120034 Tooling Package Mini Lathe Quick Change Tool Post & Holders Multifid Tool Holder

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I like it

I bought this for my Harbor Freight Mini Lathe, fits perfect, it works great, gave 4 stars because the handle is weak, be careful not to man handle the Handle, it uses a Grub screw as a stud to hold it to the hub, the grub screw is pretty weak and will break if you put to much pressure on it , I will probably make a new steel handle for it, other than that, it works good, adjustable height is good and the bit mounts hold pretty good, it does make changing bits a lot easier, but you might want to do some mods to your own preferences.

For what it is, it's great. I have an Aloris on my South Bend and I really like it. I do know what and how a good tool post works. When I "needed" a small lathe for clock work I bought a used Sherline and it came with no tooling. When I originally installed this tool post, as many have reported it was not very rigid. I saw where it was rocking and built a base that holds the TP to the Sherline's cross slide much more firmly. Made a massive improvement. Took it apart and lubed the pistons and cams. It feels just fine now. If you want to throw "blue 9's" across the shop this isn't for you. If you want to cut aluminium, brass, and occasionally 12L14 it'll work just fine. Light cuts, watch your feeds and speeds. The cost to replace my Aloris in now ~ $1500. This is less than $50. IMHO a heck of a value.

I'm going to give these tool posts three stars based mostly on value. These are not high quality or professional tool posts and I wouldn't expect them to be for the price. I am writing a review after receiving my second one today. I ordered my first one about a year ago and I was happy enough with it that I bought a second one for another lathe I have. The first one worked fine right out of the box. Everything locked down as it should and I didn't have to modify it in any way. The tool holders are not a snug fit in the dovetails which makes accurate repeatability impossible without shimming the cut in dovetails on the tool holders. I wouldn't shim the tool post because the tool holders aren't all exactly the same dimensions in the dovetails. I knew all of this and still ordered a second one because they work well enough for my purposes (I mostly turn aluminum, Acetal and HDPE plastics). I don't think these tool posts would be rigid enough for someone who mostly works with steel stock, but I do use them occasionally for steel work with light cuts. Now that I own a second one, I can see where some of the bad reviews come from. These aren't consistently made the same. My first one worked fine for general purpose/light duty work without any modifications. It had a nice flat finish. The second one I received was almost useless without modifications. The presser pins in it were too long and it was impossible to use about half of the tool holders that came with it (remember, the tool holder dovetails aren't all the exact same dimensions). I had to face off enough material on the presser pins in order for them to retract enough to allow the tool holders to slide down into position. 10 mins of easy work and that problem was resolved. The finish on the second one I received has a rough texture to it which isn't as nice as the flat finish on the first one I received. I also had to file down some imperfections on the tool post along the outside of the dovetails that would cause the tool holders to get hung up. On the plus side, the tool holders on the new kit actually fit better on the tool post dovetails than the first kit I received. Still not a great fit, but better. I wouldn't necessarily recommend these to someone simply because there seems to be a lack of consistency in the way they are manufactured. There may be some sent out that are even worse than what I have received, It wouldn't surprise me a bit. If you are willing to spend a little time working out the bugs in one if need be and aren't doing particularly demanding work, these may be an economical solution for you. I'd take a chance on a third one if the need ever came up again for yet another tool post, but if it came in needing more work than what I had to do with the newest one I received I would probably send it back and try my luck again. These things are probably a crapshoot at best. You may get lucky like I did on the first one I bought, you may get by with a few minutes of work to get the bugs out of one like I did with my second one or you may even get something worse that needs to be sent back for a refund or exchange like other reviews suggest.