The Home Machinist!

So yesterday the index plates for my rotary table came as did the parallel set, ( I do not have to use keystock anymore), and a depth micrometer came.. All of this stuff from grizzly. I am getting to where I have a good collection of accessories, now I just need more cutters....and more cutters..

I am not sure I needed the index plates for anything I will be doing, I mostly bought them because for sure if I waited until I needed them they would no longer be available...

Hello Allen, so what do you think of the grizzly tooling ? I'm trying to figure out how much of their stuff I want to invest in. I'm not sure what the difference between china "brand a" and china "brand b" is, for example I have Phase 2 QCTP for my lathes and they seem fine to me, I also have some toolholders for them from Grizz and some from CDCO the ones from Grizz appear to be of higher quality than the ones from CDCO but maybe not as nice as the PHase 2 holders.
I also have a Grizzly 12" rotary table and it seems to work fine, haven't bought the dividing plates yet. I think I'll hold out and get a dividing head. Main reason is the weight of the 12" table. I think I'd rather set up a small dividing head.

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"...that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,that among these are life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Thomas Jefferson
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." Ben Franklin

I bet a 12 inch rotary is a good lift from the floor.
In response to quality, I have a bunch of chinese stuff, and some Indian stuff. Really the only things I have bought that I would have liked better ones were lathe chucks and mill vices.. I am just a hobby guy who got into this as I hated watching tv in the evenings... I appreciate the chinese stuff as it makes a lot of tools accessable to those of us who could not afford to stock a shop with brand name stuff. Imagine having to tool up a mill with all brand name collets, cutters, rotary, index, parallels, clamps, vice, measuring tools, indicators, etc. it is the difference between a few thousand dollars and well over ten thousand. I am ok with a slight comprimise in quality on some items, plus, the lower quality adds some challenge, in finding a way to make it work.

Yea I agree, I definately can't buy all new brand name accessories. I'm within driving distance of Grizz, If I really want to visit the store, although it's cheaper to have small stuff shipped. The thing I was getting at is it's hard to decide which imports to put your Hard earned dollars into. As in the example of the toolholders the AXA size from CDCO are only $8 I have maybe 3 or 4 of them and although they work you can tell they aren't machined as nice as the Phase 2 holders, one of them will only fit on the one dvetail of the toolpost. As far as lifting the 12" rotary table I store it on a cart with wheels, lower the Knee and slide it onto a piece of cardboard to protect the table.
Back in '93 or '94 my wife forgot to mail in the cable bill and they unhooked it, best "mistake " she ever made, we haven't had it hooked back up ever since.

_________________
"...that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,that among these are life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Thomas Jefferson
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." Ben Franklin

I have an 8 inch rotary with a 8 inch 4 jaw chuck on it most of the time, I store it on an oiled plank on the floor, and I leave a 3/4" bar in it that is about 18" long that sticks out both sides. I tighten the chuck on it so I have a handle, Storing it on the floor is not the best in some ways, but at least it does not have far to fall..