Thread: Quick change tool post, advice please

https://toolsnz.com/

Fresh link?

Originally Posted by No.3

https://toolsnz.com/

Fresh link?

I can't find the tool holders on that website. Might look like I've already got a few, but honestly I'd like a few more.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...Cquery_from%3A

Now we are talking, this will turn off the masses haha. Aliexpress has all (if you can stomach it).

The toolholder you want is the 250-202 - this has the groove machined in the bottom of the toolholder's tool slot that allows you to use round boring bars in a standard tool holder as well as square shank tools.

Originally Posted by No.3

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...Cquery_from%3A

Now we are talking, this will turn off the masses haha. Aliexpress has all (if you can stomach it).

The toolholder you want is the 250-202 - this has the groove machined in the bottom of the toolholder's tool slot that allows you to use round boring bars in a standard tool holder as well as square shank tools.

Aliexpress if you are particular with which supplier is basically the same quality stuff we buy here from Machinery House etc. anyway. I might grab a few of those.

Originally Posted by No.3

https://toolsnz.com/

Fresh link?

that works

Originally Posted by Makros

Aliexpress if you are particular with which supplier is basically the same quality stuff we buy here from Machinery House etc. anyway. I might grab a few of those.

So, @Makros and @No.3 are these tool holders the correct type for @Makros tool post that he has given me?

Originally Posted by 40mm

So, @Makros and @No.3 are these tool holders the correct type for @Makros tool post that he has given me?

Certainly looks like it to me.

I believe that any toolholder labelled 250-201, 250-202 etc will fit my 250-200 toolpost. The 250- prefix indicates the size, and the suffix indicates the type of toolholder.

If you look at the Toolsnz website up there he has the smaller set listed (the 250-100 sized toolholders) and the -101 is the standard turning/facing, the -102 is the turning/facing/boring toolholder on through the rest of the options.

I'm fairly sure all 250-20X series are compatible with each other, the only proviso I have in my head is there is a piston toolpost (what we are looking at on the Toolsnz website and what I and Makros have) and also 250-series wedge-type toolpost. I have not looked at or sized up one of the wedge toolposts in the wild - I have heard that the piston type are more secure and more rigid on lockup and I have stuck with that as my option. The wedge style lowers one side of the dovetail to lock the toolholder, whereas the piston type shoves the toolholder out and engages both dovetails equally. My view, the piston type is as solid as a rock... I 'think' that as both the wedge and piston type toolposts use the same numbered toolholders that they would be compatible, but I cannot confirm this as I've no experience of the wedge type out in the real world.

The holders I'd get for the 250-200 toolpost are the -202 turning/facing toolholder - flat bottom with the longways groove to allow you to use either square shank tools or round shank tools (if you are short a tool and need to get a job done you can set a 12mm drill bit in the toolholder and use it as a boring bar for example). It's the same as the standard -201 toolholder but with the lengthways groove so more versatile than the standard flat bottomed jobbie. The other I recommend is the parting off toolholder, I'd have to look what number that is. I also have a knurling tool but never used it for anything serious and I think a boring bar toolholder with a 1/2 and 3/4 hole in it. Never used that either... I use the standard turning/facing or the grooved bottom turning/facing toolholders all the time, and the parting off tool quite often as well.

The only other bit I would mention is I got given a Sandvik carbide turning tool with a good selection of tips in a 3/4 shank size. This is too big to fit into the recess in the standard -201 toolholder so with no experience of it we slapped the toolholder into a tiny hobby mill and proceeded to blunt a couple of milling bits while we learned about milling toolholders. It actually worked quite well in the end, so the toolholders are not very hard. You just have to just take shallow depth cuts and then drop the tool and take another pass. The problem we found was the tiny hobby mill was not rigid enough to take on a toolholder in one pass and the tool deflection was horrific!

thanks guys, very helpful so far.
I think I will order a couple tool holders as above.

The stuff from machinery house is literally the same chinese stuff you get on Ebay and Ali, down to the same packaging and everything. machinery house just charges 10x as much. Im all for supporting local business, but I wont be bent over like that.

I had a 200 series on my AL320G (320mm swing) and it was the perfect fit. I ended up with about 20 tool holders over the years. Probably actually needed about 12-14, but 6 or 7 would get you well on the way.

Make a nice rack for them that mounts on the back of the splash guard of the lathe, and make it so you can see the tool tip so you know what your picking up.

