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??? ??? I did some preliminary measurements and studies and found
that it? possible to adapt a minilathe four position tool turret
to the Unimat. This appealed to me because (1), I have used this
device on a larger lathe for the last 40 years and (2), every
minilathe owner replaces these little turrets with a QC as soon as
they can so they are widely available!? ?? Bill in Boulder CO USA
On 2/20/20 11:39 AM, Aron via Groups.Io
wrote:
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During my restoration of the lathe I did some measurements of
parts, ways on the bed and slide specifically, and I came to the
conclusion that the lathe didn’t conform to imperial or metric
as a whole, the tool post, tail stock and headstock/chuck are
configured to inches where as the way bars them self’s are
metric, 13mm on the bed 8mm on the slide...?
the tool post holder is configured for inches and specifically
1/4” tool bits, this I found when I purchased a new tool set in
6mm (I couldn’t find 1/4 hss only brased or insert tooling in
that dimension) this has lead me to shim the 6mm to center on
the chuck...?
a quick change tool post system here would eliminate shimming,
especially since different cutting tools require shimming
differently at times.
to lay the arguments on what the lathe is configured to it is
set to 1/4” tool post so anything 6mm will require shimming, 8mm
parts fit in the standard post but they are to high of center.?
To sum up 6mm parts work with ships in my case a coke can cut
up into strips took actually 5 shims of that cans thickness to
centre the tool bit, which is actually quite a lot when looking
at the tool post.
i don’t think it’s fair to complain on the machines limitations
given it’s age, it was never designed in the same way a modern
mini lathe to do the jobs many of us are probably asking of it,
upgrades aside the machine with its limitations can still beat
out a mini lathe from China any day of the week!
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A few years ago I designed and built a small QC Tool Post especially sized for the Unimat. It is height adjustable for each tool and I use it on my DB200 all the time. It is 1-3/8” square and is similar to the Harding except smaller in size. I don’t sell the plans but they are sold on homemadetools.net for a very modest cost. If anyone has a desire to make one you won’t be disappointed with this design. Somewhere I have pictures and a link.
Dick
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If you search Ebay for seller "hkoesnadi", you will find a quick change tool post with holders for $100.? I have two in service.? If you have any idea that you may need one, buy it now.? They are made in US.? If you want China or India, they are also cheap on Ebay.? To me, there is no need to spend my time to make something like this that I can buy.? I would rather be machining model train?things.
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Some of us like to build tools others prefer?
building trains. Different strokes for different folks. ?I prefer to keep my money in my pocket.
?
Dick
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Now that's info I can use, and in fact I did put it to use. I just bought one of those. Thank you, John.
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On Feb 20, 2020, at 13:28, John Hutnick via Groups.Io <johnhutnick@...> wrote:
? If you search Ebay for seller "hkoesnadi", you will find a quick change tool post with holders for $100.? I have two in service.? If you have any idea that you may need one, buy it now.? They are made in US.? If you want China or India, they are also cheap on Ebay.? To me, there is no need to spend my time to make something like this that I can buy.? I would rather be machining model train?things.
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OK, I guess that makes you better than us.
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On Feb 20, 2020, at 13:40, OldToolmaker via Groups.Io <old_toolmaker@...> wrote:
? Some of us like to build tools others prefer?
building trains. Different strokes for different folks. ?I prefer to keep my money in my pocket.
?
Dick
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I like Dike's design of his tool post. Very small, which fits with the styling of the Unimat.
As I am newish to this device, I am not sure how adept I would be on making it myself ... but I am tempted.
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I found another Unimat 3 tool picture I forget who sent it to me so no ideas of the size other than it was made for a Unimat 3 I think a milling machine owner could make it fairly easily. . 
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OOPs sorry I ment to post to the Sherline page about QCTP. I previously? posted a "Norman Patent" QCTP I made 
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There are some photos of my Small QC Toolpost for the Unimat located in my Photo Gallery on this group.
Just go to my photo gallery named "Old_Toolmaker" Photos. ?It has a red knob on the handle.
Dick
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Here is a link to the plans for the Small QC Tool Post for the Unimat.
Dick
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I forgot to mention this Unimat QC toolpost was featured on the front cover of Model Engineers Workshop issue #183 in 2011.
Dick
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Lol. I used the 4-way toolpost on my mini lathe for many years. It’s on a Hobbymat now.
?
Here is a homemade toolpost, sort of copied from a Tripan, that I sometimes use on the Unimat. It’s a nice design that’s great when there’s not much space. Real ones seem to sell for a lot more than I want to spend, and I don’t think there are any cheaper copies being imported.
