Sherline Lathe QCTP Advice

[MelBrooksKA]

Hello, I bought my Sherline lathe last November with the big sale and I bought it with the QCTP + 3 holders during the big sale not realizing how expensive these holders could be individually and that they might be non-standard (at least as far as I've searched.) I guess, the heart of my question is: would aluminum be an alright material for a small tool holder and would it realistic to cross slide mill a dovetail even in aluminum or should I just cut my loses and use a cheaper tool holder solution? I only have the lathe at home, so I worry I might not have enough rigidity to realistically make the dovetail features with the milling column, wanted to get some thoughts on that.

I've seen people recommend the A2Z tool holder but it looks like they went out of business, so if this would be unrealistic, is there any other QCTP you guys might recommend?

 

[GrifterGuru]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and that is quite true.

Have you a phot of the QCTP and holders in question?
What size is the QCTP?
What type is the QCTP?

 

[Nutfarmer]

I bought tool holders for an Aloris style bax for less than thirty dollars each. I can’t buy the steel for that. What kind of qctp are we talking about?

 

[MelBrooksKA]

Sorry, I was unclear about the 3 post rule only being links. It's the QCTP sold on Sherline's website, the tool holders are pretty small, even smaller than a 0XA which I had bought hoping it would fit. The holders are about 1x1x2 inches, so even if I made them out of steel it seems like the material cost at least wouldn't be too bad even with steel. I calculated ~2.90$ a pop for aluminum and I think even 4140 would only be ~6$ each going by McMaster's prices although god save my poor little lathe if I tried that. Dovetail has width about 0.743" at the top and a depth of ~0.210".

 

[Nubbles]

Many people love Tryally's QCTP, and it uses aluminum (tryally.com, though you can email or message him on FB to customize your order). The normal Sherline tool holders are aluminum. I have to believe aluminum would be fine

 

[gerritv]

If they are indeed 0xa then AllIndustrial has good prices. Shars conveniently has the dimensions so that you can verify: https://www.shars.com/quick-change-tool-post-set-wedge-type-000-oxa

Aluminum should be fine for the holders, use a bandsaw to remove the bulk of the material, then finish using a milling cutter.

 

[MelBrooksKA]

If they are indeed 0xa then AllIndustrial has good prices. Shars conveniently has the dimensions so that you can verify: https://www.shars.com/quick-change-tool-post-set-wedge-type-000-oxa

Aluminum should be fine for the holders, use a bandsaw to remove the bulk of the material, then finish using a milling cutter.

They're not 0XA, they are a little bit smaller. I tried buying a 0XA from Little Machine Shop when I was getting some other stuff to see if they would fit and unfortunately the 0XA is just a little bit bigger. Don't own a bandsaw, but I could probably do a lot of that with my hacksaw, thank you for the suggestion. Shame metal doesn't chisel like would and I can't just pop out the waste like that.

 

[Aaron_W]

Sherline's QCTP is proprietary. I don't know of anyone that uses it largely because of the cost.

The Trially tool post seems to be popular.

I have an OXA QCTP for mine, but it is really too big. It works, but I've largely gone back to the standard rocker tool post, I just bought extras and swap them as needed kind of like QCTP.

A2Z is long out of business, so finding their tool post would be a hunt.

Steel is preferred even for a Sherline but I imagine aluminum would be ok for making additional tool holders.

 

[Aaron_W]

You can also find information on Norton tool posts. That is an older style that is not a difficult DIY project.

 

[Nubbles]

Sherline's QCTP is proprietary. I don't know of anyone that uses it largely because of the cost.

The Trially tool post seems to be popular.

I have an OXA QCTP for mine, but it is really too big. It works, but I've largely gone back to the standard rocker tool post, I just bought extras and swap them as needed kind of like QCTP.

A2Z is long out of business, so finding their tool post would be a hunt.

Steel is preferred even for a Sherline but I imagine aluminum would be ok for making additional tool holders.

I've made some tool posts like the standard Sherline one, but from steel (I had assumed the Sherline ones were, but now I'm pretty sure they're aluminum). When tightened to the cross slide they cause it to bind up a little bit. Not enough to stop it from moving, but it makes it noticeably harder to turn the cross slide handwheel. I don't know if this is from the steel warping the aluminum cross slide minutely, just from its weight, or because I messed up something when making the tool posts. Notably I'm using normal t-nuts, not the extended t-nuts Sherline usually has in their tool posts, and maybe that's the issue. But from that experience I'd recommend aluminum