Tool Post on Order

Post date: Aug 5, 2013 2:44:06 PM

Haven't updated this in a while. This project got back-burnered due to other priorities like a new Beetleweight, fence for the yard, birth of my first child, etc. Mostly I've been amassing parts in the meantime. Found a cool industrial lathe table on Craigslist for $25 (bonus: came with some wood-turning tools for my wood lathe project) and got a couple of link-belts from Harbor Freight.

The last major piece of the puzzle is I just ordered this tool post from Grizzly. It's basically the same Chinese-import quick-change tool post sold by a bunch of other vendors, but it's the only one packaged with a drill chuck that fits the boring bar holder. I'm hoping it will work as an alternate to a tail stock drill chuck, at least in the short(er) term. Why? Because my tail stock has a Jarno taper and, best I can tell, no one makes drill arbors with a Jarno taper any longer. Maybe, just maybe I can machine one later on down the road, but I want to be able to center-drill now.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can machine the T-nut to fit my cross-slide...