How many QCTP holders do we need?

[Nelson]

Hey Guys,

Most QCTPs come with 2 turning and facing holders, one cutoff tool holder, one boring bar holder, and one knurling holder.

How many more holders do you suggest I own (10, 20, 30?) and for what purposes (i.e., left & right turning, external & internal threading, boring, knurling, special)?

I understand CDCO has them cheap.

Thanks!

Nelson

 

[Tony Wells]

That's like asking how many men does it take to lower the toilet seat. Nobody knows, because it hasn't been done yet. I'm not sure how many I have, but I know I need a few more.

 

[Conrad Hoffman]

About ten, plus what came with the QCTP is a good starting point, certainly no fewer. One of them should be an extra boring bar holder to use with drill chucks in a sliding or locked sleeve. Great for very fast manual/powered tapping of the ends of shafts and for getting tiny center drills lined up more perfectly than a tailstock is capable of.

 

[Frank Ford]

It's important to understand that there's a mathematical formula that defines tool acquisition:

WANT equals NEED

With that in mind, I need lots of tool holders. In fact, I currently have two drawers full. One has a couple dozen, including knurling, cutoff, oversize, boring, and others. The other drawer looks like this:



Actually, there's a third drawer with the oversize ones like the pinch knurling, follow rest, morse taper holder, and at least a dozen special ones I've made myself. Here are some:



I keep an inordinate number of tools loaded and ready because I really don't like to lose time when I'm "creating." I have at least 20 form tools among the assortment, for creating internal and external radius, grooves, beads or other features. At ten bucks or less from CDCO, I just went kinda nutz. . .

 

[blame582]

wow!

 

[Tony Wells]

That's like asking how many men does it take to lower the toilet seat. Nobody knows, because it hasn't been done yet. I'm not sure how many I have, but I know I need a few more.

They can be lowered? What for?

Short people.

 

[twowheelinjim]

This is a good question... After struggling a few weeks with the tool post my old lathe came with, I ordered a QCTP. right away there was a need for a few extra tool holders. I didn't know about CDCO so I was forced to make a few extras. I can get by with about ten tool holders not including the special ones such as boring bar and knurling holders. If I bought ten more they would certainly be put to use in short order.

 

[Sandro]

Get as many as you can afford and have space for. Then get a few more just in case. Trust me, you will use them.

Sandro Di Filippo

 

[george wilson]

When I got my Hardinge HLVH,it came with a tool post and ONE tool holder. They wanted $275.00 in the 1990's for EACH holder(who do they think they are??? They aren't even hardened.)

I took a long bar of steel and milled out a long strip of future tool holders with dovetails pre milled,then cut them off and milled out the rest of the slots,etc. The worst part was tapping all those holes!! About 5 per holder. I made 20 of them,10 each for me and Jon,my journeyman,who had also gotten a Hardinge. To heck with those kind of prices,and I mean it. No wonder the machine tool industry has gone abroad.

 

[jumps4]

my qctp came with 2 normal, 1 boring bar holder, a knurler and a cutoff holder. so i'm still changing the tools a lot. you need quite a few to make the qctp a time saver really. right now it's just faster than shimming was
i have saved a 1-1/4 x 3.5 x 26" inch piece of steel for a fews years now waiting until i got a mill large enough to work them into holders
steve