Bought a few QCTPs to compare quality in inexpensive brands.

Dabbler said:
I think the OP has spent more on the investigation than I spent on a real Aloris BXA and 4 holders. Mine was about 300 US$ in total.
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Oh, but wait !! He hasn’t explored the Multifix alternatives yet. :oops:

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mksj said:
Why are you buying all the different QCTPs? One would have saved quite a bit by starting out with what you had and learned with that. As mentioned they all will work, but BXA is A better fit in particular if you need heavier or stiffer tooling. One may use a 1 or 1.25" boring bar for deep boring, AXA won't support that. Whatever, seems like spending a lot of money in the long run. The QCTP sets as mentioned, are usually wasted money.
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Hello mjks, and everyone... Short as I can make it, 2 reasons - First and foremost is replacing the current piston type TP and mismatched holders I currently have... I will keep all the tooling and donate the old AXA set, Ill keep one of these new set for my incoming lathe.

Besides the big-box stores the last 3 retail machine tool outlets vanished around Covid, None of my friends take interest this hobby, There is no schools or work shops here to get some hands on and meet like minded people, nowhere to see or learn anything about lathes, mills or metal machines in general... I'm literally on my own in this venture.

Second, I thought it would be nice to pay it forwarded a little and have a single thread compiled for new comers that show some mid range QCTP that are commonly available clean and new, what they cost and see better quality photos of them along with some information about them...

That's all I got Sir...
 
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Perhaps I am being too harsh.

I have conducted my own investigation of tool posts: 1 Dixon, Aloris 3 flavours, 4 way - 2 flavours, and American Rocker. But tooling itself is one of my hobbies. I have an AXA on my 12X37 lathe. I have used BXA on that lathe as well. So I have some experience in the area. I have tool holders from Accusize, Amazon Generic, and real Aloris. I have used Phase II tool holders on other peoples lathes here in town ( but not the tool post, unfortunately).

My point, but I should have been more gentle, is that you could have purchased a real Aloris AXA or BXA in preparation for your new lathe... Even if you have misgivings about Phase II, you could be confident in Dorian or Aloris, which I think would have been universally applauded.

At least 6 of use here with significant years of experience have already described how many offshore tool posts work quite well. Some have stated that the piston type is inferior to the wedge type. I have both. In parting and form tool work which is the hardest test for a tool post, there has been little difference in their performance between piston and wedge. I can easily say that the difference is nearly undetectable.

What matters is that you properly fit your tool post to your lathe to get the most out of it. The very best tool post in the world will give terrible results if it fits poorly. This I have also seen and corrected on lathes here in my town.

By fitting, I do not mean size. I mean that the T nut makes very good contact on the pressure surfaces, and that there is proper clearance to make good pressure. That the two mating surfaces - compound to tool post - are both flat, true, and have good mating fit at all angles to be used.
 
Dabbler said:
Perhaps I am being too harsh.

I have conducted my own investigation of tool posts: 1 Dixon, Aloris 3 flavours, 4 way - 2 flavours, and American Rocker. But tooling itself is one of my hobbies. I have an AXA on my 12X37 lathe. I have used BXA on that lathe as well. So I have some experience in the area. I have tool holders from Accusize, Amazon Generic, and real Aloris. I have used Phase II tool holders on other peoples lathes here in town ( but not the tool post, unfortunately).

My point, but I should have been more gentle, is that you could have purchased a real Aloris AXA or BXA in preparation for your new lathe... Even if you have misgivings about Phase II, you could be confident in Dorian or Aloris, which I think would have been universally applauded.

At least 6 of use here with significant years of experience have already described how many offshore tool posts work quite well. Some have stated that the piston type is inferior to the wedge type. I have both. In parting and form tool work which is the hardest test for a tool post, there has been little difference in their performance between piston and wedge. I can easily say that the difference is nearly undetectable.

What matters is that you properly fit your tool post to your lathe to get the most out of it. The very best tool post in the world will give terrible results if it fits poorly. This I have also seen and corrected on lathes here in my town.

By fitting, I do not mean size. I mean that the T nut makes very good contact on the pressure surfaces, and that there is proper clearance to make good pressure. That the two mating surfaces - compound to tool post - are both flat, true, and have good mating fit at all angles to be used.
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Hello dabbler, I recently did buy a Dorian TP from Shars and ran into a small issue that is being worked out.

