# Dorian Bxa Qctp Too Low For New Pm-1340gt



## Roddy (Sep 20, 2015)

Well I finally had time this weekend to wire my vfd to my new PM-1340gt and do the initial break-in, which went perfectly thanks to all the information gathered here on this site from you good folks. The machine really is smooth.  About the time I ordered the machine back in march I went ahead and picked up a Dorian BXA qctp and some assorted tooling. This morning I milled the t-nut and mounted the post. To my dismay, all the indexable cutters, which are 5/8" are about 1\8" below center line with the tool holder adjusted as high as it would go. The boring bar is even worse at 1/2" low.  I'm assuming something has changed on the lathe to lower the top of the compound being that I've seen many of these 1340's with BXA tool posts mounted to them. Measuring from the top of the compound to center line of the bore I get 1.6875" which puts it more in the cxa range.  3/4" and 1" cutting tools just barely work, but I'll have to shim up the tool post to use the boring bar. Anybody else have this problem or am I just missing something?


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## kd4gij (Sep 20, 2015)

Well you have 2 options. You can shim the tools in the holder, or shim the tool post on the cross slide.

  Looking at the photos that looks a lot bigger than an aloris bxa. More like a cxa.


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## coolidge (Sep 20, 2015)

Your tool holders look like they are for 3/4 to 7/8 inch tools. I did the math on a CXA Dorian not long ago it was perfect for a 16 inch lathe.


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## Roddy (Sep 20, 2015)

Wow that was fast.


kd4gij said:


> Well you have 2 options. You can shim the tools in the holder, or shim the tool post on the cross slide.


This is correct. As all are low I will most likely shim the post



coolidge said:


> Your tool holders look like they are for 3/4 to 7/8 inch tools. I did the math on a CXA Dorian not long ago it was perfect for a 16 inch lathe.


This is correct. The toolholders came with the bxa post as a kit with a range from 5/8" to 1"


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## kd4gij (Sep 20, 2015)

Or you could get a bigger lathe.


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## wrmiller (Sep 20, 2015)

My Dorian BXA works just fine on my 1340GT. I could be wrong, but your tool post looks a big bigger than a BXA.






Correction: Your tool post looks fine, but your holders may be suspect. All of my holders are either for 5/8" or 3/4" tooling, but I cannot use smaller tools in the 3/4" ones.

Second correction: Sorry, I missed you saying your holders are for 3/4" and bigger. Nevermind.  Nice looking lathe though...


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## Roddy (Sep 20, 2015)

The tool holders are Dorian D1 for turning and the D2 for turning and boring.  These are the only turning holders Dorian has in bxa, but I do think that's the problem.  Pretty much all other manufacturers'  bxa tool holders are 1 3/4" tall, Dorians'  is 2 1/4" tall and that's the 1/2" I need. I'll just have to pick up some Aloris holders and save the Dorian holders until I get some bigger cutting tools.


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## tmarks11 (Sep 20, 2015)

"Standard" BXA holders are slotted for 5/8" tools (at least Phase II, Aloris, Grizzly, Shars, etc).  Dorian sells BXA holders made for 3/4"-1" tools... at least some years they did and still do(there product line has bounced back and forth from year to year).

Your picture makes it look like you have a 3/8" or 1/2" tool in a 1" tool holder.  If you put a 3/4"-1" tool in there, I bet it would work.  Or, if you put a 1/2" or 5/8" tool in a "normal" tool holder, I bet it would work just fine.

Aloris et all. tool holders will work with your tool post.

Nice job in the t-nut.


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## wrmiller (Sep 20, 2015)

Roddy said:


> The tool holders are Dorian D1 for turning and the D2 for turning and boring.  These are the only turning holders Dorian has in bxa, but I do think that's the problem.  Pretty much all other manufacturers'  bxa tool holders are 1 3/4" tall, Dorians'  is 2 1/4" tall and that's the 1/2" I need. I'll just have to pick up some Aloris holders and save the Dorian holders until I get some bigger cutting tools.



Hey Roddy,

Yea, that's why I didn't buy any of the Dorian tool holders. I figured they would be too much for my 1340. I bought a bunch of BXA holders from Matt at PM. Now his BXA holders are 3/4", but have more meat below the tool slot which means a 5/8" tool will work as well as the 3/4" stuff. If I use any of my 3/8" tools I will likely have to shim the tool in the holder. I haven't yet felt the need to buy 3/4" tooling for this lathe yet. The 5/8" stuff works fine so far.


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## T Bredehoft (Sep 20, 2015)

The tool holders I've used were set up so that the top of the tool was near the top of the slot, not half way up. You are undertooling your lathe using half inch or even 5/8 tools.


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## dave2176 (Sep 20, 2015)

The problem is your tool holders. You need to use 5/8" holders for the tools you are showing. I have some 1" holders for the big tooling I bought cheap on ebay but they won't work for the smaller tools.

Dave


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## Andre (Sep 21, 2015)

My 13" lathe has an Aloris AXA, way too small for it. The toolpost has a 3/8 - 1/2" aluminum spacer under it to give it some more height, works perfectly.


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## wrmiller (Sep 21, 2015)

T Bredehoft said:


> The tool holders I've used were set up so that the top of the tool was near the top of the slot, not half way up. You are undertooling your lathe using half inch or even 5/8 tools.



I'd like to understand what you mean by "under tooling"?


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## T Bredehoft (Sep 21, 2015)

A lathe can can power a 1" tool through a cut is not using its potential when tooled with 3/8 tools.  Just a comment.  The same reason I don't use 1" tools on my Clausing 6-24, they can'd do their job properly.


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## wrmiller (Sep 21, 2015)

Thanks. Hobby stuff and gunsmithing is not hard on machinery, and I do sometimes use 3/8" tooling to get into tight places. Was just curious what you meant is all.


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## mksj (Sep 21, 2015)

Agree with Bill and Tmarks. Same reason I now use Aloris  BXA 1 and 2 tool holders, have a couple of Dorian holders that all seem to be different. The  3/4 or 1" only works with that size tooling. So the few "oversize" Dorian holders I have are all shimmed. PTA.


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## qualitymachinetools (Sep 21, 2015)

Looks like they have you all straightened out with the holders. The BXA is the right size for that machine, so you are good there.
  Man thats one clean looking shop though!


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## Roddy (Sep 21, 2015)

qualitymachinetools said:


> Looks like they have you all straightened out with the holders. The BXA is the right size for that machine, so you are good there.
> Man thats one clean looking shop though!


Yeah rather than shimming, I just ordered some Aloris bxa-1's and bxa-2's being all of my tooling so far is 5/8" and some 1/2".  I'll set aside the Dorian holders for later when I need bigger. Thanks for all the input, that's what makes this place great.


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## Dan Coleman (Oct 11, 2018)

When I was buying my used Jet 1336 the owner said it had CXA tooling, and I thought he was probably mistaken.  At least I was hoping he was mistaken because the holders are almost twice as expensive as BXA.  Sure enough when I brought it home and was checking everything out the holders were CXA (250-301).  I had read Matt's article about measuring, and the comment about "approaching 2" stuck in my mind.  Not having a BXA to set on the lathe to compare, I'm now glad it is a CXA because it fits perfectly and it is robust.

I do have a shim under the mini lathe QC holder that I have on my old Atlas 12", and I can't say it hurts a thing using 3/8 carbide tooling.

Dan


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## Dabbler (Oct 11, 2018)

I put an AXA on my 12X36, and the tools index perfectly.  I will be getting some AXA-XL holders for my larger 5/8 and 3/4 tooling.  (yes, I know the XL won't take 3/4 unless I mill them a little smaller....)


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