Aloris or Phase 2?

We have a shop fox m1112 in the maker space. It has a phase 2 toolpost, which is just fine. No problems. The lathe's quality leaves something to be desired, but it is sufficient if reasonable care is used. I think you will do fine with either choice. Before the TechShop went out of business, they had an Aloris tool post, with a serious weak point. It had an imported parting blade holder which was downright dangerous. It had a bad screw that was impossible to tighten enough, and I ended up having an accident with it. Those shards of flying high speed steel are dangerous, even if you are wearing safety glasses. The old lathe teacher in our current maker space told me I was an idiot. Members should be responsible for bringing their own tools, and a parting tool holder was one of them. There is no point arguing with this kind of person, but you have to always emphasize safety, especially with those like him around. Admittedly, I ended up bringing my own parting tool holder. No more issues after that. Take a good hard look at the differential screw in an import parting tool holder for a QCTP. The one with the maker space's original import QCTP was bad, and I didn't allow people to use it, but the replacement Phase 2 was fine. Watch this stuff like a hawk.
 
My G4003G came with a cheapo (Chinese) QCTP that works just fine with BXA holders.
 
Nogoingback said:
I think the real issue is that there are Chinese brands where the quality is good. We all know that some Chinese stuff
is subpar-to-junk grade, but not all of it is, and identifying the good stuff is key. And there appears to be some cost
cutting with the American stuff as well. There was a post around here recently about poor quality finishing on, I
think, some Aloris tools and OP wasn't happy about it. There are American brands with good reputations that don't always
live up to them. (Starrett comes to mind.). I'm not saying Aloris is a poor brand, but the consensus around here is that the
better Chinese toolholders are just fine.
Click to expand...

I was the one who posted about a poor (black oxide?) finish on the bottom of an Aloris CXA #1 tool holder.

First of all, Aloris was very responsive and they made it right ASAP. I also had another customer service issue after that (with a tool shank) with Aloris, and they were heroes in solving that issue, as well. I have spent a LOT on Aloris products, end it has always turned out hunky dory.

If you decide to only buy Aloris, you will spend a lot of money & have really nice tooling.

On my 10” swing lathe, I have all Chinese AXA QCTP, tool holders, boring & threading bars, tool shanks & inserts. I have never had one problem with any of those, not even the set screws.
 
If money is really tight make one. That's what I did. I made a Norman style QCTP. For under a $100 you can make the tool post and 20 holders. Not hard to make. Just time consuming. You only need a lathe and a drill to make one.
 
It’s been said by so many members in so many ways that the import holders are fine, functionally no better or worse than Aloris. In fact, the CXA holders I got recently through Allindustrial were superior in surface grinding than Aloris and were a bit longer, providing more holding leverage for the tool.

Please, if you think Aloris is “higher quality”, tell why you think that? Form, fit, function? I have not seen any issues.
 
I've never had Aloris tools so no idea what I'm missing. I still have the tool post that came on my PM1440HD and a mixture of PM, Shars & eBay tool holders. All function fine. I did buy some new set screws from McMaster for the elcheapo Chinese eBay ones. The reason to have a QCTP is to be quick! I. E. not have to fool around changing tooling in the holders. I've got 16 holders. I'd likely not feel inclined to buy that many Aloris and do with fewer tools setup. Life's a trade.
 
The only problem that I have had with my Phase II toolpost is with some holders (I guess that the problem is with the holders, not the toolpost). The opening of my holders range from 1.001" to 1.007". The ones on the low end of the scale have some difficulty in putting them on the toolpost (they DO go on, but it is like putting a 1.001" ID bearing on a 1.0005" OD shaft). I've heard that Aloris also has this problem with their holders from time to time. I find that 1.005" is the "sweet spot" for my holder. The holders that I get from Shars usually are in the sweet spot range - I also can pick them up on sale for around $12 a piece. I've also never had problems with any of the set screws in any of my holders (knock on wood).
 
I've got both the Phase II and All Industrial and prefer the All Industrial. It fits tighter and the action feels better made.

YMMV,
Ted
 
If you want to save some money, look at getting an AXA sized tool post instead of the BXA. I already had an import AXA size post from my smaller lathe and it fits my PM1236T perfectly. The disadvantage is you need XL tool holders for tool shanks over 1/2", or modify the standard ones, and the largest boring bar it can handle with the standard holder is 3/4", so if you wanted to using the larger tooling, the AXA size is not ideal.
 
I purchased a Phase II tool post to replace the sloppy one that came on my PM1022 lathe. It was no better so I sent it back. I just bought a 1440 lathe and purchased a Bostar set. It works just fine.
 
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