Tool Post Styles

H

horty

Registered
Registered
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
144
Hi, I've been thinking of making a different tool post for my gingery lathe, the one I use now is the lantern type, ( i think thats what its called,) round bar with slot with bolt in top center and spacers to put at the bottom to adjust height.

There must be something else simple to make that wont take so much screwing around to get it centered.

I have looked at alot but not sure if some of them will work as I have only .375" from top of compound rest to center of tail stock..

Any ideas or plans will be really appreciated,

Thanks,
Tim
 
3/8ths from the top of the compound to the center of rotation? Do you have the correct Tailstock? Please don't take thei the wrong way, but it sounds like your lathe is poorly designed, can only turn something 3/4" in diameter.
 
From the top of the compound slide/rest (were the tool bar mounts)from the top of that plate to the center of the lathe or center of tail stock is only .375",
From the center of the chuck to the main ways, carriage ways, is 3.875"
 
What lathe do you have? A picture would help. Something doesn't seem right. You could make a 4 way tool holder or even a Norman style QCTP. Whatever you end up with you are pretty much limited 1/8" to 1/4" HSS tool bits. I saw this interesting tool holder on a video today.

You have to shim the tool bit to height. What isn't shown in the picture is an adjusting screw on the other side of the center post that acts as a pivot point so that tightening the center post clamps the tool bit in place.
 
do you have a jeweler's lathe? it seems a little bit small...

To start with I've done a lot of great work with my lantern toolpost - there must be reasons for adding another... Care to share?

Every lathe I own has a rocker toolpost, a 4-way tool post, and an Aloris style tool post. I like them all, each for different reasons. They each are very well suited for a wide range of operations.

The easiest and cheapest to make (if you have access to a mill) is the 4 way tool post. People will slam me for this, but properly tooled, and well made, it is the most rigid of all the tool posts, except a solid block to the carriage. Most people (incorrectly) shim tools to get centre height for a given tool. That works in an improvised kind of way. I have milled my tooling for my 4 way so that the tool is always on centre without shims. saves time and is the best set up for rigidity.

For such a small lathe you could also consider the Aloris style in the 0XA sizing. The Aloris type is very versatile, but you have to shell out for holders for each of your tools. It can get mid-spendy if you have a lot of tools. (not as spendy as some, however)

The real question that you should ask is what do I need to do with my lathe that I can't do now? The answer to that is going to give you direction on how to spend your money well.
 
Just going to throw this out , on my little Chinese lathe ( think of a old Smithy3 in 1 without the mill ) it has a 4 way tool post and not much distance between the compound and bottom of the 4 way , I couldn't fit 1/2" tools , not enough stock to cut the bottom lower so on one side I just cut it off so on the one side of the holder it clamps right to the compound ( some shimming required ) might just give you an option of using lantern style tool holders with a 4 way
 
horty, You are correct that there is .375 distance between the top of the compound and the top face of the cutter. That's what mine measures also.
<------- see avatar to your left. The Gingery lathe is a 7" by 16" capacity machine which is built by casting aluminum melted down from scrap. It can turn way more than 1/2" dia. The aluminum disc you see in the photo measures over 6 1/2" dia. and is mounted on a face plate for turning. My lathe also has the lantern tool post and uses 1/4" square brazed carbide cutters. Tool height is adjusted by stacking washers under the post. It would be hard to fit any other style tool holder on this machine as far as I can see.
 

Attachments

  • 011.JPG
    011.JPG
    388.7 KB · Views: 46
Everyone replying to me.

And thanks diecutter, I appreciate it..:clapping:

Diecutter shows the same lathe, Gingery I made, except mine is 28" to the front of the tail stock.
I made it longer to for some of the things I machine, or use to..

But you can see that the distance is around .375", I put a .250" plate on top of my compound ( decreased it from .625 to .375 what it is now) to increase the threaded hole life for the tool holder bolt, I put in threaded inserts instead of threading into aluminum or the .250" steel as with time that hole will wear out and I can always replace the insert, I put a 10-28 set screw in from the back to lock the inserts in place.

Now, back to the tool holder, overnight I come to realize that lantern type holder I have will work fine, I started making a new one this morning, well kinda, right off the bat I screwed it up, but that's why I have brazing set up here, I can most of the time fix my screw-ups.

This new lantern will have a concave washer washer at the bottom that a wood ruff key will sit in to give me that little bit of tilt I need to align the tool bit.. what I hatted before was finding the correct size thin spacers to give me the right height, to high-to low, to high-to low...

I will post a pic of it when done if it turns out, If it looks like crap you wont see it :oops: I don't want to embarrass myself.

Thank for all trying to help, and thanks to diecutter for bailing me out.. your the man...

Have a nice day,
Tim:beer bottles:Now its Time for breakfast...

I just seen that if diecutter had a motor set up, he could really spin that tool bit to the right angle:laughing:
 
Last edited:
That's a cool little lathe. You could make a 4 way toolholder or a Norman style QCTP. The 4 way may be the easiest to make. The base of the 4 way would sit on the compound. The body could be made two different ways. One way would be to start with a solid chunk of steel and mill slots for the tool bits. If you don't have a mill you could do the milling by putting an end mill in the lathe and shim the work to the height you want on the compound. Tighten it down and mill the slot. Or you could make the it with 3 pieces either welded or screwed together.
Here is a link to my thread on making a Norman QCTP. https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/norman-style-qctp.79705/ You could scale everything to fit your lathe.
 
horty, I did have a motor setup on it and ran the lathe for about a year machining prototypes for a company in Philadelphia. Recently I stole the two step pulleys from it for the drive on my knee mill which is now operational and works great.inter2.JPG home made
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top