Atlas 618 tool holders

pebbleworm said:
The Harbor Freight "mini lathe tool kit" fit my 618 lantern toolpost just fine and filled in some holes in tooling collection. It's no longer on sale, but it has a little bit of everything:
http://www.harborfreight.com/30-piece-mini-lathe-tool-kit-3448.html
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I saw that kit. Have you been happy with the performance? The price certainly has me interested but I wondered about how well they worked?

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Don B said:
You may want to consider just a simple turret tool post, it can all be made right on the lathe easy enough, the only cost would be a chunk of steel, an end mill and some SHCS's, this is one of the one's I made for my Myford, I made 2 of them one for 3/16 and one for 1/4 tools, I'd be glad to explain how to go about it.:))

View attachment 83414
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That looks rugged. Do some of the screws hold the plates together or does it all come loose when you loosen the center bolt? I don't have a milling attachment let for the lathe but could I face it by turning it?
 
Jonny said:
That looks rugged. Do some of the screws hold the plates together or does it all come loose when you loosen the center bolt? I don't have a milling attachment let for the lathe but could I face it by turning it?
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It's just one solid piece, the SHCS's are just for holding the tools, it can all be done in the lathe without a milling attachment, you just need a stud to replace the lantern tool post, drill a hole in a suitable size hunk of metal and bolt it down, flycut the first face, index it 1/4 turn (indicate with the bedways) and flycut the second side, repeat until you have a square, then you can use an endmill and go around the piece to make your tool slots, you just need to shim your tool post up from the compound to locate the slot.
It's cheap and you can usually keep 4 tools on the go, you just need to loosen the tool post and index to the tool you want, I made a mistake with my one for 1/4 tools by using only 3 SHCS per side, it's restrictive for using short tools or if there's a need to extend the tool.
 
There are also some nice plans for home made tool holders for the mini-lathe that would fit your machine. The simplest would be just a block with a slot like the Taig and Sherline use. Easy to do with just a lathe.
 
Whoops- I took a closer look at the current HF set- the one I have has Armstrong style tool holders, NOT the reduced shank holders shown in the picture. That's probably the source of the complaints that the set does not fit the 7X10. Apologies on that. Comments below apply to the (I guess) discontinued Armstrong style set:
I'm happy as a clam with the Harbor Freight set, and the tool holders are for 1/4" bits instead of the 1/8 Armstrongs that came with the lathe. For some reason this set showed up as a close-out for 19.99 last year, so I am even happier. The cut off tool is nice to have. The calipers, etc. are not great but I bought this for the tool holders. My lathe came with the lantern toolpost and a home-made turret, and I usually end up using the lantern.
 
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I think I saw the armstrong set that looked just like that one on amazon but it was or $100. $20 was a steal!
 
I was lucky and just happened to check out the clearance and close-out section at the right time. For $100.00 you can probably piece together a full set of Armstrong tool holders from eBay- the cut-off tools go for more than the others, and the neat little circular threading tools for even more, but be patient. For a 618 a scissors type knurling tool would probably work better than the brute force model n the set. The measuring and layout tools are not that nice- anyone reading this probably has better ones already.
 
Here's another variation on the tool block that I made a few months ago (if I can manage to poke the right photo in here)

It all came from a piece of 2-1/4 inch 1018. The block is a 3-piece sandwich held together with cap screws from the bottom, so no milling needed. The tee nut is from the same stock, the boss and flange turned to thickness as one piece, drilled and tapped for 5/16, and then two opposing sides sawn off to fit the compound. All you have to be able to do for the whole rig is turn, drill, tap, and saw.

-frank

image.jpg
 
Just measured the opening of my Atlas/Craftsman 618 lantern toolpost, came out to 0.405" wide, 0.800" tall.
My toolholders shanks vary from 5/16" to 3/8" in width, and 3/8" to 3/4" in height.
They'll hold bit sizes of 1/8", 3/16", 1/4".

Here's a pic of both sides of some toolholders. I hope the identifiers are legible:

Atlas618-ToolHolders.jpg

You can view my album for more tooling ideas:

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/album.php?albumid=307

Edit: I've had good luck finding Atlas 618 stuff on eBay with vendor Bobbria

Atlas618-ToolHolders.jpg
 
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The tool holders are forged, not cast. A little nit picky, but the material properties are completely different.
 
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