Q.C.T.P's

Maybe because I come from an industrial background, toolmaker, I never had any doubt that I would fit a QCTP to my own lathe. I have now collected some 30 toolholders all in occasional use. I have no problems with lack of rigidity, can take .125 cut in M/S easy and part of silver steel with no chatter.

I can't see any reason why you wouldn't buy one, the ease of setting up new tools and the speed of changeover when doing multiple tool jobs is so obvious.

By the way mine is a Warco unit, I have a Dixon one but can't afford the holders to go onto it!

Michael

Dickson

Simple check face off and zero any dials or dro.
Remove tool completely then put it back in.
Even the genuine Dickson rock solid had minimal error and you will likely find that tool post will have around 0.12mm between changes.

By locking down at right angles you are limiting what you can do.
What happens when cutting a taper and need to part off? Wrong angle. Cant chamfer internal or external diameters, get relief on certain cutters and so on.

For simple machining or where specific tooling is available i would agree but invloves more tools and holders. Certainly agree there are times i wish mine were locked down, ideal for batch work where you can create tooling offsets and store in the DRO.
Lets take something ultra simple, turn to size and thread up a stud. 1Parting tool face off, zero dro, 2 new tool? turn dia, 3 new tool or parting recess the end, 4 *new tool specific chamfer tool Int or External. 5 New tool thread then back on to 6th change parting tool = 6 tool changes.
Becomes problematic when angles are required which now can only be done by making up a specific form tool or for relief on cutters to clear obstacles or create more rigidity by angling certain cutters inwards.

Genuine Dickson and the better clones have a vertical through-hole in one corner, this allows the engineer who knows what it's for to make and fit a locking pin with associated shallow indexing holes in the base under it, any well designed QCTP will have a facility for quickly returning to a known zero position.

I can move my front and rear Dickson QCTPs to any angle I like and then lock them back at 90 degrees with the locking pins.

It did take me a while before I realised what the hole was for

Worth looking for s/h holders. I picked up a job lot of 4 or 5 Dickson holders literally from the back of a lorry at a local steam fair for £5 the lot! I wasn't sure they'd fit my base but at that price it was worth a put! But turned out exact size.