Jeeter
XS650 Addict
Ok, dating myself here, I used South Bends in High School machine shop for two complete grade years. It was a time when there was actually a sign hanging up in the lathe area that said "NO POT PIPES".
Gotta love the 70s! Other than that and the occasional bushing or odd whatsys, it's been a few (ahem) years since I used one. And I've never had to outfit one, they've always been fully set up when I used them previously.
My most recent addition to my shop is this Bolton CQ9332 lathe.

Chinese made, 1.5" spindle bore, MT5 spindle taper, 24" between centers, 12.625 swing over bed, 6.75" swing over table, 12 speed, 2HP 115/230v motor. It weighs in around 650 pounds. Hmm .. that's about it, if anyone needs more info I have it. But this should give an idea of how much lathe I'm talking about here.
I've done some looking, and I see there are these quick change tool setups. Nice, but I don't know that I need to go that sophisticated, I learned on the standard single tool post ...


Is there a way to use the toolholder in that picture with the four way tool post? Ooops, getting ahead of myself here.
My lathe has this four-way locking/rotating tool post that could be used to great advantage for setting up cutting/facing/knurling tools while leaving one available as the "as needed" stage. I've seen the Phase II setups, but I'm not sure I need to go that far. I can see how a sizeable investment could be made into that whole Phase II rig, depending on how crazy you went with extra toolbars.
But do I really need all of that? Is there a way to exploit the four way tool post my lathe has without junking it and installing a Phase II? My problem is ignorance, and the fact that there are SO MANY OPTIONS these days. For instance I am as sure as I can be that I have no need for the replaceable/multi-tipped carbide bits.
** I have a tool bit grinder in my shop, and I think I can reteach myself a good clean "60" again. It's not a Rockwell or anything, it's just a Harbor Freight unit that I've outfitted with aluminum oxide cup-wheels already. It's an actual tool grinder, not a bench grinder with a fine wheel on it. So I have that going on.


** I have a fairly decent collection of mics ranging from standard 1", 2", and 4".
** Four calipers/indicators (2 digi and 2 dial, I prefer the dial indicators by far.)
** Full set of telescopic bore gauges.
** Magnetic base dial indicator.
The lathe itself came with the basics, 6" 3-jaw chuck, internal jaws, external jaws, two dead centers (small and large), and some tools. It also came with a boatload of gears for thread cutting in SAE and metric. I also bought a new drill chuck for it as well as a MT3 to JT3 taper adaptor for the tailstock. I ended up buying two of these ~no namer~ 16mm chucks due to how small they can go down to. They are rated at 1mm, but they actually close down to nearly zero. Uh, and not only that they were a bargain at $11 bucks each. I bought the two so that I have matching/interchangeable chucks for use with the lathe and my 22x17 2hp "ZX45" mill.
I've already changed out the nasty oil that it was shipped with and replaced it with DTE 24 Hydraulic fluid (specifically Chevron Rando HD ISO 32). I've also begun oiling all of the service dimples. I also discovered a very cool ~stuffs~ to use on the power feed gears ... PJ1 Chain Lube! It's designed to resist sling-off and has this marvelous webbing property. I can see the webs forming across all of the gear meshpoints while the lathe is running. And it just does not drip or sling off. Great stuff for those gears, or at least it seems to be for this particular lathe. They're certainly becoming less noisy.
Between my brother and I we've been slowly breaking in the lathe. We run it in one gear, roughly 30 minutes forward and 30 minutes reverse, recording the amperage draw and the main bearing temperature at the main housing just to give us a standard point of reference for heat readings. As we run it in more gears and put more time on it, the amperage draw is decreasing (as expected) since the lathe is breaking in and loosening up. The gearhead temp is decreasing as well as noise levels.
Ok, so here's me looking for suggestions on which tooling setup to use and any other suggestions on this. Thanks everyone.

My most recent addition to my shop is this Bolton CQ9332 lathe.

Chinese made, 1.5" spindle bore, MT5 spindle taper, 24" between centers, 12.625 swing over bed, 6.75" swing over table, 12 speed, 2HP 115/230v motor. It weighs in around 650 pounds. Hmm .. that's about it, if anyone needs more info I have it. But this should give an idea of how much lathe I'm talking about here.
I've done some looking, and I see there are these quick change tool setups. Nice, but I don't know that I need to go that sophisticated, I learned on the standard single tool post ...


Is there a way to use the toolholder in that picture with the four way tool post? Ooops, getting ahead of myself here.
My lathe has this four-way locking/rotating tool post that could be used to great advantage for setting up cutting/facing/knurling tools while leaving one available as the "as needed" stage. I've seen the Phase II setups, but I'm not sure I need to go that far. I can see how a sizeable investment could be made into that whole Phase II rig, depending on how crazy you went with extra toolbars.
But do I really need all of that? Is there a way to exploit the four way tool post my lathe has without junking it and installing a Phase II? My problem is ignorance, and the fact that there are SO MANY OPTIONS these days. For instance I am as sure as I can be that I have no need for the replaceable/multi-tipped carbide bits.
** I have a tool bit grinder in my shop, and I think I can reteach myself a good clean "60" again. It's not a Rockwell or anything, it's just a Harbor Freight unit that I've outfitted with aluminum oxide cup-wheels already. It's an actual tool grinder, not a bench grinder with a fine wheel on it. So I have that going on.


** I have a fairly decent collection of mics ranging from standard 1", 2", and 4".
** Four calipers/indicators (2 digi and 2 dial, I prefer the dial indicators by far.)
** Full set of telescopic bore gauges.
** Magnetic base dial indicator.
The lathe itself came with the basics, 6" 3-jaw chuck, internal jaws, external jaws, two dead centers (small and large), and some tools. It also came with a boatload of gears for thread cutting in SAE and metric. I also bought a new drill chuck for it as well as a MT3 to JT3 taper adaptor for the tailstock. I ended up buying two of these ~no namer~ 16mm chucks due to how small they can go down to. They are rated at 1mm, but they actually close down to nearly zero. Uh, and not only that they were a bargain at $11 bucks each. I bought the two so that I have matching/interchangeable chucks for use with the lathe and my 22x17 2hp "ZX45" mill.
I've already changed out the nasty oil that it was shipped with and replaced it with DTE 24 Hydraulic fluid (specifically Chevron Rando HD ISO 32). I've also begun oiling all of the service dimples. I also discovered a very cool ~stuffs~ to use on the power feed gears ... PJ1 Chain Lube! It's designed to resist sling-off and has this marvelous webbing property. I can see the webs forming across all of the gear meshpoints while the lathe is running. And it just does not drip or sling off. Great stuff for those gears, or at least it seems to be for this particular lathe. They're certainly becoming less noisy.
Between my brother and I we've been slowly breaking in the lathe. We run it in one gear, roughly 30 minutes forward and 30 minutes reverse, recording the amperage draw and the main bearing temperature at the main housing just to give us a standard point of reference for heat readings. As we run it in more gears and put more time on it, the amperage draw is decreasing (as expected) since the lathe is breaking in and loosening up. The gearhead temp is decreasing as well as noise levels.
Ok, so here's me looking for suggestions on which tooling setup to use and any other suggestions on this. Thanks everyone.