I’m getting closer & closer to actually cutting metal with my Denford ORAC lathe retrofit project and am seeking some basic tooling knowledge from ye grizzled CNC lathe vets.
The ORAC is pretty small (8” swing) and has a small t-slot table on the carriage. It didn’t come with the turret option unfortunately. My plan is to bolt on an extension plate (5/8” x 4” x 10” ish steel) via the slots, install 1 AXA100 wedge QCTP in the normal location and either a 2nd identical QCTP on t’other end of the plate or make a parting blade holder to go on the end of the plate.
1) Do dual QCTP’s make sense in the real world or is that a waste of money on such a small lathe? I have one for the lathe now and would have to purchase a 2nd one if I go that route.
2) Do the tool table & offset features in Mach work pretty well in preventing crashes with dual tool holders? I can’t afford “real” lathe CAM at this time so I’ll be using the Wizards and doing some hand coding. I’m still reading and trying to get my head around tool tables, tip radius and the like.
3) Do any basic dual tool holder tips or hard earned lessons come to mind? I have a lot to learn and any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!