What are the best Aloris quick-change holders to start out with?

You will mostly need No. 1s and an occasional No. 2. I also use my No. 7 occasionally (parting off) and the turning/facing carbide tool occasionally (mostly when I'm going to use carbide I use 1/2" shank TT-type tools in a No. 1 holder). If I want to knurl I use an Eagle Rock scissor-type tool held in a No.

1 holder.

You don't have to buy 'em all at once. If you get them as a set, that's one thing, otherwise just save your money.

GWE

Mark Ma> I have a Rivett 1020S and the Aloris BXA series quick-change tool post

Also consider that you typically want to have more than one of a given type. Otherwise you can wind up changing bits back and forth all the time, which of course defeats the purpose.

Has anyone used their #71 Cut-Off and Grooving Holder? What are the trade-offs between #71 and #7? E.g. rigidity, blade replacement economics, etc.

I forgot to include #77 Cut-Off and Grooving Holder in my comparison request. I'm just curious of #71 or #77 end up being better tools that #7 AND cheaper to run because you just need to replace the carbide cut-off inserts rather than the whole blade.

Im not familiar with the numbers but we keep an average of 15 holders for each lathe. The ones we use most are the holder for indexable square shank tooling, (these will also hold a small boring bar), the 15 degree adjustable head that takes a tmna insert, (by setting this in position you can easily cut any chamfer multible of 15 degrees as well as use it as a turning/facing tool. You can either get a parting tool or get a parting tool that will fit in the square shank holder. The threading tool is easy to sharpen and will do a good job or you can get a topnotch Kennametal holder or the like and it will thread as well as groove, depending on the insert you order, they all fit the same topnotch holder.

In short, aloris spicific tools are nice but will kill your budget in a hurry if you buy them new. I would buy a couple of square shank holders, and a boring bar holder, the biggest you can get for the aloris series you buy. You can always sleeve down to a smaller bar but not up. After that I would get the 15 degree adjustable holder to make it easy to cut chamfers. I would put more money into the indexable tooling.

John

According to Mark Main :

The only difference between the #1 and the #2 is that the #2 has a shallow V-groove at the bottom of the tool slot. This is so you can clamp down on a round boring bar without it rolling out of the slot. Normally, reasonable size shank tools will bridge the V, so the #2 can be used for both functions at will.

#4 for holding a large diameter boring bar -- 1", IIRC, for the BXA size, with a slotted sleeve to adjust it to the next size down. This is nice for holding boring bars which accept HSS bits crosswise for deep boring -- and for long internal threading.

It can also be used for mounting turret tooling like box tools, Geometric die heads, and certain kinds of knurling tools, along with releasing tap holders -- if you are willing to take the time to get the tools properly centered.

#41 Same as #4 -- but holds a larger boring bar (1-1/4").

#4D I don't have a record of this, or any of the 100 and higher numbers #100 #104 #141

#42 Nor do I have this one recorded.

You've got quite a few in that list which I don't have listed (I made up my list from what MSC had in their catalog a few years back.)

I have the BXA-16N, and find it very convenient, as it holds two inserts -- one in the turning position and one in the facing position, with both adjusted to the proper height with a single adjustment.

The #13 is quite nice for getting close to work supported by a fat live center. It has a tapered extension to the slot which clears the live center bearing housing, and still gives good support to the tool. Using the same tool clamped in a #1 or #2, and extended far enough to clear will set you up for chatter, as the tool will flex.

I usually use mine for the threading insert tools, but am thinking of getting another for a certain small insert holder which came with my Compact-5/CNC, and which uses sharper (and smaller) inserts, producing a nicer finish on some steels.

Note that while I have gotten some Aloris tool holders from eBay auctions, I have yet to see one for the #16N or the #13 which closes anything but close to the new price. If I'm going to pay that much, I'll pay the extra few dollars to get one brand new. :-)

Another one which I have found to be very nice (which I *did* get from an eBay auction) is the BXA-19 -- a combination of the scissors knurling tool with a BXA toolholder -- with the two arms carrying the knurls moving on a vertical dovetail on the holder, with a knob adjusting both the upper and lower arms in opposite directions at the same time, to keep the pressure centered on the workpiece.

This is *much* better than the BXA-10 "knurling, facing, and turning" one, which uses the old bump knurling style which puts a lot of load on the machine's cross slides. But new, it is *very* expensive. $260.00 back when I made up my list.

Also, one of the parting blade holders, with the Cleveland Mo-Max T-profile parting blades is an excellent thing to have.

Now, to see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

More important to me than having one each of every style is having

*plenty* of holders. I don't like having to mount and unmount bits, which defeats the purpose of a quick change holder. I've got about 10 of the standard BXA turning bit holders, and they are all full of properly centered bits. There's a guy on Ebay who sells them for about $15 each for BXA sizes. That's hard to beat. They are knock-offs, but well made. Dan

In the 15 to 17 buck range, has AXA and BXA "Interchangeable with Phase II" stuff, but don't list any CXA. Nice guy to deal with though, if you can get past the very heavy accent.

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario.

Does anyone have experience with the 'Self Locking Blades with Carbon Inserts" that are used with the #77 or 71 'Cut Off and Grooving Holder'? Is it better/faster/cheaper to use these than the standard #7'Universal Parting Blade Holder'?

I have both an Aloris 7 and a 71. On an AXA-sized lathe, parting off is a significant problem. I have a whole bunch of parting off tools and on some jobs I have tried them all.

The 71 is a nice holder, though. It has a big wide blade which holds a carbide cutoff insert. I'm sure it's more rigid than the 7. On some jobs, the carbide inserted cutoff tools work really well, on some others they don't seem to work as well, at least for me. It isn't cheaper to run than the 7, and faster is sort of irrelevant - if either one works it won't take very long, and if it doesn't it will mean endless fiddling until you do find something that works. I can't really say it's better, either, although I would guess it's probably slightly better in the general case. However, the No. 7 holder takes blades of varying sizes and the No. 71 only takes one size of insert, and those inserts do cost and you do break them occasionally.

For parting by far the best setup for parting isn't an Aloris setup at all. I have a 9" South Bend and I got the T-slot cross-slide table from Metal Lathe Associates, and also got the rear toolpost kit and machined it to take an Armstrong cutoff tool mounted upside down in the rear toolpost. That setup completely eliminates the compound (a major source of flex on small lathes) from parting, and works very well indeed in most cases.

In fact, I'd be happy to sell you my Aloris Nos. 7 and 71 toolholders complete with blades & all tooling. I haven't figured pricing yet.

If you want to contact me about maybe buying them, please visit

as replying to the email address I post to the Usenet from is completely impossible, it isn't possible to infer my email address from it.

Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington