QCTP Dorian? Aloris? Other?

Winegrower said:
But, I feel you can do as good for way less.
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This is like a Ford vs Chevy vs Porshe vs Ferrari ... all get you there but the fit and finish differs. I own Aloris and Dorian tool posts but have used imports on other lathes and I agree - they all get you there; just the fit and finish differs.

With that said, an Aloris or Dorian will be doing it the same way in 25 years ... not so sure about something from China.

Were it not for the cost of the tool holders, I would be tempted to try a Multi-fix, too. They are very cool and apparently quite rigid but not enough to make me switch.
 
What ever happened to KDK? I love the set l have from the 70's. Hard to find now days. Cleaner lines than the Aloris type and easier to use.
 
Maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen anyone mention Phase II. I have a Phase II AXA and a BXA. The AXA is the piston style and is well over 20 years old. The BXA is the wedge style of unknown age. It came with my Sheldon lathe. I would guess it to be in the 20 year old range as well. It is shown in pictures of the machine when the previous owner was rebuilding it in 2002. Both work well and repeat without problems. I don't know the current price of either, but when I bought the AXA new it was about 1/3 the price of an Aloris. The nice thing about both is that they use standard tool holders. I have some Phase II, some Aloris, and some Shars. tool holders. They all fit and repeat well. The last Aloris tool holders I purchased ran around $100.00 each. The Shars ones were in the $15.00 to $20.00 range.

Don't get me wrong I have used Aloris and they were excellent. All the lathes in the place I worked were equipped with them. If you intend to use the machine 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week for the next 50 years they might be worth the investment. On the other hand they're extremely expensive by comparison for a machine that gets used maybe 10 hours a month.

To me a tool post and tool holders are utility items. I'm not hung up on whose name is engraved on the side. Al I'm interested in is performance and longevity. If funds were unlimited I might consider an Aloris, however my experience has been that the Phase II units perform well over time and cost far less. Rather than spend the money on a top of the line tool post I would rather invest it in other useful tooling or additional machinery.
 
In the meantime why don't you troubleshoot your present holder? There's a lot of piston units out there that work just fine (including mine). It may be just a matter of machining a few thou off a cam.
 
In the meantime why don't you troubleshoot your present holder?
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Yes. I thought I might tear into that as an option and I might do that even if I get a new one. But, there are a couple of other problems with it. The handle does not index so it tends to end up over the stock or in an awkward position when tightened. I might be able to fix that too, not sure. Griz. says "that's the way it is designed". The third thing is that the position of the holder when semi-snug and fully snugged changes quite a lot. I'm hoping a wedge type might help improve that too. Not sure who's QCTP they use but I want to avoid that one. I'll be looking at the Phase II's more closely. Really I would rather buy other tooling with the savings if a Phase II works well.
 
Given that the cost of a Phase II kit (tool post with 5 holders) is not a whole lot cheaper than an Aloris tool post, it might make some sense to just get the Aloris post by itself and use your own holders.
 
My Phase II BXA kit came with 5 different holders. It has served me well for several years now and there would be no motive for me to spend more on a 'better' one.

The QCTP has been disassembled for cleaning a few times. Since the two pistons are not the same length they must go back to the same position for it to operate properly.

There has been some wear on the shoulder inside the body which caused the locking mechanism to bind. Whenever the top nut was fully tightened some binding would prevent the cam barrel from exerting full pressure on the pistons. There is an easy fix to this problem so things are back to normal now.

I agree with the suggestion of troubleshooting your current QCTP. There is something to learn from it even if you move on to a different QCTP.
 
Speaking from my experience,
I bought an old lathe that had a no name Offshore Tool post. It was terrible.
I replaced it with a Phase II. The Phase II BXA size was about $ 30% less than Aloris. It worked well but I only had it for less than a year.
My newest lathe received a brand new Aloris CXA with the 7 holders. I have added Shars tool holders and they work just fine.
I have used Dorian, I think they are very good quality.
I am stuck on Aloris. This beefy tool post is rock solid and smooth as glass.
 
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mikey said:
Given that the cost of a Phase II kit (tool post with 5 holders) is not a whole lot cheaper than an Aloris tool post, it might make some sense to just get the Aloris post by itself and use your own holders.
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I'm not sure where you're looking as far as pricing is concerned, but an Aloris CXA 5 piece set (tool post and 4 tool holders) is $1050.00 at Travers tools. The Phase II CXA 6 piece set (tool post and 5 tool holders) is $597.00. The Aloris set is $450.00 more expensive and has 1 less tool holder.
 
I have a Phase II AXA tool post as well, and it works fine. (Though I had to take it apart and clean/lube before use: it was full of swarf.). But, Phase II
is now a bit pricey compared with other Chinese brands and the machine work on mine is pretty crude. The last time I bought tool holders
I bought from All Industrial and they were both cheaper and much more nicely finished than Phase II.
 
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