?
It’s a lot more robust than the regular piston design but not more complicated to make. OldToolmaker’s will be simpler to make than either one.
?
I like the standard Unimat toolpost, too! But ones like lantern/rocker toolposts but with an adjusting ring aren’t bad, either.
On Thu, Feb 20, 2020 at 10:57 AM, Bill Williams wrote:
??? ??? I did some preliminary measurements and studies and found that it? possible to adapt a minilathe four position tool turret to the Unimat. This appealed to me because (1), I have used this device on a larger lathe for the last 40 years and (2), every minilathe owner replaces these little turrets with a QC as soon as they can so they are widely available!? ?? Bill in Boulder CO USA
On 2/20/20 11:39 AM, Aron via Groups.Io wrote:
During my restoration of the lathe I did some measurements of parts, ways on the bed and slide specifically, and I came to the conclusion that the lathe didn’t conform to imperial or metric as a whole, the tool post, tail stock and headstock/chuck are configured to inches where as the way bars them self’s are metric, 13mm on the bed 8mm on the slide...?
the tool post holder is configured for inches and specifically 1/4” tool bits, this I found when I purchased a new tool set in 6mm (I couldn’t find 1/4 hss only brased or insert tooling in that dimension) this has lead me to shim the 6mm to center on the chuck...?
a quick change tool post system here would eliminate shimming, especially since different cutting tools require shimming differently at times.
to lay the arguments on what the lathe is configured to it is set to 1/4” tool post so anything 6mm will require shimming, 8mm parts fit in the standard post but they are to high of center.?
To sum up 6mm parts work with ships in my case a coke can cut up into strips took actually 5 shims of that cans thickness to centre the tool bit, which is actually quite a lot when looking at the tool post.
i don’t think it’s fair to complain on the machines limitations given it’s age, it was never designed in the same way a modern mini lathe to do the jobs many of us are probably asking of it, upgrades aside the machine with its limitations can still beat out a mini lathe from China any day of the week!
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Hi Clark,
I am not familiar with the Tripan. Is this an item that was in production in the past? It looks quite small and useful.
Dick
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> I am not familiar with the Tripan. Is this an item that was in
> production in the past? It looks quite small and useful.
>
> Dick
The original Tripan came from Switzerland.
http://anglo-swiss-tools.co.uk/tripan-tool-posts/
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Consider that in this group we have had a fair amount of complaining about and reasons not to buy a US QC toolpost(with holders) for $100.? Now here we have a Swiss toolpost for more than 300GBP with one toolholder.
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LOL - We truely are living in strange times ...
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On Feb 21, 2020, at 11:27 AM, John Hutnick < johnhutnick@...> wrote: Consider that in this group we have had a fair amount of complaining about and reasons not to buy a US QC toolpost(with holders) for $100.? Now here we have a Swiss toolpost for more than 300GBP with one toolholder.
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?I have purchased and used the aluminum USA made tool post from Ebay and I have no complaints.
?Jeff
-----Original Message-----
From: John Hutnick <johnhutnick@...>
To: Unimat < [email protected]>
Sent: Fri, Feb 21, 2020 10:28 am
Subject: Re: [Unimat] Unimat Toolholding
Consider that in this group we have had a fair amount of complaining about and reasons not to buy a US QC toolpost(with holders) for $100.? Now here we have a Swiss toolpost for more than 300GBP with one toolholder.
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I was lucky enough to have found a miniature Kirkelie QCTP with three holders. The toolpost is about the same size as the Unimat original TP. Plus it is made of steel.
Martin P.
-----Original Message-----
Lol. I used the 4-way toolpost on my mini lathe for many years. It’s on a Hobbymat now.
?
Here is a homemade toolpost, sort of copied from a Tripan, that I sometimes use on the Unimat. It’s a nice design that’s great when there’s not much space. Real ones seem to sell for a lot more than I want to spend, and I don’t think there are any cheaper copies being imported.
?
It’s a lot more robust than the regular piston design but not more complicated to make. OldToolmaker’s will be simpler to make than either one.
?
I like the standard Unimat toolpost, too! But ones like lantern/rocker toolposts but with an adjusting ring aren’t bad, either.
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If you don’t buy one from Levin you will save even more!
?
The smallest ones are kind of too small for a Unimat.
?
On Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 07:27 AM, John Hutnick wrote:
Consider that in this group we have had a fair amount of complaining about and reasons not to buy a US QC toolpost(with holders) for $100.? Now here we have a Swiss toolpost for more than 300GBP with one toolholder.
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OldToolmaker
Dennis