# CXA Tool Post



## middle.road (May 8, 2014)

Hey All, my 14x40 came with a CXA and one holder, is this a bit large for a 14"er?
I've been tossing around the idea of selling it and getting a BXA knock-off that has an assortment of holders.
Seems like the CXA would be better suited on a 16"er or larger lathe.
Thoughts?

Thanks,
_Dan


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## Ray C (May 8, 2014)

middle.road said:


> Hey All, my 14x40 came with a CXA and one holder, is this a bit large for a 14"er?
> I've been tossing around the idea of selling it and getting a BXA knock-off that has an assortment of holders.
> Seems like the CXA would be better suited on a 16"er or larger lathe.
> Thoughts?
> ...



CXA is way too big for a 14" lathe.


Ray


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## cuseguy (May 8, 2014)

Ray C said:


> CXA is way too big for a 14" lathe.
> 
> 
> Ray



Not necessarily. I have seen even smaller swing lathes use CXA perfectly fine. It all comes down to the compound height.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.


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## chips&more (May 8, 2014)

I have a 14” lathe fitted with the BXA size holder and think it’s just right.


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## bridgeportbj (May 8, 2014)

BXA would serve You much better. Holders are a lot cheaper as well.


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## kd4gij (May 8, 2014)

A pic of your lathe and tp would help.


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## Ray C (May 8, 2014)

cuseguy said:


> Not necessarily. I have seen even smaller swing lathes use CXA perfectly fine. It all comes down to the compound height.
> 
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.




Whether a toolpost fits vs. it being useful are two different matters.  Technically speaking, you can put a CXA on a 13" lathe.  Is it useful?  Not really; because their intended application is for 16-18" swing lathes.   Regardless of the machine size, an oversize toolpost gets in the way of the work you're trying to do and the girth of the thing dramatically reduces your effective work envelope.  The cross-slide only goes back so far and extends only so far and with a holder that wide, the outboard travel of the slide will be reduced by about an inch and the inboard envelope will go past centerline about an inch sooner than a properly sized BXA.  None of these dimensions have anything to do with height of the cross slide.

1/2" shank tooling in a CXA holder would be problematic because the lock screws would only be grabbing by a few threads and also, you might have a hard time reaching centerline.  You'd be stuck buying the intended 5/8 and 3/4" tooling -which is quite a bit more expensive.

I sell about 4-5 lathes a month in the 14" range and 2-3 a month in the 16-18" range -and if I sold a client the wrong size toolpost, it would quickly result in a returned product and unsatisfied customer.


Ray


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## middle.road (May 8, 2014)

kd4gij said:


> A pic of your lathe and tp would help.


Need to get the gear head straightened out and get the lathe back together again.
I mounted the post just before the teardown and it seemed to me to rather oversized.
It's a birmingham 1440 clunker.

_Dan


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## Ianagos (Oct 16, 2014)

My 14 swing lathe had a da on it in a past lifetime and I'm looking to get a ca so if it fits I would use it.


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