toolpost still locked perfectly. Since I didn't have any o-rings for a second set of pistons and figured that it would be easy enough to make replacements if I screwed up, I went ahead and did the surgery on the originals.
