Tool post project

[Alan JacksonParticipant @alanjackson47790]

I agree with Thaiguzzi's comments on the MLA Toolpost. Here is my version with the cutting tool within the envelope of the Topslide and Cross slide for maximum rigidity.

Alan

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by Nicholas Wheeler 1 on 06/09/2019 00:29:10:

I think you've gone backwards: that's added a lot of extra machining to each toolholder – you need a lot of them, so that's important – that doesn't justify its existence. That's why I like John Stevenson's suggestion to reverse the dovetails on a more traditional style post, and put the male dovetail on the holders.

Agreed. I made one to his design but enlarged a little for a 5" lathe over ten years ago and have been very happy with it. Other than the ease of making the holders it has the advantage that two holders can be fitted at right angles to each other. I would post a photo but both my camera and phone have flat batteries at the moment.

Details of the design are still on line here.

Russell

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by thaiguzzi on 29/08/2019 14:24:28:

IF i was making a new QCTP system, without a doubt i would copy or make my own version of the MLA-23 toolpost.

Google it.

Nicest QCTP i have seen. IMHO. Extreme simplicity, extreme rigidity.

.

Thanks for the reference … I don't think I had seen that before

Here, for the Goog'ly-challenged, is a useful **LINK**

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/machining-mla-23-toolpost-174336/

MichaelG.

[Phil PParticipant @philp]

Posted by Graham Meek on 06/09/2019 10:00:21:

This is a solution I made in the late 1980's before going back to a 4 Tool Turret, based on George Thomas's design.

Regards

Gray,

Gray

I still use mine on the Super 7, its a brilliant design in my opinion, why did you revert back to a four way toolpost ?

I made Georges four way turret years ago, but did not really like it to be honest.

Phil

Edited By Phil P on 06/09/2019 11:31:07

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

Hi Phil,

Hope you are well. and glad to hear my tooling is still working well.

The reason I changed to GHT's Turret was based on problems I was having keeping my own Interchangeable Tooling free of very small bits of Brass swarf. These bits of swarf were making it impossible to hold some very tight tolerances on a commission I had undertook.

I had always though my original design was easy to keep clean, up until this point. With only 4 faces to keep clean. The prospect of another larger batch commission meant something had to give. I had always promised George I would give his turret a go one day. One thing that had put me off before hand was packing. However I think I have managed to work out a system that does not need packing.

By the way the larger batch was done much quicker than the original smaller batch. The Turret got left on the machine and my interchangeable system was sold.

I have added recently a refinement to the original design in that the Turret is now self indexing, but as yet I have no photographs of this. Those who have seen it think it warrants an article, but we shall have to see on that.

Note how there is no chance of swarf to get into the location slots.

What is not shown in the above photograph is the register pins beneath the tool holders. One such pin can be seen in the top of the second standard tool holder. I now have dedicated insert tool holders again with registration pins. Thus I have the advantages of both systems.

Regards

Gray,

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 06/09/2019 11:28:35:

Posted by thaiguzzi on 29/08/2019 14:24:28:

IF i was making a new QCTP system, without a doubt i would copy or make my own version of the MLA-23 toolpost.

Google it.

Nicest QCTP i have seen. IMHO. Extreme simplicity, extreme rigidity.

.

Thanks for the reference … I don't think I had seen that before

Here, for the Goog'ly-challenged, is a useful **LINK**

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/machining-mla-23-toolpost-174336/

MichaelG.

Yes, Paula always wrote and photographed wonderful write ups for the South Bend forum on PM. Her SB 9A was a fantastic resto, stunning lathe.

As Alan above states, the thing is so rigid, because there is no overhang. I also prefer the looks of his done in round rather than square stock. The guy who invented it, describes the toolpost as a QC Lantern. All the advantages of both with none of the disadvantages of either.

And easy to make.

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

Bump.

Wonder how the OP was getting on?

If he had taken on any of our ideas or suggestions or was ploughing along with his own plans?

[ChrisBParticipant @chrisb35596]

As I mentioned before I appreciate ALL feedback given and thank you all for that.

The "ploughing" comment is maybe a bit out of place imho, I cannot implement all the suggested ideas into a single design so I might have some preference of one design over an other.

Chris

[egaParticipant @ega]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 06/09/2019 11:28:35:

Posted by thaiguzzi on 29/08/2019 14:24:28:

IF i was making a new QCTP system, without a doubt i would copy or make my own version of the MLA-23 toolpost.

Google it.

Nicest QCTP i have seen. IMHO. Extreme simplicity, extreme rigidity.

.

Thanks for the reference … I don't think I had seen that before

Here, for the Goog'ly-challenged, is a useful **LINK**

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/machining-mla-23-toolpost-174336/

MichaelG.

Thanks (yet again) for the link; I find yorkers difficult, too!

[ChrisBParticipant @chrisb35596]

This project never really took off, have the rough cut material for it, but it's stood on the bench for close to a year collecting dust. Had a look at the design again and did some changes (again). This is what I think I will go on with unless someone notes some major flaw!

The intention is to use 16mm shank tooling which I already have but am not using. The idea is I do not have to shim or adjust any of the insert tool holders as the tool post will place them on centre height (for 16mm tooling) For Hss tools I will machine the holders to centre height (but I don't use Hss much anyway)

The central pin will be 22mm dia, will step down and be threaded m12x1 for the top lock nut. It will fit directly into the compound slide with out any modifications so I can still use the original turret tool post. The tool post block will rotate around this pin and lock at any desired angle – I'm still thinking about angle indexing ways to include in the design.

The clamping action is via a 32mm dia threaded hollow pin and a clamp plate. The jaws are bolted to the clamp plate and slide in dovetails. I am assuming that the clamping force will be big enough for the insert tool holder not to move under load. Not sure what thread I'm going to use on the hollow pin, most probably I'll go for m32x1, and included a thrust needle bearing to reduce friction losses.

 

 

Edited By ChrisB on 28/06/2020 11:57:13

[ChrisBParticipant @chrisb35596]

Thinking of how to get the tool post to index, I have found online **LINK** serrated washers which could fit on the bottom face after modifying both tool post and washer. The washer has 24 teeth, so I will get 15 deg at each step, that's all the important angles there.

[Author]

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