[Jonsmach]

I am a couple of months into being a TL2 owner and am getting things set up and figured out. I have been reading the thread on tooling a turret (scary)which brings up my question. Has anybody mounted a Dorian manual turret on a TL2 that might be willing to share some pictures / advice? I picked up a S-NVIT8-100 Dorian set off of ebay for so cheap I couldn't pass it up. It uses 1" tools and seems a bit big for the TL2. At a minimum I will have to remove some of the splash guarding and make a base for it. It has a 2.5" center height and the turret is about 8.25" across the flats. I have a four position Dorian quadra toolpost that came with the machine which has so far met all of my needs, so I am open to any advice even if it is to put the turret back on Ebay.
Jon

[Donkey Hotey]

Congrats on the purchase. I was the guy bidding against you. I wondered what his reserve was. It was the second or third time he listed it. I only wanted the tool holders since I already have the 3/4" version for my TL-1.

No suggestions from me though. I haven't mounted mine either. I bought it because it was hard to get a regular toolpost to repeat. I kept getting small chips in the dovetail or wouldn't torque the handle the same each time. It would be perfect for three parts, then I'd miss something and blow it by a couple of thou.

Things stopping me have been the removal of the guarding (as you've already noted). It also looks like it will clank into the top splash guard. I need ER-16 shanks and (of course) the boring holders I wanted from the toolpost you bought.

I'll install it when I need to make hundreds of parts. For right now, it's not worth the hassle (for me).

[Jonsmach]

At least I wasn't bidding against you. Got mine on buy it now for $350 with 6 days to go a while back....
Haven't had any problems with the Dorian Quadra repeating, maybe a function of the fact that you don't change the tool blocks so often, just index the main block. Usually can only get 3 tool blocks going since they tend to interfere with each other. Am going to have to look into some gang tooling setups as discussed in one of the other threads.
I will post pictures if I get around to mounting the turret but am still hoping for some pictures / advice.
Thanks,
Jon

[t.lewis]

Check with your Haas sales rep.We bought a TL2 and the salesman suggested Dorian tool turret as an option they would install versus Haas turret. We puchased the haas turret. They maybe able to direct you to someone else that has one mounted. North Dakota State School of Science has a dorian mounted on a tl1.

[Jonsmach]

I went ahead and mounted My Dorian manual turret on my TL2 since I had a run of a hundred or so parts for which it seemed ideal. I carved out a 5" x 6" x 3.075" block of 4340 into a base with a T slot for the Dorian. I ground it top and bottom. The turret fits on the machine nicely except for the spray guarding. Standard sized tools clear the control when homing, but I will have to remember to check if I use larger ones. I installed a 20 degree wedge of aluminum up near the hinge of the chuck guard to keep it above the turret when closed. (I have the older style of chuck guard) I took the original spray guard near the crank handles and spaced it out from the lathe by an additional 5 inches with a piece of 1/4 aluminum plate and them filled in with some light aluminum sheet. I haven't made that part permanent yet as I am still waiting to see if needs further modification. So far I have tooled up the turret and run a few parts and I really like the way it works. I am going to have to find a good source for 1.5" OD tooling bushings and maybe some ER20 collet holders to grab various tools. While I was modifying things I replaced the tailstock handle with a larger one which makes the odd drilling job much nicer. I had an old 10" handwheel, but an 8" would probably be nicer. I have attached a few pictures and will post more feedback when I have more experience with it.
Jon

[hercules]

Thanks for posting the pics. I have been looking at buying the same thing. So how large a diameter part can you OD turn with that on there.

[Jonsmach]

Hi Hercules,
The way I have it set up I can turn an OD of about 10". If I hang the turret out on the block a bit I could probably get 12" or a bit more.
Jon

[Geof]

To some extent with a TL2 the maximum diameter you can turn is limited by the motor torque not by the clearance to the cross-slide or tools; 10" diameter in steel is pushing it unless you have a lot of time to take little cuts at a slow feed.

[hercules]

Yeah good point Geof.

10 to 12" Jon? OK thanks. That is very helpful.

[hercules]

Hey Jonsmach are you still happy with the Dorian set up? I found a used one that I can pick up for $300 so I am seriously thinking of giving it a go. It is old but looks to be in real good shape. A shop in town took it off a lathe that got sold many years ago and it has just been sitting on the shelf ever since. I just happened to see it sitting there when I was picking up some bar stock from them. Anyway I am just looking for feedback now that you have had yours mounted for a few weeks to make sure you are happy with it, can hold tolerances Ok etc. Any significant downsides that you have run into? Also did you find a good place to pick up the tooling bushings? The one I found uses 3/4 stick tools and has four 1.25" boring bar holders but no bushings with it so I would need a supply too. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Jonsmach]

Hercules,
Yes, You should pick it up. I am very happy with mine. I have just finished a short run of twenty small airplane parts out of 303 stainless. I used 6 tools and the Dorian held tolerance very nicely on a bore with a +/- 0.0005 dimension. Loading the turret properly was a puzzle as the parts were short and close to the chuck and I used two boring bars and a drill. It is way faster than changing blocks on my Dorian Quadra post. Thought about trying to get the quadra post on the back side of the spindle as a secondary but the cross slide is really not set up for that. The only draw back to the turret is that if you have a one off job that requires tools not set up in the turret it is harder to deal with than just dropping a different holder on the post. Here at the shop I mostly do one of a kind or very short runs of parts, but the turret would really shine on a small production basis. As for tool bushings, I have bought a couple off of Ebay and would like to have a few more. I had to bush out a boring bar with a shrink fit sleeve on this last run. For three hundred I would buy another for my manual lathe. I did see one on ebay a week or two ago for 400. Don't know if it sold or not. New, I think that they are $3k plus. Let me know how it works for you.
Jon
2006 TM-2 and TL-2

[hercules]

OK that is helpful. Thank you. I guess for a few hundred bucks I probably can't go to far wrong. I saw one on ebay a while back as well and I think it sold for somewhere in the $300 - $400 range so I guess if I don't like it I can resell it without much risk. Making the riser block to mount it on would be the only wasted time/money and that's not much. I am pretty sure I have a left over chunk in the recycle pile that will be big enough for that.

