Use an axa tool post instead of a bxa?

[shawnba67]

My lathe measures 1 1/8" from compound to center. This would call for a bxa sized quick change tool post but my intended work will almost never exceed 2" diameter and i have a coffee can full of 1/2" and less tooling already. Ive heard hinted online that the smaller post is a benifit if the work is small, but my center height is pretty tall! Any advice on which way to go? Gunsmithing is the sole reason i bought a lathe and its the only thing i plan on doing with it.

[cwheel]

I have a Birmingham 14X40 for my small shop at home and have run it for the last 20 years. When I bought the lathe new and was shopping for a tool post, I took both a AXA and a BXA home from work and gave them a try. BXA was just a little on the large side and worked right at the bottom of it's travel. AXA was more handy, easier to work around and has cheaper tooling, and worked closer to the center of the slide travel. With smaller lathes having less than 3 hp. you will never take cuts that benefit from the larger tool post size. Quality of the Aloris post, or a KDK was much higher than the imports available at the time made the choice easy, I went with a AXA and never looked back or regretted the decision. As time went on and I bought more slides for it, Aloris slides were always available and reasonably priced and high quality products. Now there are higher quality imports available, but I still think Aloris is the best bang for the buck out there. My opinion is the BXA might end up being to large.
Chris