Shars QCTP holders: my mistake but misleading

[rabler]

I've generally had pretty good luck with Shars but this one left a bit of a bad taste. I recently built a stand to hold my lathe tooling, and had a few extra spots so I ordered more holders which arrived today. I had ordered BXA #1 holders, which are sold by them as 250-201 holders. When I opened the box I first thought they'd mistakenly shipped me AXA holders, they were much smaller than the standard holders, including what was labeled as 250-201 Shars holders that I'd previously purchased. But they are labeled as 250-201 holders. They really look like 250-101XL holders with a BXA sized dovetail.

I looked on their website, their part number 202-9402C does show as 2.813" long,
Their part number 202-9402 is 3.5". Both are the same price, both labeled on the holder as 250-201's. So it's my mistake, but kind of a misleading labeling. Seems like these ought to be labeled as 250-201XS. Not sure why you'd want the smaller older on a BXA post. The smaller one is the size of the toolpost not counting the dovetail. The standard sized one is about the size of the toolpost with the dovetail. I certainly could return them for the other part number, but being busy I probably won't bother and just use them with tooling that I don't expect to need the additional rigidity.

Just wary that the smaller part will be the only thing available once the 202-9402 is out of stock?

 

[Ulma Doctor]

if you had need to hold smaller tooling in a near max capacity situation, it may come in handy...
or at least i'd tell myself something like that

 

[davidpbest]

Yea, you gotta be careful sourcing the clone QC tool holders - they vary a lot. Not just in length. I always say to buy one and check it out first.

Insert Tool Holders

What does make a difference though is the actual inserts. It can be a little bit hard to tell just by looking at them, but there is a real difference between the $.25-$.75 inserts and the $15-$20 inserts (thats cents and dollars there). Just to give you an idea of what the differences are...

www.hobby-machinist.com

FWIW, the All Industrial version is an excellent alternative to Shars. Here are some comparisons from my collection ( I have 10 from All Industrial, and 10 from Precision Matthews which are identical).

All Industrial:



Aloris:



Dorian:

 

[rabler]

if you had need to hold smaller tooling in a near max capacity situation, it may come in handy...
or at least i'd tell myself something like that

The height doesn't change, just the width.

 

[rabler]

Yea, you gotta be careful sourcing the clone QC tool holders - they vary a lot. Not just in length. I always say to buy one and check it out first.

That was really my point in posting the first side by side picture. I had bought one before. But they have two sizes separated by adding a letter to their SKU, which I missed. I had search for BXA #1 holder, or something like that, and saw that it came up with the expected 250-201 designation.

 

[rabler]

@davidpbest
You are a fountain of knowledge, the ALL Industrial site looks promising. Their parts look a lot like the ones I have branded as Accusize, they may come out of the same factory. I'll try them for some CA sized holders.

 

[woodchucker]

if you had need to hold smaller tooling in a near max capacity situation, it may come in handy...
or at least i'd tell myself something like that

that's what I was thinking. I've been there, had to use a boring bar and reverse my holder.
so it's not so bad. maybe rare, but mostly it will do the job.

 

[davidpbest]

@davidpbest
You are a fountain of knowledge, the ALL Industrial site looks promising.

My card sir.

 

[Nogoingback]

@davidpbest
You are a fountain of knowledge, the ALL Industrial site looks promising. Their parts look a lot like the ones I have branded as Accusize, they may come out of the same factory. I'll try them for some CA sized holders.

+1 on All Industrial. The toolholders I bought from them are excellent.

 

[Cadillac]

All industrial has the cheapest price on tool holders, and they are of good quality. Shipping kills at shars, all industrial is free over a 100. I prefer matting surfaces have a ground finish with no coating on those surfaces. Which when I ordered from all industrial long time ago that’s how they were. Last year ordered some and they were blackened on every surface.
The one thing I’ve had to do is recut the slot for the tool. Either the bottom has a ruff surface or it isn’t a perfect 90* and the tool will have air gaps on the bottom or backside. I recut slots to ensure perpendicularity to toolpost. Can’t remember if it was all industrial or cdco holders though. Remember they were hard and needed carbide to cut.