Thoughts on choosing workshop equipment

[Boris-Ludwig]

Are any of you pen turners using ER collets 25,32 or 40?

[richardandtracy]

I almost exclusively use ER32 collets. It covers a good range, with the largest size (20mm) being the largest diameter that's reasonable for a pen. My set covers 6 to 20mm. For smaller toolholding I use ER11. I now have collet holders for the lathe headstock (MT4), tailstock & milling head (MT3), drill press & rotary table (MT2) and mill (R8). Bought direct from China, I've never spent more than £20, and had more like £13, as I did 3 weeks ago for the R8 one.

 

There is a problem with square blanks, though. So I made a two jaw lathe dog that fits in the largest collet and has a centred point for the work. Then two screws clamp in from either side to hold and drive the work. The largest I can go up to on this is about 1" square.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[Inspector]

I have an ER32 chuck (Beall) for the 12 x 20 Wood Lathe. My Metal Lathe is bigger (13 x 37) and there are no ER collet chucks readily available, so for it I have a 5C collet chuck that fits the D1-5 spindle.

 

Pete

[Boris-Ludwig]

Do you blokes find the ER collets mark the work pieces less than a C5?

 

I have a Southbend D 1-4 spindle with a taper of .602 per inch slope which is the same slope as MT3 but mine is larger. So I use C5 collets.

 

 

Almost all my collets are used but in very good condition, some of the large expanding ones or the step collets are new but they have very crisp edges and on those and emergency collets I put a very small radius to be a bit more part friendly. However, I see ER collets seem to have blunter edges so I'm wondering if they are more suitable for holding plastics and softer materials.

 

 

[richardandtracy]

I have worried about it, but never seen it even on polished surfaces with my ER32 collets. Must admit, when working on polished surfaces, I don't tighten it up so much just to ensure it doesn't dig in. One thing I tried was using a machinists cigarette paper around the work before putting in the collet, but it was a pain and not needed.

Might be because ER collets have 6 or 8 cuts that means they need to be finished internally after manufacture, so have little chamfers internally.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[Boris-Ludwig]

Thanks for your reply, Richard.