I saw an auction listing about an hour away from me, it was on the way to pick up my son at college with the pickup day starting the day I was going that way, so I figured, let’s see if I can find anything good. I couldn’t get up there for inspection day, so I bid conservatively. I was looking at the 4” Kurt and Teco mill vises they had and some carbide boring bars still in the packaging, those prices got a bit too high, so I didn’t get those, but I did win a lot of carbide drills and end mills, as well as a Phase II 5c H/V collet chuck.
When I picked up the collet chuck, in big letters, someone wrote “JUNK”, oh crap. Well, it was cheap. I got it home and it wouldn’t turn at all. I emailed Phase II and got a manual for it, they suggested what the problem was and the part that was likely needed. I have to say, I am really happy with Phase II customer service. Upon taking it apart, it was evident someone already took it apart and reassembled it for the auction, I don’t think a single screw was tight. It looked like nobody lubricated it since it left the factory, and I quickly noticed it was not put together correctly. The pin Phase II though was broken was actually not installed right and would not pull back far enough to allow the spindle to rotate. It was also missing one ball in the collet locking mechanism, as well as the spring and set screw for the rotating lever. I cleaned everything up well, bought a pack of steel balls from McMaster and after correctly reassembling, it works perfectly. Runout on the spindle taper is 0.0005”, so good enough for my uses. Not bad for $95.
The lot of drills and end mills was a nice surprise. There were a lot of brand new through coolant carbide drills, some end mills, and a box of used end mills. I checked the price of the drills, and the thru coolant ones list for $150 each, and I have about 40 of them in a few different sizes. I will be listing those once I get around to upgrading my membership. The box of used end mills was mostly broken stuff, I now have a lifetime supply of carbide to make into custom cutters. I’ll have to start looking for one of those universal cutter grinders now. Of the end mills that look usable, I have far more than I need, so I might get some of them ground with a corner radius so that I can use them when I want an internal radius in a pocket. They are all Helical brand designed for stainless steel, I’ll try them on regular steel and see how they work. I might have a lifetime supply of steel cutting end mills now. Oh, I did find a carbide corner radius cutter in a size I was planning on buying, one side was broken, but the other looked unused. So, I already saved about $60 of my purchase cost in addition to the used cost of the 5c collet chuck.
When I picked up the collet chuck, in big letters, someone wrote “JUNK”, oh crap. Well, it was cheap. I got it home and it wouldn’t turn at all. I emailed Phase II and got a manual for it, they suggested what the problem was and the part that was likely needed. I have to say, I am really happy with Phase II customer service. Upon taking it apart, it was evident someone already took it apart and reassembled it for the auction, I don’t think a single screw was tight. It looked like nobody lubricated it since it left the factory, and I quickly noticed it was not put together correctly. The pin Phase II though was broken was actually not installed right and would not pull back far enough to allow the spindle to rotate. It was also missing one ball in the collet locking mechanism, as well as the spring and set screw for the rotating lever. I cleaned everything up well, bought a pack of steel balls from McMaster and after correctly reassembling, it works perfectly. Runout on the spindle taper is 0.0005”, so good enough for my uses. Not bad for $95.
The lot of drills and end mills was a nice surprise. There were a lot of brand new through coolant carbide drills, some end mills, and a box of used end mills. I checked the price of the drills, and the thru coolant ones list for $150 each, and I have about 40 of them in a few different sizes. I will be listing those once I get around to upgrading my membership. The box of used end mills was mostly broken stuff, I now have a lifetime supply of carbide to make into custom cutters. I’ll have to start looking for one of those universal cutter grinders now. Of the end mills that look usable, I have far more than I need, so I might get some of them ground with a corner radius so that I can use them when I want an internal radius in a pocket. They are all Helical brand designed for stainless steel, I’ll try them on regular steel and see how they work. I might have a lifetime supply of steel cutting end mills now. Oh, I did find a carbide corner radius cutter in a size I was planning on buying, one side was broken, but the other looked unused. So, I already saved about $60 of my purchase cost in addition to the used cost of the 5c collet chuck.