Made in USA AXA Tool Post

[pontiac428]

You never said it had to be new, right? I've seen a couple of FIMS (later just IMS) No. 1 setups come and go on fleabay. They're nice. Or Dorian, Aloris, et. al. The USA stuff is beauty. The reality is AXA is a little on the small side for industrial grade kit. Mostly a sea of imports. They work too, though.

 

[RJSakowski]

I bought a no name AXA set and a couple of extra 101 tool holders from Grizzly about 8 years ago. Since then, I have purchased Shars multiple 250-101 and 250-101XL tool holders. More recently, I bought four Labwork branded 250-101 tool holders for $9 each off eBay. I have not had any problems with them. In order of increasing quality, I would rate the Grizzly, followed by the Labwork , with the Shars being the best. I have not had any issues with set screws. Fit and finish on all is acceptable. The Shars tool holder have the lowest seat for the tool which is a benefit for those of us who have the Grizzly G0602 lathes.

Another property of a QCTP holder is the ability to reseat to both vertical and horizontal positions. I tend to change the orientation of the tool post for different tools doing so, I will re-reference the tool each time if I am doing critical work so I am not likely to notice any minor horizontal positional changes due to reseating. the tool holder but in most cases, it is minimal. My tool post is a piston type and I would expect a more consistent seating with a wedge type. Vertically, i get consistent reseating.

 

[Dabbler]

I have Aloris, Dixon, Rapido, and various offshore Aloris clones. I strongly prefer the Dixon-like Rapido posts and holders. Far easier to make your own tool holders for a Dixon style, and mine have been very repeatable. At some point I'll be selling off my Aloris stuff. I also use my 4-way about half the time, as it is very robust.

 

[projectnut]

To expand on an earlier post. The shop I worked in used Aloris tool posts and tool holders exclusively. The lathes and tooling were originally purchased in the 1960's. I started there in the 1980's and left in 2006. The tool posts and holders purchased with the lathes were still in use and still working properly. These machines and tooling were often used 40+ hours a week.

When I started outfitting my own shop in 1999, I knew I couldn't afford Aloris so I went with Phase II. I selected an AXA piston style tool post for the first machine. When I purchased a second lathe in 2016 it came with a BXA wedge style Phase II tool post and several tool holders. Over the years I've purchased a dozen or so tool holders for each lathe from Shars. In all cases the tool posts and holders have been of sufficient quality and didn't need any modifications or cleanup.

I'm not sure either of the Phase II tool posts would have lasted as long as the Aloris ones at work did under the same circumstances. However, in a hobby situation they have both been more than adequate. I have heard that over time the quality of Phase II tools and tooling has slipped a bit but have nothing more than a few anecdotal stories to that effect.

If you're interested in Shars tool posts and/or tool holders check prices on both their website, and as Discount Machine on eBay. Discount Machine is their eBay site for selling slow moving and overstock items.

Boring Turning and Facing Holder #2 Type 202 BXA

www.shars.com

250-202 BXA #2 Quick Change Boring Turning Facing Tool Post Holder L = 3.5" ^} | eBay

"V" groove holds 1/4-5/8" round shank boring bars and tools as well as 1/4-5/8" square tool bits. Certificate for each batch. HOLDER CAPACITY 5/8. SET SCREW THREAD SIZE M10x19. WEDGE 202-947 0. HOLDER NUMBER #2.

www.ebay.com

Be sure to check the shipping prices from both locations. Also keep in mind there are several other vendors selling Shars tooling as secondary marketers. They often attempt to sell the same tooling for multiple times the price Shars is asking.