I bought a new tool holder assembly for my big lathe. It's the dovetail holders that allow quicker and easier changes a tool bits and adjustments. You can let the bits in the holder, and move thru a series of milling operations that way. Course - the holders are approx. $55 each and the main dovetail piston assembly is $205.

The stuff was part of a larger restocking order I made last week. This main bulk of the order did not arrive with the rest. After a couple of days, it was determined that this stuff was lost. So, I had to reorder it all. The reorder came today. The Orig. still never showed. So; hope my supplier, UPS, and my account gets it all worked out.

Now - in the pic, you see one little "accursed" pin, sitting atop the orange cap. It serves the useless purpose of restricting the rotation of the orig. Turret Tool holder to CCW rotation. You have to lock it down anyway. You loosen the hand lever and rotate to the next tool - then lock. BUT! You can't choose a tool by moving CW. . Ok.

Well, this restricter pin penetrated the "T Nut" securing the Orig. Turret holder in place. Had to come out to release the T nut. No deal. Nope. Nada. Ain't comin' out. Not without disassembling the lathe down to the dark matter between the atomic particles. Once I could turn the casting upside down, I could tap, tap, tap with a hammer and get it to elevate from the socket.

Now I maching the new T nut to fit the cross slide carriage casting.

Why get the new one? To adjust the tool height on the old Turret Mount, I use shims and wedges. It's time consuming. Take a bit out to sharpen, and fight it all again. Then, get it set up, and it's in the way for the next tool and operation. You have to tear it down. The dovetail carriers go on and off in seconds. Replace to exactly the same position. Easy elevation adjustments.

Gary

Hi Gary,

We had a lazy day today. It's Loius Reil day here, a founder of the province.

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

Last night our neighbors invited us for coffee. He is 89, her 81. I think this year is their 60th anniversary. Ended up playing dominoes all evening till late.

Anyway, you will love the the quick change tooling. It makes lathing so much quicker, multi tools can be used quickly when making identical parts. Show us the finished setup please.

Have a good week,

Pedro

Done. Yay!!

Hi Pedro,

I do love it. I've had the same set up on my Clausing Machine Lathe for many years. I wanted to set up the larger newer Chinese lathe with the same rig. Now the tooling is interchangable on both/either. I also got four more holders so now I have 16 or so I guess.



Never worked on the fancy German Iron you mentioned. But I get by. Haha.

Gary

Don'tcha love it when a plan comes together?

I suspect that a lot of the toolholder setup on the older lathes was a carry over from the rigs used in mass production shops; set it up once, leave it that way until you've made a jillion widgits. There used to be a LOT of tool and die makers in this country, I suppose the machine tool manufacturers just assumed that if you had a lathe, you'd know enough to make whatever jig or rig you needed.

Good thing you've got it all figured out, othewise you'd be stuck making left turns only.

Very nice!!

Clausing are to be great lathes. I haven't done all that much lathing. Mostly worked on imports modelled after American designed lathes. The Modern brand would be one. The Chinese lathes are built strong but still half the price of a made in the USA. So either the quality is missing or some employees are over paid haha.

It's great you can I terchange tooling between lathes!

Have a great week!

Pedro

Hi Pedro,

We've done the same things. Your 3D printer is a basic unit. My lathes and mills are the same. But - we work. We make chips.

I knew a fellow 30 years ago. Was a foreman at a huge factory that made gigantic stuff. He had a home machine shop. Nothing but the best tools. All bigger then life. But - before he'd get one set up - he'd sniff out a deal on a better one. He'd begin an upgrade. Always setting up. Rarely a chip made in the shop. It was spotless. And so it had gone, decade after decade. Setting up the finest trophy of a shop ever assembled.

I will greatly enjoy the new Chinese tooling on my Chinese lathe. Yes - they make solid stuff. It's all "Agricultural". Everything is like a tractor. And, you will find the hardest tool steel in some of the most odd places. I mean the stuff will be like Criptonite, and it will be a Wing Nut on a Stove Bolt or something. haha. I do feel an affinity for some of the workers building the machines. You will get a box of spare parts. And, the box will have been hand made. Cardboard box and top. With a blue leatherette bonded surface wrapped over and folded into place by hand. Top made just enough different size to snug over it. There will be a checklist of poorly translated pages. And, there will be initialed signatures at various completion stages. Craftsmen are craftsmen. America, China, 2015, or 2015 BC. We'd understand each other and work, while the world turned.

Gary

Good point Gary, old school is old school no matter where you grew up.

A couple decades back I bought a "tin" of Chinese surplus ammo in 7.62 x 39, turned out to have been made in the mid 1950's from the headstamp on the cases. Corrosive primers of course, but the stuff shoots better in my (also Chinese) AKs than any of the modern mil-spec ammo I get today. Every tin had two smaller tins inside, all heavy-gauge galvanized steel, hand soldered shut with a little tab sticking out for the "sardine key" to open it. Inside are little cardboard boxes holding two stripper clips of ten rounds (all smelling distinctly of camphor for some reason), and each box is hand-tied shut with a little string. It'd be just darling if it weren't for the fact that that exact same ammo was undoubtedly used against American soldiers in Korea, but I digress.

I've bought Chinese made tools that were pure junk, and some that were and are made to last for generations. It's totally a buyer-beware situation, you just have to know what you're looking for and sift through the dreck for the gems.