The Shop > Tools
Making Simple QC Tool Holders
andyf:
There's a more sophisticated version here: http://www.lathes.co.uk/rolls-royce/ , with a description beneath the close-up photo halfway down the page. I'm not sure it was intended to be used as a QCTP. To do that, the whole assembly would have to be removed from the T slot and replaced with another complete assembly. It would be a lot of work to make a set.
A chap in NZ shows the simpler type he made for a mini-lathe on this page:
http://www.aardvark.co.nz/pjet/qctp.shtml .
I'm not sure the flange at the foot of the post was worth the swarf involved, though.
And yet another, where the "expanding post" eliminates the need for a pinch bolt, so permitting two tool slots, with a special widget beneath so two height-setting screws can
be set independently of one another:
http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/novel-quick-change-tool-post.html
Andy
RussellT:
If you're fitting it to a top/compound slide with a T slot then the flange is necessary or the jacking screw will fall into the T slot at some angles. There isn't any need for it to be attached to the post - a thick washer is all that's needed.
Russell
andyf:
Good point, Russell. Minilathes (and some other small Chinese hobby lathes like mine) don't have Tee slots :( so no flange is really needed for those.
If you do have Tee slots, an attached flange might have a slight advantage over a loose washer, because there would be no chance of any chips getting underneath it.
Andy.
Pete.:
--- Quote from: RussellT on April 10, 2013, 07:27:06 PM ---Hi Pete
I don't quite see how that would work. Where would you put the bolt to clamp it to the round post?
I have some similar tool holders and I can make them so you can flip them over to use either end of a boring bar. I've also made some cut at an angle so I have more clearance for the tailstock.
Russell
--- End quote ---
Here, Russell. One small design change and you double your number of holders.
vtsteam:
AndyF -- great to see a Rolls Royce lathe! Now that would be something to brag about in the workshop. :med:
I realize that I had seen the wedging toolpost on the mikesworkshop site and was very impressed. It's very tempting to do that now, since I could simply make a new toolpost -- or maybe even modify the present one.
But I hesitate to do that because I do wonder if slitting the post reduces the overall toolpost stiffness. I think I wouldn't trade convenience for stiffness in this type of post -- it is already of smaller cross section than the commercial square dovetailed QC posts, like the ones that inspired this thread.
This brings up the point I'd like to make in general that though the post design I'm using is easy to fabricate, it is not the equivalent of a toolpost like Daveo has. It is going to be somewhat less stiff because the cross section is smaller, it is less massive, and it is not as quick to change (QC) since it requires a wrench, and commercial models have a built in lever and cam action. I sure can't change out a tool as fast as Doubleboost can in his videos.
However, this design is much better than the standard lantern style toolpost which came with my lathe, so I'm very happy with it. And it's nice to have something I made myself on the machine within my machining capabilities to produce. I'm not quite up to the precision fit dovetail level yet.
I like the wedging toolpost a lot, very tempted by that, since it allows multiple tools and is very quick change. On the other hand, now that I'm making a bunch of holders, the need to have a lot of lathe tools in a single holder seems less imperative. And another advantage to simplicity I can think of -- there's less to get cut on if there aren't tools sticking out in odd directions.
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