Aloris or Phase 2?

Winegrower said:
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.
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This is my question. We're talking machine tools, not jewelry. Do we really care if the bottom of the tool has a rough finish? I wouldn't care if any surface had a mill finish as long as there were no burrs and the tool position was dead-on repeatable.

I upgraded my homemade Norton style post, which was an upgrade to the lantern post, to a Chinesium knock-off of the Phase-II, and had enough money to get a holder for every tool I have. I went from 1/4" to 3/8" tooling at the same time, and that made the most drastic change in the quality of the cuts.

I was going to build my own, but it was cheaper to get the Chinesium toolpost than the steel and tooling to make my own, and I have other projects I wanted to get to.
 
I’ve been very unhappy with my PM BXA toolpost. .004 runout on the dovetail.

Spend the money for a quality tool post holder. For the actual tool holders? Go cheap except for boring bar holders and cutoff holder.


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I have only used Chinese brand tool post until recently. Over the past few months I have acquired a Phase ll tool post and an Aloris BXA for my Clausing and I can say with out a doubt the Aloris is leaps & bounds above the others. The tool holders and the tool post is much smoother, solid lock up and just plain satisfying. If money is not an issue... Go with the Aloris hands down.
 
I just had a BXA sized Bostar delivered from CDCO. Looks like it will work fine, but I don't have my lathe yet so I will hold off on the performance commentary. I disassembled everything for a good cleaning, and then loctited the adjustment studs in place. the hardware appears serviceable, and the screws are harder than I expected. The set screws actually stick to a magnet! ;-p

I did have to run a file inside the clamping channel to knock off burrs created when the tool holders were tapped, and on the tool post handle itself along the bottom, as it was razor sharp. The wedge castings and the screw clamping casting are not ground, and are kind of rough, but I will wait to get it mounted to make any judgements there. I have not re-greased the internals after disassembly and cleaning, as I may want to hit it with a wire wheel to remove burs and get smoother action between the wedge gearing and the clamping screw, but overall I will say everything looks serviceable, and about as good as I was expecting for the price.

Future projects will be replacing the handle, and the mounting bolt, as they are chromed, and look cheesy. Id prefer a nice blued look. The internal milled areas also look like they were milled out with an angry wolverine, so I may re-bore them, make some parts to a closer tolerance than what came. Has anyone ever replaced the cheap fabric wick with an o ring instead? You can see it on the picture of the large screw assembly, and outside of collecting junk, I see NO purpose for it at all.

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SLK001 said:
The fabric is to hold oil.
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I get that, but-

the thread sits below the surface of the ring it resides. There is also no way to directly oil it, nor does it wick to anything that would require oil. I was thinking an o-ring would sit proud from the groove, prevent chips from entering, and the parts that require oil can be lubed at the 2 wedges.

just thoughts, but I don’t see the need for the string to hold oil in the first place.
 
Never used anything other than Aloris or Dorian in at work and at my place . Yes they are not cheap . I picked up a full FIMS set to replace my Aloris CXA set . I like the fact that the FIMS has the extra pocket vs. the others . Not sure if I'll ever get a larger lathe to use them , but I have them and the Aloris CXAs have been leaving the basement . The FIMS are out of Jersey so how bad can they be ? :grin:
 
Christianstark said:
I get that, but-

the thread sits below the surface of the ring it resides. There is also no way to directly oil it, nor does it wick to anything that would require oil. I was thinking an o-ring would sit proud from the groove, prevent chips from entering, and the parts that require oil can be lubed at the 2 wedges.

just thoughts, but I don’t see the need for the string to hold oil in the first place.
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Aloris just calls it a "Felt Seal", so it might not even be there for oil. Maybe replace the thread with some real felt to keep the swarf out. I wouldn't use an O-ring, because, as you say, there is no way to directly oil it and you run the risk of it starting to bind..

Aloris.jpg
 
SLK001 said:
Aloris just calls it a "Felt Seal", so it might not even be there for oil. Maybe replace the thread with some real felt to keep the swarf out. I wouldn't use an O-ring, because, as you say, there is no way to directly oil it and you run the risk of it starting to bind..

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Thanks for posting that. I’d be interested in seeing the inside of an Aloris to see the difference, but my gut tells me they are machined and ground to tolerances orders of magnitude better than my Bostar. I also have a good bit of slop between the mount post and screw bushing, and the screw bushing to worm gear. The good news is the 2 of the 3 parts listed will make great projects when I get my lathe.
 
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