Lathe compound questions

[toprecyler]

So you do not rotate the tool block much at all then, right?

No, I rarely have moved the tool post block in the past, due to trying to keep the DRO tool positions in tact. But, after 4 years of doing it this way, I am more likely to move it if a situation makes it easier and more rigid.

I work as a machinist in a hydraulic repair shop. Lathe work is probably 70% of what I do. But most parts are one off, making what needs to be replaced in rebuilding of hydraulic cylinders usually. On the rare occasion when I have to make 5 or more of one part, this is when the DRO with preset tool offsets for different holders can really shine. Especially when you use 4 or more different tools to make the part.

If you are just doing one off machining of parts, then I would do what you feel comfortable with. Everyone will have their own feelings, as to what feels right to them.

As far as most of us are concerned in our home shops, I think it is more important that we learn the practice of making good parts. Now wether we can tweak our ways of doing it to make it the shortest time possible, trying to squeeze every second out as possible, it really isn’t worth that effort, unless you are doing 100’s or 1,000 of the same part.


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[jwmay]

I rarely get more than 30 minutes in the shop a day. Every second counts. Lol

 

[savarin]

I removed the pin from the tool post within a week so I could set the angle anywhere.
Made a handle for the top nut, very very rarely use the top slide as I use a solid plinth.
My excuse...........zero training so do what works for me.

 

[epanzella]

I don't have a DRO on my lathe but I'm moving my tool post around quite regularly. I find that working with a tool post that's always at the same angle is a bigger handicap than touching off a few extra times. I keep a 123 block handy so putting the tool holder to 90 degrees takes less than ten seconds. I did the half box wrench on the nut trick but I ran a weld bead on it to tighten it up so it has to be tapped onto the nut. It still comes off when I want it to but it won't fall off.

 

[C-Bag]

As far as most of us are concerned in our home shops, I think it is more important that we learn the practice of making good parts.

Ain’t that the truth!

I rarely get more than 30 minutes in the shop a day. Every second counts. Lol

This would be torture for me. It takes 15min just to unpack and unfold the Tetris Garage to be able to work! The irony is I always hated making 1,000’s of the same thing. What I called making toothpicks out of logs. Yet here I am making 100’s of these things at a go and making a living at it when everybody but my best friend are retired or in the grave. We both seem to be hitting our stride at 70.

I use my lo $$ lathe and mill to make the equipment to automate the truly hard and boring part of the process of churning them out so it’s literally painless. It’s a nice break for me to ponder what would make things easier/faster and then make it. And part of that process of course is making tools to make tools which was the part of my job I loved when punching a time clock. Without a boss telling me time is $$. The part of not being a trained machinist is a curse and a blessing. I know there must be better ways of doing things or “best practices” but I am free through my lack of training to create solutions that fit my funky machinery.

I am very glad to see I’m not the only one. I love that tag “tools not rules”.

 

[Aaron_W]

I think this must be the problem those multi-fix tool posts are supposed to solve.

Multi-quick tool post

You know if you want to throw money at the solution. I've never used one but I think there are a couple of people here who do. The one linked is a real Swiss made one, there are Chinese ones that are supposed to be pretty good at about 1/2 the price.


I've never tried to perfectly realign my tool post after moving it. I usually run it at 90 degrees (more or less) to the cut except when I don't.

Usually when I turn it at another angle it is to better fit into a corner or other tight spot. Sometimes just because it feels right. I usually try to creep up on my measurements so the point of the tool being off a hair isn't important to me or really even noticed. I don't use a DRO, so don't have a precision point of reference, just eyeball.

As far as the loosening of the QCTP I made a T handle wrench from a deep socket that lives with the lathe. I find it very quick and easy to reposition the tool post using this. A handle fixed to the tool post sounds handy, but I could also see it getting in my way and really doubt it would save me much time vs my wrench.

I am just a hobby machine operator, so most of what I do is guided by trial and error, YT, this forum, books I read and help from the handful of people I know in the real world who actually know what they are doing. My way is by no means right, it just works for me.

 

[Winegrower]

Belt and suspenders here. I have a bunch of tool holders (40 or so), made a handle for the QCTP and especially helpful, put a thrust washer under it. This takes away any torque transmission from the handle to the tool post that would move it a bit while tightening. So I keep the tool post mainly aligned perpendicular to the work for parting, and mainly all the tools in tool posts work with that, but there is always some need to move the tool post occasionally. So I do, without remorse.

I too have never bothered with the 200 tool library.

 

[GeneT45]

When I got my first lathe I tried to keep the tool post 'square'. I eventually gave up on it. It's so much easier to swivel the toolpost around, not to mention occasionally hanging it out in the wind a little to get a tool closer than I otherwise could. Much of this, I think, comes from starting out with HSS, which is seldom ground to stick out past it's base stock. The conventional profiles were developed in the days of lantern tool posts and if you want to use them, you'd better swivel your toolpost. Inserts, on the other hand, are made for a fixed toolpost - which is to say, they're made for CNC work and cataloged tool positions and all that. I use both HSS and inserts, but I still swivel the toolpost for a lot of things. For one, I don't store any tool information in my DRO (or elsewhere) so I consider the reference lost as soon as I remove a tool. I'm not about to give up the versatility of HSS - being able to grind whatever you want is a powerful capability, imo.

If you commit to using insert tooling, a fixed toolpost might work for you, but be prepared to buy a lot of inserts to cover your various needs. If you swivel your toolpost (as I do) - I just bought a box-end wrench for the center nut and cut the opposing end off. Not as cool looking, but more versatile than a fixed handle, imo. I can move the wrench to any orientation I want to get it out of the way of the locking lever, improve visibility or just put it where I can torque it with greatest advantage. And I can remove it altogether if need be.

I don't really think there's a wrong answer - it's just what you have to work with, and how you go about your work.

GsT

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I sometimes see people have made a locking handle for their quick change tool holders, to replace the nut supplied as standard. I’ve recently decided to make one.

But here’s my problem: I watch a ton of YouTube. Stay with me here. That’s a problem, but not the problem.

I seem to constantly be needing a different toolbit, in a different orientation. Which means I’m forever adjusting my toolholder block. Which means I’m constantly losing any reference datum I had. This, to me, is my problem.

I think perhaps I should not be making a special locking handle, because I should instead be leaving the tool holder block alone, in order to keep my zero reference. Isn’t that (generally speaking) best practice?

So other than being smarter, which is very unlikely. Is this fundamentally an “order of operations” or “planning” failure?

An example may be a part that has a larger OD on both ends. I’ve got a left and right inside corner. I’ll invariably switch out the tool, and reorient the tool block doing this job. Somewhere in there, I’ll lose any reference to what’s already been done. My carriage stop will now be in the wrong place, and my dial indicators will have to be reset.

And now we’re back to the YouTube mention. I almost never see anyone reorient their tool holder. So I’m assuming it’s either unnecessary, or bad practice. Is it possible I’ve just taught myself a bad habit?

Here’s an example of the extra handle I began this thread talking about.

What say you folks? Are you reorienting your tool block so often that you need an extra handle? Or does your tool block stay locked in position 99.9 percent of the time?

I constantly reorient my tool post and compound. Some times it is because I need to give the tool a better orientation, sometimes its because the the part I am working on is large and I need to swing everything out and sometimes its because I am using the compound to cut an angle.....

 

[jwmay]

Well…I guess maybe it ain’t such a big deal. I’ll carry on making my handle 10 to 30 minutes at a time. Lol