Unknown Quick Change Tool Post

hman said:
All AXA/250-1xx tool holders will work with either style. I've gone to several vendors (Shars, Enco, CDCO) for AXA size over more than 10 years, and have only had one tool holder that was problematical - gap too narrow, so it wouldn't go over the dovetails of my piston-type holder. It would probably have been OK with a wedge type.
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I had the same problem with two of them. They were close though so it was easily fixed with a little hand filing.

I prefer buying the tool holders from Shars because they say "Shars" instead of "China". I know it doesn't really make any difference but at least I don't have "China" right in my face on the tool post.
 
Charles Spencer said:
I had the same problem with two of them. They were close though so it was easily fixed with a little hand filing.

I prefer buying the tool holders from Shars because they say "Shars" instead of "China". I know it doesn't really make any difference but at least I don't have "China" right in my face on the tool post.
Click to expand...
Living in denial... ;)
 
While we're on the subject ... Does anybody know what that threaded hole on the non-dovetail side of the tool holder base is for? You can see it in dave d's upper photo.

I've kinda assumed it was so you could screw in a handle, either to help adjust the angle or perhaps to hold the body of the QCTP when tightening the locking nut. But shucks ... if you put a washer between the nut and the top of the QCTP, there's little or no torque transmitted.

Or maybe it's so you can use the QCTP as an odd sort of ball turner????

Enquiring minds want to know.
 
O M G!!!! I just received the May/June issue of The Home Shop Machinist. And right there in "Chips & Sparks" on Page 69 is at least one answer to my question! Steve Jasik of Menlo Park, CA, sent in photo and a short paragraph describing how he mounts a depth stop to the back of the QCTP body, using the very hole I was asking about.

Talk about a timely response .... :)
Thanks, Steve!
 
I believe that threaded hole is an Aloris thing, it's not found on QCTPs by other makes. IIRC I believe old Aloris catalogs showed different attachments for that hole. I vaguely remember seeing it somewhere but I can't remember.
 
On my Phase II wedge type, the hole on the back side of the tool post contains a set screw that retains the actuating shaft. The actuating shaft being the rotating shaft that the handle is inserted into. On a piston type the actuating shaft is simply a cam that pushes the piston out to tighten the tool holder against the dovetails. On a wedge type, the actuating shaft has a helical slot cut into it that engages the wedge, moving it up and down as the shaft is rotated.

If your QCTP ever starts to bind up on you, disassemble it and remove the chips from the internals then relube it with some light grease and life will be good again. Disassembly starts with the set screw in that hole.
 
Terry, it's a different hole that is in question, as Steve pointed out, with the QCTP in the common orientation, there's a large blind threaded hole on the right side.

I've only seen it on Aloris QCTPs & on some Chinese clones. In fact I think the newer Aloris QCTPs no longer have that hole.
 
Yup, we're talking about the same hole, Will. It's been a while since I had my Phase II apart, and if my memory serves me correctly there was a set screw in that hole. Now you've got me wondering!! I suppose I have no choice but to go out and look.

ON EDIT: Open mouth, insert foot and wiggle the toes!! Yes, it is just a blind hole. It dawned on me after I looked at it that the actuating shaft is retained by a nut located under the top locking nut that requires a spanner wrench to remove it.

They say that you lose 3 things as you get older:
1. Your memory
2. Can't remember what it is
3. Can't remember what this one is either.
 
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