I bought a bunch of holders from ToolsNZ, prices are much better than machinery house and the shipping time is much less than ebay or ali.

I would highly recommend getting cheap carbide holders and inserts. You will get much much better results than HSS, as you probably cant grind a half decent tool (no offence) HSS has its place, but 90% of my work is done with carbide. For inserts, the Deskar brand is pretty good. Kyocera is almost as good as some of the american stuff. More expensive than Deskar, but significantly less than USA made or European brands.

Once you have spent some time with decent cutting tools, then you will know what a tool sounds and looks like when it is cutting well and can experiment with grinding HSS tools until they perform well. Not all HSS is equal. Stay well away from anything unbranded. Evercut and Assab are the two most available good brands in NZ.

It's actually not that hard to grind a good HSS tool - you do need to know what you are working and what you want to achieve. You need a flat and sharp grinding wheel, and a cooling source nearby as heat will kill HSS surprisingly quickly. A blunt grinding wheel produces a LOT of heat and won't help your case. I have a set of angle gauges I got given by a mate that was no longer in that trade - same guy that gave me the Sandvik carbide gear. That helps. Hardest part is the tool's nose radius...

Originally Posted by No.3

It's actually not that hard to grind a good HSS tool - you do need to know what you are working and what you want to achieve. You need a flat and sharp grinding wheel, and a cooling source nearby as heat will kill HSS surprisingly quickly. A blunt grinding wheel produces a LOT of heat and won't help your case. I have a set of angle gauges I got given by a mate that was no longer in that trade - same guy that gave me the Sandvik carbide gear. That helps. Hardest part is the tool's nose radius...

Unless it's large I never grind the nose radius, Form it with an oilstone by hand by sliding the stone around the radius.

Originally Posted by No.3

It's actually not that hard to grind a good HSS tool - you do need to know what you are working and what you want to achieve. You need a flat and sharp grinding wheel, and a cooling source nearby as heat will kill HSS surprisingly quickly. A blunt grinding wheel produces a LOT of heat and won't help your case. I have a set of angle gauges I got given by a mate that was no longer in that trade - same guy that gave me the Sandvik carbide gear. That helps. Hardest part is the tool's nose radius...

Ive ground a lot of chisels and plane blades over the years, so Im pretty good at not burning em.
And Im sure Ill pick up the tool grinding in time, I also have a few slip stones I scored years ago.
I think Ill make some kind of fixture for one of my grinders to help.

Originally Posted by SixtyTen

The stuff from machinery house is literally the same chinese stuff you get on Ebay and Ali, down to the same packaging and everything. machinery house just charges 10x as much. Im all for supporting local business, but I wont be bent over like that.

I had a 200 series on my AL320G (320mm swing) and it was the perfect fit. I ended up with about 20 tool holders over the years. Probably actually needed about 12-14, but 6 or 7 would get you well on the way.

Make a nice rack for them that mounts on the back of the splash guard of the lathe, and make it so you can see the tool tip so you know what your picking up.

I bought a bunch of holders from ToolsNZ, prices are much better than machinery house and the shipping time is much less than ebay or ali.

I would highly recommend getting cheap carbide holders and inserts. You will get much much better results than HSS, as you probably cant grind a half decent tool (no offence) HSS has its place, but 90% of my work is done with carbide. For inserts, the Deskar brand is pretty good. Kyocera is almost as good as some of the american stuff. More expensive than Deskar, but significantly less than USA made or European brands.

Once you have spent some time with decent cutting tools, then you will know what a tool sounds and looks like when it is cutting well and can experiment with grinding HSS tools until they perform well. Not all HSS is equal. Stay well away from anything unbranded. Evercut and Assab are the two most available good brands in NZ.

Thats some good advice mate, I have a bunch of HSS and carbide already.
Ill have a go at grinding as I want to learn, and Ive already got a lot of experience grinding chisels and plane blades etc. But thanks for the advice!
SO.... are you telling me you have a surplus of tool holders and need to sell them???

I am in the process of modifying some of the QC tool holders to lower the centre height by 4mm. They are as tough as old boots but I am nibling them down in the mill with a TC end mill on a fairly low speed, lots of coolant and 1mm cuts. A bloody pain but that is the only way. Roughing your centre block down on a big old blacksmith's grinder and then a light trueing cut may work, but still time consuming.