TOS Tracer attachment questions

gbent said:

You don't show the valve. I believe it is under the piece on the right side. It will have a hole to hold a stylus. When the tracer is turned on, a movement on the stylus should retract the slide. The stylus will have a sliding surface with the same angles and radius as your toolbit. A drill blank or dowel pin makes a good blank for a stylus.

The template will mount under the stylus. You don't show enough to know whether it is flat templates only or will also accept shafts.

The angle of the tracer to the lathe centerline depends on what you are trying to turn. As shown, it is set to turn straight shafts or shafts with slight taper or steps. I have never set a tracer up in this manner. I have always used a tracer with the back of the tracer angled 45 degrees away from the headstock. This method allows you to turn both diameters and shoulders/faces. The drawback is it leaves extra material on the trailing side of undercuts, where the tool needs to cut in.

The difficulty with the tracer valve slide unit on the backside of the lathe is you have to reach across the workpiece to adjust the final size. Size is irrespective of the cross slide setting, it is all in the relationship between the stylus and the template. The relationship is changed by the adjustment knob on the slide for the valve. Roughing can be done with the cross slide. The good part about the tracer being on the back side of the spindle is you can leave it in place when not using it.

Check the oil and power it up. Exercise the valve and see what happens. I expect it to run without the lathe spindle turning.

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Industrial Revol said:

Hey,
I bought a TOS lathe equipped with a TOS tracer attachment and I have no idea how it works. I have seen some on youtube so I understand how to use it but not how to set it up, hydraulic settings, max angles, and other nuances that goes along with it. would you guys happen to know where a manual or resource could be found? any advice would be appreciated.

Link to some pictures, can get more if needed.
Tracer- Imgur: The magic of the Internet
More- Tracer-more - Album on Imgur
Thank you.

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What preversions have you performed with YOUR tracer, lately? "

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gbent said:

You don't show the valve. I believe it is under the piece on the right side. It will have a hole to hold a stylus. When the tracer is turned on, a movement on the stylus should retract the slide. The stylus will have a sliding surface with the same angles and radius as your toolbit. A drill blank or dowel pin makes a good blank for a stylus.

The template will mount under the stylus. You don't show enough to know whether it is flat templates only or will also accept shafts.

The angle of the tracer to the lathe centerline depends on what you are trying to turn. As shown, it is set to turn straight shafts or shafts with slight taper or steps. I have never set a tracer up in this manner. I have always used a tracer with the back of the tracer angled 45 degrees away from the headstock. This method allows you to turn both diameters and shoulders/faces. The drawback is it leaves extra material on the trailing side of undercuts, where the tool needs to cut in.

The difficulty with the tracer valve slide unit on the backside of the lathe is you have to reach across the workpiece to adjust the final size. Size is irrespective of the cross slide setting, it is all in the relationship between the stylus and the template. The relationship is changed by the adjustment knob on the slide for the valve. Roughing can be done with the cross slide. The good part about the tracer being on the back side of the spindle is you can leave it in place when not using it.

Check the oil and power it up. Exercise the valve and see what happens. I expect it to run without the lathe spindle turning.

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tdmidget said:

He may be limited on the angle since it appears that the control valve is rigidly mounted to the tracer itself. The ones I have run need to have the valve indicated to the template to have any accuracy in the adjustment.
H

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thermite said:

Good to see this pop-up. We may be heading into "the year of the tracer" on PM, as this is about the fourth "project" to appear this calendar quarter.

We "newbies" have flushed-out several of our brethren still using theirs and "BFD, why would we not?"

My quest is simple enough. Taper attachment function with fringe benefits!

HBX-360 left the factory as a tracer, still has the rear mount pad, rails for holding templates, and even the inbuilt hydraulic tanks and pump.

Simple creatures, actually. Just borderline insane as to how precise their controlling valve needs to be. As it was, and can be once again, if not "still is". Rebuild services exist if DIY seals and such - or just don't f**k-with - are not good enough.

All else is rather basic, does what it looks like it does.

Acquire, then stick to the ToS manual in the beginning. There are just enough differences in implementation, several other types, to confuse.

Once comfortable it works as it should, several among us will need to recover methodology of setup and use "in general" - dead-simple to elegantly clever.

Perhaps a thread one day later in the New Year of the sort:



Meanwhile, there are Ewes-toobs.

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Industrial Revol said:

It was actually another tracer question that reminded me that I needed to make this post since I need your wisdom because I know nothing about mine...

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