Tool Posts on Amazon

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WaltDizzy

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I need a tool post for my Monarch 10EE. The exciter was missing, and the main contactor box was a mess, but those problems are fixed, thanks to help from Cal Haines and others at Practical Machinist. It cost me under $50 to try a simple 4-diode rectifier. The rebuilt contactor box was under $200 if memory serves. The original 1941 motor-generator and DC motor appear to be sound.

There's still a lot to do, but I'd like to see if it has adequate power to peel metal off a round piece of steel. Currently the lathe has no tool post at all, and as much as I'd like a Dorian or Aloris tool post, money is tight right now. I see Phase II BXA tool posts with 5 tool holders for ~$350 on Amazon, which is way less money than places like MSC ($540 without holders). They are advertised as new. But I'm wondering if they are possibly inferior knock-offs. Fakes in other words. The amount of difference in price is suspicious to me.

I'm wondering if I'd be better off going with the Shars house brand. At least they have been around for a while and there would be a chance of getting my money back if the product they are selling is poor quality.

Any thoughts on the matter?
 
I have a Phase II AXA wedge style toolpost and it works well for me. IIRC it was a step up from the Shars one. If they are fakes i think Amazon has a money back guarantee, i know for sure that eBay does.
 
I hesitate to endorse a "lesser known" brand, Dorian and Aloris have been the standard for five or six decades. On the other hand, all of them are just pieces of steel which have been massaged into a working tool. Subsequent to my purchase of a PM lathe, I purchased a no-name tool holder system and made a dozen or so holders of my own design, utilizing the dovetail clamping system. I'm sure they would work as well on a Monarch 10EE.
If it were me I'd buy the correct size of tool post, disregarding brand names, a bunch of tool holders and get busy making chips. I had the opportunity to run a 10EE for a couple of months, (the maintenance department despaired of keeping it going and it got sold) This was in the 1970's, the electronics were over their heads.
 
Thanks for the replies. That's good to know about Amazon or eBay returns.

Yes, the electronics are complicated. The model I have was made in 1941, and uses an AC motor to spin a DC generator that powers a DC motor. Plus an "exciter" on the end of the generator (missing from my machine) that feeds windings in the generator and DC motor. And a box full of multipole DC contacts. All to get smooth power, apparently.

I'm probably not very smart to buy a machine that needed work. But I have hopes of ending up with a robust lathe capable of doing things like parting off steel parts without a lot of drama.

I checked 3 different sites for 10EE specs, including Monarch. All of them state it has a 12" swing, which corresponds to a BXA toolpost according to the websites that give sizing information for their toolposts. Worth checking!
 
The important dimension is the distance from the top of the compound to the spindle axis. Aloris publishes dimensions for tool holders in their MSC listing and Shars does as well. Add the thickness of your tool to the distanc of the toolholder base to the floor of the tool slot and it should be less than the dIistance from the top of the compound to the spindle axis. I use a Grizzly AXA QCTP and have had no issues with it. The Shars tool holders are well made and very economical.
 
Page 29 here: https://www.aloris.com/aloris_cat/31e970.pdf

is the official list of Aloris suggested sizes. So Aloris says the AXA, but some googling shows that a lot of people have good luck with the BXA (AND, I would imagine appreciate the additional rigidity).

I'll note my first lathe was a 10" Logan that came with a BXA (despite the catalog suggesting AXA). I found it to only be troublesome with larger tool bits.
 
I and others have found zero functional differences between Aloris and import tool holders. Save your money, you will want a lot of holders.
 
I have Aloris, Dorian, Phase II, Bostar, and Enco. I prefer the wedge-lock style. The Aloris & Dorian are at the top. Then Phase II, Bostar and then Enco (not so good). They all take the same style holders. But there are differences in tool post fit. In order to get them to swap out between machines, I have had to adjust the tool holders’ dove-tails. The Accu-size holders on Amazon are pretty fair. For a cheap workable BXA Tool Post & holders set, I had picked up a Bostar. Works pretty good. I had used Aloris quite extensively for about 25 years and found them to repeat. Even so, it is still best, to measure / cut twice IMHO. Did a lot of aircraft rework and could not afford to mess it up. Shars should be okay also. I would recommend the BXA over the AXA for a 10EE, (ran them alot). My .02
 
You have the Queen of lathes and you are going to put cheap plastic jewlery on her?
Not me.
I would look for a used BXA size - either Aloris or Dorian at auctions, on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc.
The blindness of people that buy cheap junk that enriches China - a country that considers us their avowed enemy and increases their hegemony around the world - truely baffles me.
 
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