[Newbie] How To Adjust Tool Height On A Lathe?

I have always kept an assortment of left over stock in 1/4", 1/8", and hang on to dull or broken hack saw blades as they make good shims. Just grind the teeth off, or flat.
 
mikey said:
That is known as a 4-way tool post, one of the most solid and rigid posts made. However, it is a pain to adjust tool height and yes, you do have to shim your tools. Once you settle on a given shank size you'll accumulate shims that will get you adjusted fairly quickly ... at least until you sharpen your tool and then it all changes again. This hassle is the key reason most of us use quick change tool posts. While not as rigid as a 4-way they allow for quick and easy height adjustment, which is a compromise most of us live with.
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Steel banding stock used to secure material to pallets. Look in the recycle barrels. Also a set of four inch ling feeler gages that can be taken apart.
 
dave_r_1 said:
Attached are some pictures of the tool post on my Force International 1440.

From all my reading, both books and on the internet, the height of the cutting edge is pretty critical, it should be pretty much right on the centerline of the lathe.

From what I can tell, there is NO way to adjust the height on this toolpost. I'm considering grinding a shim to put under the tool, but that just gets me in the ballpark and it would be a shim/tool which IMHO would be ridiculous. The blue tool a 1/2" cutter and it is about 1/4" too low.

I understand I can buy a replacement toolpost that has an explicit height adjustment, but given that the height of the cutting tip being critical, to within a fraction of an inch, what is the point of a toolpost like this one? Is it just that this toolpost assumes that I buy only tools that wind up at EXACTLY the right height? Or that it's just shim-city?

I can understand that maybe it would make the lathe a little more expensive to have a large adjustment, like even 1/4", but not that it has NO (at least that I can see) adjustment at all.



How the heck do I adjust the height?

View attachment 122919 View attachment 122920
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Some have made custom height gages that fit their lathes. I was assigned to several different lathes and never made one. Here is one example; https://www.google.com/search?q=lat...ei=zDjLVpTGFon0mAGJi64o#imgrc=4S7-l_XGCMTjuM:
 
I got an assortment of 1/2" brass flats like they sell at hobby shops and some hardware stores. Just cut them to length with snips.

I bought a QCTP for my G-4000 and was surprised to find out it came with no installation instructions and that in fact, I had to make an adapter to fit it on. That is true of most accessories they sell for machine tools.
 
Just chiming in a little late from some posts above. The 4-way is very rigid and I'm guessing yours has a detent ball so you can index to different positions and return to the original? Very handy when doing production jobs when you are using your cross feed/compound micrometer dials. Rotate your QCTP and your micrometer dials are off, have to align again.

Bruce
 
dave_r_1 said:
wowzers. given that this is so important, that the default for a lathe is "we got nothing, figure something out yourself" seems pretty lame. I would have expected at least a small fine-tuning adjustment.

Guess I'm off to buy a QC tool post.
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Dave, I guess you are new to home machining. Can I suggest you reconsider l your attitude least you find you don't enjoy this hobby.

Having a home workshop is about finding ways to achieve these sort of things.

As a leading piece is advice, get a pack of spark plug feeler gauges at a local automobile shop and take them apart. Makes for a nice set of different thickness shims for your lathe tools.

Sent from my SM-N920C using Tapatalk
 
I use a little cutlery organiser to keep shim strips handy.

Stuart
 
Guys let's just try to help, without the critical comments. They don't help.

I have used a square turret toolpost many times, and yes, you can generally buy a specific size of tool and it will be on center. If you buy indexable tooling, they will repeat closely on the height. If you have a tool that is a little high, it is recommended that you mill it to where it will fit without messing with shims. Once the milling is done, you won't have to mess with it again. Smaller tools can be spaced up as you have done in one of your pics. There's no getting around shims 100% on tools that are smaller, and will be reground. HSS and brazed carbide fall into that category. It's just part of how this works. You have to adjust to it in order to get things done.

On a side note, I have a square post I am not using, and likely never will if someone is interested. It came on a 17" swing machine, so it may be large for some of the hobby lathes that seem popular.
 
I often use a 1950's era W&S turret lathe with a 4-way tool post, this is annoying as sin to adjust as I normally have to remove tools from more modern lathes which are in no way designed for this purpose.
If you have a pointed tool that you use for holding the back of a tap, (and you should) place a chuck in the tail stock/turret, put the tool in the 4-way facing the center of the lathe and shim until the tool and point are even, rotate the 4-way 90° CCW and have at it, this method is more than accurate enough for everything short of facing/parting to center and takes very little time. Unlike many home hobbyists when I begin a job I'm given a time sheet to follow, Set Up 1.2 Hrs., Face to length 1.1 Hrs., Rough Drill for Finish Boring 2.5 Hrs., Turn OD, Bore ID to finished Dimensions 1.8 Hrs. However I find that even screwing around with shims it is faster doing many operations in the turret lathe then going back to the manual or CNC lathes for finishing.

First job tomorrow morning, 7" X 1 1/2" long 304 SS saw cut rounds, 3.750" bore +.005-.000, I will put them in the large turret lathe and rough drill with a 3" carbide spade drill using no spotting or center drill, this will take less then 5 minutes per hole including set up, move the rough blanks to a 14 X 48" CNC lathe for finishing. Essentially I have no problems using such a tool post and as mentioned above they are rigid, one may plow through some very heavy cuts in tough materials without moving one, tools may suffer however (-:
 
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