I have a 13 1/8" swing Sheldon. I have a lantern type toolpost holder and 1 LH offset toolholer that takes 1/4" bits. The toolholder has a
5/8" wide opening and the toolholer is only 1/2" wide thus I have an
1/8" of play. I was going to buy 2 new holders and purchase them at
5/8" wide so there is not much side to side play between the toolholder and the toolpost. These take a 3/8" toolbit. I am assuming that these will be fine with my lathe and the extra size in both the toolholder and the bits will make for a more rigid setup. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Steve
The lantern toolholders are really awful. If you can afford it, get an Aloris-type quick-change toolpost. I've used these for years, and the ease of swapping tools and having them all preset to the right height is a great reason to use them, but they are also MUCH stiffer than the lantern toolposts. I got the one for my Sheldon R15-6 lathe on eBay for a song!
Most of the time, I find the toolpost is the weakest link. (I have to say I've never used a lantern toolpost on a fine lathe, only on Atlas/Craftsman - grade machines, and the toolposts were well-used, so that may make them worse. But, I found replacing the lantern with a Phase-II quick change toolpost greatly improved the lathe's performance.
I strongly advise you lose the lantern style tool post. They are, without a doubt, the most useless piece of gear you will ever encounter. With any type of production type holder, you'll be able to set tools and mark dials for repetitive cutting. That may sound like it's no big deal, but the first time you have need to make more than one of anything you'll quickly come to terms with the value of such a toolpost. You can set up turning, parting, threading tools, which you simply put in place and use, no time lost with setup again and again.
My personal preference is the square indexing type, such as used on turret lathes, but made by O.K. Rubber Welders. As far as I know, the OK RW head is no longer available, however. This particular design is made to index @
3° intervals via a heat treated set of teeth, plus has a spring indexing device @ 15° intervals. The negative is that you are generally limited to only (4) toolbits, although with some imagination you can install an odd one for such things as small chamfers or other cuts that don't require a great deal of rigidity.
The KDK type are limitless in the number of tools you can have pre-mounted, but if you run a large machine (like a 40" lathe or larger) they can wear you out changing them often. While I don't prefer them, they are likely a better choice if you are just learning and have not formed habits that are difficult to break (like using an OK RW head).
Of course it depends on the kind of job you are doing. I would probably not go over 1/2 inch square on that machine.
The lantern toolpost is not *so* bad, but you certainly want to get rid of the toolholder. Those are pretty antique. You can improve the rigidity of your setup by simply tossing the toolholder and putting a larger size toolbit right in the lantern toolpost, shimmed up with other similar tool bits or a scrap of rectangular stock. In that case you could go up to the slot slize in the toolpost, or 5/8 inch square. That's a bit of a large tool bit to rough out, hence the comment about 1/2 inch tools.
The recent advice about getting some kind of qc toolholder is very much on point. You will find it very handy.
Jim
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As someone else suggested you'd probably be much better off with a quick change tool post set and they happen to be on sale this month from ENCO. They also have free UPS shipping!
Here's a link to the page in the sales flyer:
formatting link
Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com
Among many others, strongly advise that you buy an Aloris type toolpost. Good ones are made by Phase II, cheaper ones are often on sale by Enco, Harbor Freight, and others. For typical amateur use, where absolute reproducability is not that important, the (cheaper) piston type will do quite nicely. for a 13" lathe, get the BXA or the Phase II 200 size -- one up from the smallest. It will seem humongous on your lathe, but well worth it for the reasons cited below. I (unfortunately) bought the AXA/100 size, invested in a lot of tooling, and have been sorry for it ever since -- should have bought the B sized one.
More rigid -- but then, een the smallest is tons more rigid than a lantern toolpost.
Really easy to adjust to the correct center height. Just line it up to your tailstock point and adjust 1/1000 or less at a time.
There are far more used BX sized tool holders on the market than A sized. And as used tooling, they are cheaper than the smaller AX sized.
I use 1/2" toolbits almost exclusively, now. I have lots and lots of
3/8, 5/16, 1/4 and smaller bits. Don't use them except in special circumstances where the bigger bits won't get in close enough. I have yet to buy a toolbit blank from a supplier. Yet, I have hundreds of bits in each size -- many of them very nicely made and finished -- I buy them at used machinery dealers, garage sales, flea markets, etc. The 3/8 bits are the most common, then 1/2, and last of all, 1/4 and 1/8.
There is a low probability downside to bigger toolbits and bigger tool posts -- with small bits, the bit will almost surely break before anything on the lathe does. When you get up to massive toolposts and 1/2 or bigger bits, if you abuse things and goof up, you could hurt the lathe -- low probability, but keep it in mind with the bigger bits.
I also have a 13-inch Sheldon and am very pleased with it. Like you, I started out with lantern toolholders. For the life of me, I couldn't see what the advantage of an Aloris-type would be.
I can't remember, now, why I made the switch, but I'm glad I did. My only regret is that it took too many years for me to give the quick-change a try.
For my 13-inch I use a series 200 (BXA) Phase II wedge-type. IIRC, I got it on sale at Travers for something like $130. Since then, Enco has also listed them on sale for very reasonable prices. I'm very pleased with the quality of Phase II tooling. It's plenty good enough for the HSM.
For the 13-inch I use 1/2" HSS toolbits. For my 10-inch Sheldon I use 3/8"
Good luck,
Orr>I have a 13 1/8" swing Sheldon. I have a lantern type toolpost holder
I used an original Hardinge rocker style tool post on a Hardinge HLV-H the other day. And it sucked. I got the job done..but I guess Im spoiled. Saw one on a big assed Axelson a couple weeks ago. Tool bits were 1" square shanked..so the rocker tool post looked like a half sized fire hydrant. The machinist said it sucked, too, but the company was too cheap to spring for a proper KDK etc.
Gunner
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." --Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
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