I agree with Mark and David, if doing it again, I would skip buying a kit. Something to consider with the Chinese parting blade holders, they are pretty bad if you use the P type HSS parting blades. The P type needs a groove at the top for the wider top section of the blade, or a shim of the appropriate thickness on the bottom section of the blade, and the bottom groove had a radius on mine that prevented the blade from seating vertically causing it to do poorly when parting or grooving. I modified mine to work better, but that is one area where you might want to skip the HSS blade holders all together that come with the kits and start with a carbide insert toolholder held in a #1 or #2 holder and then get a blade holder like the Aloris #71 or 77 when you want to move up to a blade style for deeper parting. The Aloris or Dorian might be better, but that is an area I am currently looking at getting rid of the standard style and going to carbide inserts.
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Any difference between the Dorian Red and Grey tool posts...?
- Thread starter Mr Mike
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So the Red and Grey Dorian are the same... Good to know, thought maybe the red was their higher end version maybe.
Got it... Eventually get a good tool post and build from there what I need. I'm not positive just yet but from what I'm reading here and online Aloris may be the better pick for Quality vs Cost, I'm having a hard time determining if people are just buying Dorian because of the higher cost... whether it be bragging rights or the belief higher cost must mean better quality...!
Thanks for the info, Mike.
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I based my decision to get the Dorian on my perception of their superior engineering skills as evidenced by the wide variety of CNC-related tooling they design/manufacture. Put the Aloris and Dorian catalogs next to each other and you'll see what I mean. Now, does this matter on my PM-1340GT? I'm not sure, and even doubt it.
But what I didn't want was to put question marks into tool registration consistency since I rely on the DRO tooling offsets to be accurate. I vaguely remember a posting somewhere that did an A : D comparison on consistency of tool registration taking it off, then on, then off, then on using tenths indicators to check variation, and the Dorian was more consistent. I wish I'd saved the post/article, but I can no longer find it.
And by the way, the same philosophy should apply to indexable tool selection: buy individual tools rather than the inexpensive Chinese sets. There's nothing more frustrating than having an indexable tool fail and not knowing if it was the setup, the insert, or the tool holder. In my experience, it's better to buy a quality indexable tool at the outset and eliminate as many variables as possible. If you want more details on this aspect, DM me - happy to help.
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There was a period of time when they were different.
Earlier Dorian "non specialty" QCTPs were black (not paint) with a red name plate. These were cam type. They eventually started painting them red & changed to a round yellow name plate, still cam type. When they updated the design to the current wedge type they still came in red but the P/Ns never changed.
I bought mine right around the time they made the change. Most vendors still had the red cam type TPs in stock. My local distributor had no idea what I was talking about & put me in contact with Dorian. Dorian CS reps also didn't know what I was talking about. I was then put in contact with Dorian engineer & he confirmed. Got my wedge type TP dropped shipped from Dorian.
A few yrs or so later they eventually changed them to the current silver which should all be wedge type. My guess was to avoid the confusion since they did not change P/Ns but I'm just speculating. Manufacturers change colors just for the heck of it. I call it silver cause I have seen "pics" online depicting a grey Dorian TP but IIRC they were actually just renderings & not actual photos. Just looks darker in those renderings.
So if you are looking at buying a red one I'm assuming it's most likely used or NOS. If so try to get the wedge type & not the older cam type, their wedge design is far superior. If new, some vendors may just be using old stock photos. You'll most likely get a silver one if buying new from a Dorian distributor.
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Wedge
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Cost is relative, at the time I bought my Dorian tool posts, the Aloris was the same price. Having used both in the past (and currently), I prefer the Dorian as it feels more solid and positive. The wedge systems are also different, the Dorian wedges out and down which in theory is more positive then just a wedge out on the Aloris. I do not buy tools, or anything else because they are expensive or for bragging rights. People in this forum try to give their honest opinion based on their own experience, and what has worked and what has not. There is a learning curve, and we all tend to make more mistakes when just starting out. Once one gets more experience, and determines ones preferences and budget, then one can decide what will work best for one's setup. There is also a wide price range for the same item, so one needs to shop around and/or look at used market. Pricing at Shar's which sells both at very competitive pricing shows they are $414 vs. $451. If you review the current Dorian catalogue , all the current models are silver grey, as darkzero indicated, red was an older style color and most likely represents NOS.
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Hi mjks, Hope you weren't offended, definitely wasn't trying to imply you or anyone here is buying stuff on false pretense on purpose, I would be one of the people to just buy what's said to be best based only on price due to lack of knowledge, that puts me in one of the categories I mentioned.Cost is relative, at the time I bought my Dorian tool posts, the Aloris was the same price. Having used both in the past (and currently), I prefer the Dorian as it feels more solid and positive. The wedge systems are also different, the Dorian wedges out and down which in theory is more positive then just a wedge out on the Aloris. I do not buy tools, or anything else because they are expensive or for bragging rights. People in this forum try to give their honest opinion based on their own experience, and what has worked and what has not. There is a learning curve, and we all tend to make more mistakes when just starting out. Once one gets more experience, and determines ones preferences and budget, then one can decide what will work best for one's setup. There is also a wide price range for the same item, so one needs to shop around and/or look at used market. Pricing at Shar's which sells both at very competitive pricing shows they are $414 vs. $451. If you review the current Dorian catalogue , all the current models are silver grey, as darkzero indicated, red was an older style color and most likely represents NOS.
I do appreciate this forum or I wouldn't be here or bought the diamond membership years ago, well that and I feel these types of forums deserve monetary support which helps keep them healthy.
I am partly like I am and think like I do because again - perfect example incoming, I let my guard down " due to all the good things I have heard about Precision Mathew on here and elsewhere " and got suckered into buying all new BXA stuff for the PM-1236T I ordered in fear of not being able to use it when I got it, I was told on the phone by the sales person I cannot use any of my AXA stuff with this lathe... I don't blame them It's my fault I should have double checked first.
Again not trying to offend people just gathering info to make informed choices...
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