[...]
The Dickson operates slightly differently. Mine can hold three
different tool-holder blocks at one time (three faces), and I believe
some can do four or more. The tool-holder block is dropped onto a
vacant side, into the slots on the tool-post, and the tool-holder
drops down until the adjusting collar/ring comes to the stop/lock cam
slightly above the tool-post top. Without a pix to send you, it is a
bit difficult to explain what that is. Anyway, when the tool-holder
is in position, the individual locking cam is turned, and it forces a
cam/piston IN to lock the block in place, and at the same time grabs
above and below the adjusting collar/ring to REALLY set the tool
height to the place you adjusted it to at some previous time. This
allows as many cutting tools as you can fit without interfering with
one another.


The "interfering with each other" is the problem. I have a
Dickson style which is smaller -- for an Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC lathe,
and it has only two stations, but I can still only use one at a time.
One station is for turning, the other for boring and facing, so the
tools point in directions to cross and interfere with each other.

I guess that with a three-station toolpost, you could mount two
tools on the opposite stations, leaving the boring/facing station empty.
I'm not sure how useful that would be, however.


I do a job occasionally in which I save some machining steps by having 2
toolholders in the Dickson, one slung so one tool passes slightly under
the other. The part has a recess in one end and a shoulder the other, I
use a trepanning tool to form the recess and shoulder, in separate ops,
and so bring the tool in along the lathe axis. I have a chamfering tool
slung under the trepanning tool so it cuts a chamfer on the OD on the
face with the recess and at the edge of the shoulder. Takes little time
to set-up and saves quite a bit of time compared to swapping out the
toolholders for the trepanning and chamfering ops.

I thought you last post of 5:39 on the machine screw thread excellent
and summed up everything very well with regards the general feeling with
the facts or lack of them given by the OP. I probably shan't make any
further contribution there as the OP seems to be unwilling to clarify
the breakage situation.

If you still really want to see one, I'll take some pix of mine and
sent them to you.


There have been recent discussions of this very style, with
links posted pointing to images, so just go back and look at the series
of articles about a Clausing 5914 lathe (which the poster received with
a Dickson style toolpost -- much beat up as it turns out).

Enjoy,
DoN.