Collet Quality

R

Ralf

Registered
Registered
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Messages
6
Second question of the day, I'm on a roll.

So I'm looking at Collets and I've found astounding differences in price. Is there a real material difference for my general agricultural work? Are the really expensive ones really only to build the space shuttle?

Can I buy the cheap Chinese ones?
 
You didn't say what type collets you are referring to, whether R8, 5C, etc. Although the type probably does not matter. My experience is the quality of the collet will show up in the TIR. When I bought my mill (R8), I purchased a new set of Lyndex collets and have been very happy with them.

Later, purchased an assortment of used 5C collets off Ebay, some Hardinge, Royal, and mostly cheaper no name collets. You can absolutely tell the difference. What is really aggravating is trying to insert the material in the cheaper collets, seems like they are not ground as accurately as the higher prices collets. Some time I have to put pressure with a screwddriver on the slots so the material will slip into the collet. Don't have this problem with the better collets.

That being said, the cheaper collets will work okay.
 
Yep, its all about the tolerances. Most any collet will clamp down a tool or part. How much you care about TIR determines if you go cheap or spendy.

My experience, i soon forget what i paid. But the quality stays with me forever.
 
I've got a cheapy eBay set on the way for my 10F. Only intend to use them with end mills in an atlas milling attachment so accuracy is only going to be so good anyways. Just looking to make a few spacer blocks for things like motorcycle axles and such so I only need a "close enough" degree of accuracy.

Prior to this, I've had to resort to an x/y vice in the drill press to do very limited bits, so this is a step up in safety and function.

I'll do a TIR on them when they get here and post results if anyone is interested.

Dont expect anything much surprising though....I went pretty cheap (not a lot of cash on hand).
 
Another consideration. A tool that isn't running real true wears out quickly. its only cutting on one side with light cuts, cutting harder on one side with heavy cuts.
 
OK, so I need decent collets for accuracy, wear I tooling and if close enough isn't good enough.

Now I'm guessing that I don't need all 18 collets of the $600 set in ER32, how many different sizes do you generally use and what are the most popular sizes? I should say that typically the cost of anything in the US is about half of the cost in Australia.

Incidentally, I looked up TIR on eBay.... Some very interesting definitions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top