Thanks again for the help and advice. I will swing over to the neighbor's shop and pick it up on Monday. I'm traveling the rest of the week so I won't get it mounted right away but I will post a pic once I do.

[hercules]

Well I picked it up today. From a quick look it seems that the riser block that I need to make to mount it on needs to be ground to exactly the right height so that the tools are right on center? I see no decent way to adjust center height otherwsie right?

[Jonsmach]

That's what I did. Measured a lot and finally got brave and cut the block then ground it top and bottom. Some of my 1" tools don't come out exactly on center, but most of them are great. I had to shim one for my first project with some brass shim stock. Setting the boring bars to center height was a pain, because I couldn't use the center in the tailstock like I usually do with the normal toolpost. Had to grab something in the chuck and turn it to a point. Anybody have a good method for setting boring bars? I am sure there is a better way, it just doesn't occur to me. I guess a height gauge for the cross slide would work since I spent so much time measuring the center height from it.
Sure like the turret though. Wish I had the powered one that Dorian makes...

[Vern Smith]

This is an interesting thread. I have a Haas GT-10 with the 8 tool turret which works great and is plenty fast. I did some eyeball vernier measurements and the height from the C/L of the turret to the cross slide is roughly 6.4" and that includes a 1.7" riser block. I have no idea what the like kind dimensions are on the TL's but I'll bet this could be bolted onto a TL with either a thicker riser or grinding down the one Haas supplies.

If the Dorian manual is 2 or 3 thousand I'm sure their automatic has to be around 4 and then you have to integrate it with your Haas controller somehow. I checked their web site but there are no posted prices. On the other hand, if you could figure out what controller and wiring harness to buy from Haas I would think the electrical hook up and software part of the job would almost be plug and play.

Gosh, everything would even be the same color.

Vern

[hercules]

This is an interesting thread. I have a Haas GT-10 with the 8 tool turret which works great and is plenty fast. I did some eyeball vernier measurements and the height from the C/L of the turret to the cross slide is roughly 6.4" and that includes a 1.7" riser block. I have no idea what the like kind dimensions are on the TL's but I'll bet this could be bolted onto a TL with either a thicker riser or grinding down the one Haas supplies.

If the Dorian manual is 2 or 3 thousand I'm sure their automatic has to be around 4 and then you have to integrate it with your Haas controller somehow. I checked their web site but there are no posted prices. On the other hand, if you could figure out what controller and wiring harness to buy from Haas I would think the electrical hook up and software part of the job would almost be plug and play.

Gosh, everything would even be the same color.

Vern

Yeah Dorian makes the "Powerdex" auto indexing toolholder in 8 and 12 tool models and that sells for around $9,500. I talked to their tech guys and they said just call Haas to get the electrics to hook it up and the parameteers to activate it. But when I checked in with Haas on what would be needed to connect it to the TL-3 they said that it would take another $10,000 to $11,000 to get the necessary components and wiring to get it connected. That didn't make any sense to me at all since the direct from Haas auto indexing toolpost option on a TL-3 (complete electrical components and the changer) is less than half that. But one thing I know, for me adding the Dorian wasn't worth $20k. For that price it would be best for me to just sell the TL-3 and get a slant bed. Dorian also makes the "Smartdex" that has it's own control but I never looked into that. For now I'll get this used manual 8 tool indexer mounted on my TL-1 and see how it goes. For $300 it is worth the try. All I have left to do is to grind the riser block to 2.8065" and mount it all up.

[Vern Smith]

I'm not doubting your decision. it's hard to go wrong for $300.00. My post was mostly an inquiry into the feasibility of the project. It does not sound like Haas likes the idea. Good for you for doing your home work.

[hercules]

Hmmm, I must have sounded defensive. Didn't mean to at all. My bad if I did.

The real surprise to me was that Haas offers the 8 tool auto indexer for the TL-3 as a standard option. So after owning the TL-3W for a year I decided to upgrade to the auto indexer. But Haas refused to sell me that option for the TL-3W. They say they don't have a chuck guard designed that will fit the "W" with that changer on it so they won't sell it for that particular lathe. I pointed out that I can easily make a guard but they still refused. They referred me direct to Dorian implying it was the essentially the same part. Dorian was great, answered all my questions etc and then referred me back to Haas for the interconnecting electrics and parameters. But then when I went back to Haas they quoted me more money for the interconnecting cabling than they charge for the entire set up on the TL-3. Couldn't quite figure the reasoning on that one out so I just gave up and decided to try the manual option on my small lathe to see how I like it.

Once I get the riser block ground and everything mounted I'll post some pics. I'm going to try designing the riser so that I can mount either the Victory quick change tool block on it or the Dorian 8 position manual. I think I have an idea that will work.

[Radian Racing]

Chuck guard and safety must be the main concern for Haas. They have to prove that they have delivered a safe option to prevent law suits. That is what I think.