ER-40 Collet Chuck for D1-5

Splat

Active User
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
1,368
I haven't had need for collets on my lathe until now. I like the abilities of ER-40 over 5C and have been looking for a collect chuck for D1-5 spindles and haven't found one yet. Anyone know of any or have maybe adapted something usable? I'd like to have thru-spindle ability. Thank you.
 
Last edited:
I haven't seen one for D1-5. You could always just get an ER-40 plate & mount it to a D1-5 backplate. That's what I did with my D1-4 & prefer it that way over the integrated style. I made mine so I can adjust runout if needed, loosen the screws, tap to adjust runout & tighten back up.
 
Thanks Will. That may be out of my league with the precisely needed drilling... but I do like a challenge! Any writeup on that one you did?
 
Last edited:
Thanks Will. That may be out of my league with the precisely needed drilling... but I do like a challenge! Any writeup on that one you did?

No problem. Sorry, I didn't document the build on mine cause it was really simple. I used the bolt circle function on my DRO but really no precise drilling needed. Don't need a DRO or even need to calculate bolt circle.

I purchased a D1-4 backplate. Being a camlock backplate it's much easier to purchase one than making it from scratch. Simply mount on the spindle, face & turn down a step (registration boss) that will register on the ER-40 plate. Once that's done you can simply use a transfer punch to mark the mounting holes. Drill & tap wigh whatever you'd like. The mounting holes aren't critical as it's the register that takes care of the accuracy (asuming the ER plate is decently made).

The rest is optional, like turning down the diameter of the backplate to match the ER plate, etc. I made my registration a couple of thou smaller than the ER plate to leave room for adjusting runout. So if you choose to do the same, it will be even easier as you won't have to worry about a precision fit.

The hardest part of it all is making the money to buy the parts & cleaning up the cast iron mess after machining. :)
 
Veeery interesting..... but I remembered I had a few 5c draw tubes laying around so I'm going to make a 5c drawbar setup for my G4003G. Parts should be in tomorrow but I have to wait on my first boring bar and inserts to arrive. Of course, they'll be here AFTER the long holiday weekend but oh well. I've got many not as fun tasks around the house I'll need to do anyway.
 
The trouble you will run into with a D1-5 spindle and an ER40 collet chuck is that all the affordable D1-5 back-plates I have found, the center hole is the same size as the minor diameter of the registration boss which is a little under 3-1/4". The largest ER40 collet chuck I have seen is 132mm (5-3/16"). When turning the back-plate to fit the chuck you can get into the cam-lock pins. I know from first hand experience turning down a South bend back-plate to adapt a 6" set-tru 3-jaw chuck that the pins are hard. It was doable with a carbide tool with no chip breaker to put up with the interrupted cut.
 
I took my pins out and turned them down. Not the right way to do this so I will attempt to make my own back plate. Heading to the cities now to pick up steel.
 
The trouble you will run into with a D1-5 spindle and an ER40 collet chuck is that all the affordable D1-5 back-plates I have found, the center hole is the same size as the minor diameter of the registration boss which is a little under 3-1/4". The largest ER40 collet chuck I have seen is 132mm (5-3/16"). When turning the back-plate to fit the chuck you can get into the cam-lock pins. I know from first hand experience turning down a South bend back-plate to adapt a 6" set-tru 3-jaw chuck that the pins are hard. It was doable with a carbide tool with no chip breaker to put up with the interrupted cut.

If you use the thick backplate that is the unmachined version for adjustable chucks (Set-Tru style) that issue should be avoided.

Here's a link to Grizzly's thick backplate (photo shows a D1-6).
http://www.grizzly.com/products/6-1-4-D1-5-Back-Plate-Thick/SB1398

Attached shows the specs on the thick backplates. Looks like the SB198 should work fine?

I'm not a big fan of Grizzly but I do like their SB branded backplates. Their quality is much better than the other unmachined backplates commonly available.

sb1392_b.jpg
 
I can recommend the use of an ER40 collet system on a lathe. I put an ER40 on my lathe (MK2 Clausing, 6 by 20, MT2 spindle) about 3 weeks ago, haven't taken it off yet, I use it for everything. Yeah, round, up to 1". (no through the spindle use, but I don't use that anyway.) Anyway, for me its the way to go.
 
Thanks for the link darkzero. I looked at that SouthBend back plate and it looks like the way to go. Do you or anyone else have recommend a certain ER-40 collet chuck to go with it? Not that it matters, but this is going on a Grizzly G-0709.
 
Back
Top