Today, I went to the Grizzly Scratch and Dent tent sale (really a crashed and bashed sale) to look over their offerings, they were pretty poor and bought nothing.
I went into the store and wandered around and finally relented to the 2 years of hedging and bought the new and improved wedge type AXA size Dorian QCTP. Its now installed on the lathe and tomorrow, I will do the first cuts. This replaces an Aloris AXA QCTP, that I've had for about 6 years. All of the CDCO tool blocks fit perfectly as do the numerous Aloris tool blocks in my inventory.
I really don't think that there is anything wrong with the Aloris, I'll probably sell it, the wedge design is completely different and allegedly hold the block tighter. The Aloris, Dorian and CDCO blocks are somewhat tighter to slide on and it take about 1/2 the handle travel of the Aloris, to lock the blocks tight. Is it an improvement over the Aloris, maybe, maybe not, only time will tell. The handle is clockable, so it can be installed to lock anywhere in the 360 degree swing, in 15 degree segments. Its is also has adjustments to allow the mechanism to be tightened up as it wears. Again could be an improvement or a $300 gamble, I seriously doubt it will be worse than the Aloris.
In the first picture (reshown below) the piece sticking out of the lathe chuck, is a Jancy mag drill 4" long center pin. The pin is hardened and has a ground point, that what I use to set the cutting edge height, quick and easy.
Boy! I'm not a gambler but I'd like to be able to gamble 300bucks, Although that wouldn't get me anything "Dorian" up here in the land of "you can't get that here"
where do you hail from in Nova Scotia?? I worked in Touro, Halifax and Yarmouth, for the boiler company. I loved it there. Is it hard to get stuff in Nova Scotia?? any harder than other parts of Canada??
Jack, I'm in rural NS 12kms from Kentville just over the South Mountain of The Valley.
I spent 50+ years in Montreal which was pretty well a "you can get anything here" place as far as Canada goes.
N.S. although the birthplace of Canada, is an Economic and technological wasteland. With the small population base, Vendors/Suppliers can't stock the myriad of stuff one can find in a big centre like Montreal, Toronto or any other "big city" area in Canukistan.
Was your Aloris tool post a wedge type or the piston style? I have the older Dorian (CA size) on my lathe, and like it a lot. I've used Aloris tool posts and tool holder blocks before and find that they were just a bit smoother. I just can't recall right now what type of clamping they used.
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