4 Way

I once had an old four way tool post that came off of a 10" Atlas lathe. It was missing the rockers and needed some other work. So I made some rockers, fixed it up and went to put it on my South Bend 9" lathe.

It was 1/2" too high.

Just something to bear in mind.
 
image.jpeg I'm not sure if it's exactly the same, but I have one that looks very close. Also the three-way which I made from scratch. I use both on my 618 with 5/16" HSS tools.
As sold, the square one was a bit dodgy and really needed cleaning up to work nicely. All the slots were goofy crooked, and the screws sucked. But after a bit of TLC it works great. It came with my lathe from the previous owner, so I'm not sure where it was purchased. I have to use a shim to get the height right, but on the 3-way I made the base thickness is tailored to not need one.
I have an A2Z quick change as well as a regular lantern, but I actually use these two the most, and they are they most rigid of the lot as well.

-frank

Looking at that photo again, I'm wondering if the block will not be too big? My 4-way is close to 1-1/2" square on the footprint. Kind of hard to tell, and they don't give overall dimensions in the description.
 
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Charles , yes the height is the thing . I was over at HF today and I was looking at their 7 " lathe but there was no post on it . But the top surface of the compound in ref to CL of the chuck looked close .
Nice work Frank and thanks for the info .
 
Pat.

The critical dimension is height. When you were over at HF, did you run the compound up next to the spindle nose and measure the vertical distance from the flat on top of the compound where toolposts mount to the C/L of the spindle? If not, you need to go back and do that. And then compare the distance to the same figure from the 618. If they are the same (probably unlikely), then the HF 7" turret will work on the 618. If the HF dimension is greater than the Atlas one, the turret won't work because it will be too high. If the HF dimension is the smaller one, then their turret will work on the Atlas with a spacer.block.
 
I have a 4 way that came off a 9x20 I will give you for free. Pm me an adress.
If it works great, if not pass it on.

Sent from somwhere in east Texas by Jake!
 
WOW , thanks for the responses guys ! Bill could you please give me the measurement from the bottom of the turret to the bottom of where the tool sits . Thanks .
 
westsailpat,
I just went to look for it and evidently it got moved and I am not sure where it is. The shop is in a mess right now as I started to reorganize and never finished. Will find it though.
 
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