I received my quick change tool post from CDCO yesterday. I had ordered it on Friday 1/1/10 and it arrived yesterday, 1/4/10, via standard UPS ground delivery. So now I had to figure out how to mount it to the carriage on my Shoptask. (I realize that what I accomplished would be considered very basic in comparison to what I have seen on the site.) The threads on the QCTP stud are M14 x 1.5 and the mounting block was several inches to short. I rummaged around and was not able to find a chunk of metal to use as a spacer. I turned out that I could not see the forest for the trees because right in front of me was a block of steel that was exactly the correct size. The yellow block from my existing tool post was perfect for the job.
The only problem was the old tool post was threaded M12 x 1.75 and the new QCTP is M14 x 1.5. I then needed to adapt the two together. The easiest way to do this was to make a new stud with one end threaded M12 x 1.75 and the other end M14 x 1.5. Easier said than done.
I need to machine a stud about 6 inches long. It ended up taking about 12 of stock to do this. I cut the M12 thread 3 times before I got it right. I then threaded one end of the new stud properly. I practiced the M14 thread on a piece of scrap to make sure I had the correct dimensions. Finally I finished the new stud with good threads on both ends.
On the Shoptask, you have to manually swap out gears when you want to cut threads. The diagram supplied is not the best, so it took me a couple of tries to get it set up correctly. This is not the best picture, but you can see the gear train.
The black stud is the one that came with the QCTP, the silver stud is the one I made.
This is the completed product of my labor.
The only problem was the old tool post was threaded M12 x 1.75 and the new QCTP is M14 x 1.5. I then needed to adapt the two together. The easiest way to do this was to make a new stud with one end threaded M12 x 1.75 and the other end M14 x 1.5. Easier said than done.
I need to machine a stud about 6 inches long. It ended up taking about 12 of stock to do this. I cut the M12 thread 3 times before I got it right. I then threaded one end of the new stud properly. I practiced the M14 thread on a piece of scrap to make sure I had the correct dimensions. Finally I finished the new stud with good threads on both ends.
On the Shoptask, you have to manually swap out gears when you want to cut threads. The diagram supplied is not the best, so it took me a couple of tries to get it set up correctly. This is not the best picture, but you can see the gear train.
The black stud is the one that came with the QCTP, the silver stud is the one I made.
This is the completed product of my labor.
