Advice needed on Atlas quick change toolpost.

You are putting it on which lathe?

I own a Phase II AXA that was bought for a 12" Craftsman Commercial lathe. I also own an Atlas 618 and It looks like it will fit it too. That being said if I did not have the 12" and the AXA I would have bought that one.
 
I have that A2Z QCTP on my 7x14 mini-lathe and it's a good quality setup for that size lathe. I wouldn't want to use it for anything bigger though. On my 10" Atlas I'll be using an AXA or Type 100 QCTP as the bigger lathe can handle bigger cuts that might over stress the little A2Z.

One advantage to the A2Z is it's small enough that you probably wouldn't need to mill the top of your compound rest for clearance on your 10F. Since I plan on running the AXA/Type 100 I milled the top of mine while I had it apart for during the restoration/rebuild. I took off more than needed for the planned QCTP, but that was mostly to clean up the bad pits and dings in that area on top of the compound rest.
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I am intending to use it on this lathe I am restoring, also the advert says it is made out of aluminium and I was wondering is this really strong enough for a toolpost?

Fits Atlas and Craftsman 6" lathes
Made from 6061 T6 Aluminum
Hard Anodized for durability and appearance
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I originally had that same size tool post for my 10" Atlas, worked fine but lacked rigidity on first contact. It was a cheap piston style. It was not the same maker as the one you are pointing to. My fault for going too cheap. I since moved moved up to a better Phase II clone in wedge and I am very happy with it.
Pierre

BTW whatever one you get, get more holders, many more holders!
 
I put an axa and was able to use it immediately on my th54 compound. I do need to machine part of the compound to not have to adjust the compound when I need to change angle and will get to that eventually.
 
Stephen,

While in my opinion the piston type QCTP is not inherently worse than the wedge type in either longevity or accuracy (I have a Yuasa 100 Series [AXA equivalent] that is still going strong after 33 years), I would not buy the one that you are looking at for one and possibly two reasons. The for sure reason is that the Tool Post itself is aluminum. It for certain will not last as long as a steel one. The second possible reason is that the ad does not give the industry standard size. I have actually written the seller asking what size it is. If it is a 0XA compatible, then that part is OK. Although I still would not buy an aluminum tool post. If it is not 0XA compatible, then you are going to be stuck with buying all tool holders from this seller. And as Pierre has already written, you need more turning and facing holders than the two that come with the set. With only two, you are not much better off than with a 4-Way turret tool post, which would be considerably cheaper.

Anyway, the correct size for the Atlas 6" machines is 0XA. (rest of this line was in error-sorry... or 100 Series).

If I get an answer from Little Machine Shop, I will post it here.

BTW, anyone, what is the width of the T-slot on the compound on a 618 or 101.07301? I've never seen one and none of the manuals seem to say but I just thought that 1/4" seemed unlikely.

Robert D.
 
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