Quick change tooling

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Hi all,

I finally got round to taking a few snaps of some of my tailstock and lathe tool post quick change tooling. in my album if you want to view them all.

The tailstock tooling is made by Arrand engineering and it is beautifully made, I love using it as its so good at what it does. I don't do massive volume work but even setting up to do a short run of items is so much easier when I can just swap holders, moving from centre drill to live centre to morse taper drills and taps or dies.

The tool post is a genuine Swiss multifix which cost me an arm and a kidney but which again is a joy to use. I pick up holders as I find them and can always make use of them for some tooling. I can even leave the exotic stuff like spherical turning tools and knurls in place and set to centre height ready for immediate use.

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Some labour saving gadgetry

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks for posting the photos; especially the Arrand Tooling

The Multifix has long been a 'object of desire' but that Arrand tailstock tooling joins the list. [am I right in assuming it's a Breech Lock arrangement?]

… Such a pity that Arrand is no longer with us.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 29/01/2016 13:51:47

[Ian HewsonParticipant @ianhewson99641]

Hi

The fitting at the top left of the first pic is interesting, wonder how you fit dovetails at right angles in to the storage block?

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Only the faces are at right angles, the dovetail joins those faces directly, hence it slides

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Nice tooling kit Tractor man; …Like the multi fix system myself but have now a range of Dickson type holders… cuttings left in the tap ?

George.

[egaParticipant @ega]

Tractor man:

Thanks for the photos. I, too, would like to know the working principle of the Arrand tailstock tooling. Did it come with any drawings that you could share?

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Hi again. Yes cuttings left in the tap. I do try to be tidy but usually fail. Plus I use a tapping machine for most things and that’s clean. Honest.
The Arrand fitting is like a breech block I suppose, I will take some close ups of the mating faces.
The block is a piece of scrap I generated trying to replicate an impossible dovetail joint. Maybe the subject of a future thread.
Are arrand definitely gone? I know they were looking to sell the business. Mick

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

By the way I succeeded with the impossible dovetail and I belive Kwil has the answer but not explained as clearly as it needs for those who can’t see the solution . Mick

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

I like the look of the Arrand stuff but Google says it doesn't exist(!). How did you find it? Does it have some form of trade name?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Tractor man on 29/01/2016 15:13:48:
…
The Arrand fitting is like a breech block I suppose, I will take some close ups of the mating faces.
…
Are arrand definitely gone? I know they were looking to sell the business.

.

1. Thanks
2. I fear so, but would be delighted if wrong [provided of course that 'new Arrand' keeps the same people making the same quality products; and isn't just a sale of the Brand]

MichaelG.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

**LINK**

It is unclear whether they still exist, but they have never embraced the web so a phone call or letter may determine whether or not they are still extant. Very high quality stuff – I have a couple of their milling spindles and a boring head. i think the horizontal spindle that came with my Sharp mill was also an Arrand item but as they never seemed to mark anything it's hard to tell. The second milling spindle I bought was sold as home made!

Rod

[egaParticipant @ega]

Michael Gilligan:

"Breech Lock arrangement" – the lever does rather suggest this. Where's Ruby Loftus when you need her?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by ega on 29/01/2016 17:00:00:

Where's Ruby Loftus when you need her?

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

The best way I can describe the locking mechanism is that the tailstock tool holder has a circular hole with three lobes which mate with three similar holes on the tool carrier. Turning the handle takes the lobes of the holder behind the tool carrier ring, which is held from rotating by a silver steel pin. A thread mechanism advances the backplate of the tool holder a small amount to trap the tool carrier and hold it fast. A very stubby central taper ensures concentricity of the tool carrier and tailstock tool holder.

I will post a couple of photos to hopefully illustrate what I'm struggling to describe.

Mick

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Does that make it any clearer? very accurate machining required to get this thing to be any good at all.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks a lot for the extra photos, Mick

… Must keep an eye open for these !

I wouldn't have much hope of making them

MichaelG.

[egaParticipant @ega]

Tractor man:

Many thanks for taking the trouble to describe and illustrate the Arrand tooling.

My impression is that few of these were sold by the maker on account of the perceived high price and that fewer still are sold on by users because of their real worth. As to the difficulty of making, have you considered whether the individual carriers are too demanding for the ME to reproduce as opposed to the lever-operated holder which fits in the tailstock?

For many purposes this arrangement seems better than a tailstock turret.

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

Can you show the tailstock end? How is the rotating locking sleeve retained on the bit that fits into the M/T socket.

Regards Ian.

[Roger HeadParticipant @rogerhead16992]

Very interesting thanks Tman, I have two questions: (1) Can you explain the purpose of the three small 'half-moon' notches in the segments of the outer body, and (2) In your description you say 'A thread mechanism advances the backplate of the tool holder a small amount to trap the tool carrier and hold it fast'. Can you explain this further / show a photo, please? I had imagined that the three tongues on the outer body (the part with the handle) 'cammed' or wedged behind the three wings on the tool holder to lock it solidly onto the taper. I could imagine a threaded ring on the main body that would be run up against the rear of the outer body to prevent it releasing through vibration.

Or is the fit so precise that there is no 'wedging' action, yet achieves sufficient rigidity?

Thanks, Roger

Edited By Roger Head on 30/01/2016 13:31:42

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Very neat.

I guess that the lever operated ring moves forward to clamp the accessory, as well as turning it with the pin?

Doesn't look impossible to copy.

Neil

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

It appears to me that the action is similar to the camlock pull together system.

The taper on the rear of the holder fits into the socket on the adaptor. The pin fits in one of the three holes shown to prevent rotation of the taper. The locking ring rotates the 3 wings over the matching 3 wings of the tool holder and at the same time, by means of an internal thread pulls it all up tight. The wings are not cams but merely overlapping matching fingers.??

As regards the 3 half moons could these be to do with a holding jig connected with the assembly of the adaptor, providing a certain/accurate non rotating positioning.?

Edited By KWIL on 30/01/2016 16:11:43

[Roger HeadParticipant @rogerhead16992]

KWIL, if it is a thread that draws the toolholder into lock, the pitch and timing of the thread would have to be spot-on, because there is very little rotational tolerance for the 'locked' position. It would also seem that the thread would have to be LH, because the 'RELEASE' action is towards the operator.

Hmmm, thinking about it, the thread timing wouldn't be a critical problem, you would just need to make sure the main taper is installed in the tailstock barrel at a suitable rotational angle. That angle, and the pitch, would still need to be accurate so that the locked position had the 'wings' suitably engaged.

It sure looks like a handy device to get away from all the barrel-cranking / tailstock-moving to clear a large taper when changing tools.

Roger

EDIT. Looking at the last of the three pics, it appears that there is a weld seam running around the bottom of the uppermost of the 'wings' on the toolholder. Part of the normal construction, or repair of an over-stressed holder?

Edited By Roger Head on 31/01/2016 00:25:46

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

Just a thought, but the late JA Radford, a friend and contemporary of George Thomas, published a design which gives a similar effect to the Arrand quick change toolholder. He called it a "quick-change toolholder for the lathe tailstock". It's in his book "Improvements and Accessories for your Lathe" and the design was originally published in ME in about the late 1960s or early 70s. It's intended for home shop construction and is Myford sized. It uses a different method of attachment, using a dovetail slide, reminscent of a "Dickson" type Q/C holder, at right angles to the the lathe centre line. The toolholders, of which he describes many types, lift/slide vertically out of the mounting block so requiring no winding back of the tailstock, just like the Arrand type, Might be easier to make, – did we decide if Arrand are still extant?

[Author]

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