I understand the need for having the best mechanical fit possible between the T-Nut and the compound slide, unfortunately I don't have a mill or knowledge to use one at this point.. no idea how ill solve this dilemma just yet, other than getting Dorian or Aloris to mill it for me.

lol I'm also sure you 6 knowledgeable people are ( as I too would be ) having a little fun at the new guys expense that's doing all this stuff that just make no sense, you can tell Davidpbest likes me with his last post poking a little fun at me with his statement " Oh, but wait !! He hasn’t explored the Multifix alternatives yet. :oops: " I don't mind its all in good fun.

Between you guys offering up your wisdom and my hands on research Ill get this figured out..

Thanks for stopping by, Mike.
 
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Mr Mike said:
I understand the need for having the best mechanical fit possible between the T-Nut and the compound slide, unfortunately I don't have a mill or knowledge to use one at this point.. no idea how ill solve this dilemma just yet, other than getting Dorian or Aloris to mill it for me.
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There is no magic in this and I'll try to help you out with some of the generalities:

Please note - there is likely 50 ways to do this and a dozen better than the comments below: I'm trying to make this as easy as I can, with as little investment as I can.

One thing you shop will need is a reference surface. For the moment it can be a piece of thick glass on a rigid surface. Get some very fine emery cloth, 1000 grit or thereabouts and place it face up on the glass. You take your new tool post and rub it lightly on the sandpaper/glass to remove any remaining burrs or shipping dents. I even had to do this on my well packed Aloris holder. it took two noticeable burrs of the corners.

Now that your tool post is flat-ish you need to do the same to your compound. Since your compound rest will be on a new lathe, it should be in good condition but it is a good idea to verify... I use a very fine, new, small file and lightly brush the surface - don't 'dig in' - just see if you can feel any high spots. On my 3 lathes, and others before them, they all had imperfections on the compound surfaces that will prevent good contact...

This will help you get better contact for your tool post.

Making your T nut is a bigger topic, but you will have to do this to mount any of your tool posts. The advantage with ordering it with your lathe is that they usually mount it for you. No mill needed.

To make your T nut contact secure, you need a long single cut fine lathe file (you will need one for your lathe anyway). Rub this file lightly against the upper side of your compound T slot to 'feel' any roughness or burrs on each side. Even my leblond had raised burrs from the milling operations, and was improved by a light rub... You want to make sure the lathe file doesn't 'catch on any roughness or burrs. The will help things a lot.

On milling your T nut: Perhaps there is a member on H-M that is near you that can help out. I'm across an international border and over 1000km away, so I cannot really help you there.
 
Learned something interesting - i have read that the wedge style QCTP are better/more accurate than the piston style. I ordered some import AXA tool holders off from eBay and some of them didn't fit my wedge style tool holder, they wouldn't tighten up enough to hold the tool holder firmly. I recently got a piston style QCTP from an estate and the piston style is able to tighten up the tool holders that were too sloppy for my wedge style one. Both of them are Phase II - one is wedge the other is a piston style. The Phase II tool holders fit both style tool posts equally well. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share.
 
There's nothing horribly wrong with piston types. They may rock a bit until tightened, but once tight, they lock up and hold like any other. Every mechanism is different, so it's hard to say what's better simply based on just the locking movement. I'd be more interested in owning a Taiwan made Phase II piston tool post than a mystery clearing house vendor's Chinese wedge post, that's for sure.

It's worth mentioning that tool posts are sledgehammers and not scalpels. Finework is nice but not necessary to making parts.
 
pontiac428 said:
There's nothing horribly wrong with piston types. They may rock a bit until tightened, but once tight, they lock up and hold like any other. Every mechanism is different, so it's hard to say what's better simply based on just the locking movement. I'd be more interested in owning a Taiwan made Phase II piston tool post than a mystery clearing house vendor's Chinese wedge post, that's for sure.

It's worth mentioning that tool posts are sledgehammers and not scalpels. Finework is nice but not necessary to making parts.
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I can't find a ---> Phase II tool post thats made in Taiwan, can you please post a link where I can buy one, I have a Chinese version and would like to get the Taiwanese Version to compare.

Thanks Mike.
 
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