Collets 5c vs. ER vs. MT3 vs. Drill Chuck etc ??

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stioc

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I've been thinking of getting a set of collets for work holding in a lathe but the choices are so many I can't decide. Of course, the idea being that I find what works best for a general purpose home shop with the least amount of investment and clutter. I like simple (In-n-Out burger menu style lol). Here're my random thoughts, please feel free to correct/add etc:

5c - I keep thinking this has been the defacto standard so just buy this and be done with it. They have collet blocks, lathe chucks and most spindexers etc readily accept 5c. The chuck is the most expensive part but again buy once cry once sorta thing. On the flip side, the chuck sticks out quite a bit more than the ER chucks and the workholding supposedly isn't as strong nor tolerant to small variances in the stock diameter compared to the ER chucks.

ER - I use ER20 on my mill but I'll likely have to step up to ER40 to get in the bigger range. Fairly inexpensive, I can get a MT3 chuck that will fit my lathe's spindle bore. On the negative side I hear you can't hold stock with very small length as they like to grip a longer length. Also they won't fit in a spindexer (not that I've used mine yet but I like future protection/versatility). Lastly collet blocks while I've seen them are not as widely available either.

MT3 collets - another option here for my lathe's spindle bore but again if I trade up to a bigger lathe some day the MT3 might not be the correct spindle bore size. I can actually just buy one say 3/4" and that will hold my ER20 collet holders which I can use for anything from 1/2" and under. A total of $15 investment lol

Drill chuck - MT3 drill chuck is what I've used with decent success but may be I've just been lucky in that I haven't run into issues...mainly people say chucks are not designed for radial loads.

Other options - I was thinking I could just get the 5c collet blocks and 5c collets and use the three jaw chuck to hold the blocks, sure not very quick if your'e removing parts on and off but it could work without needing a 5c specific chuck.

Thoughts, suggestions?
 
Depending on your needs, the most universal solution is a run-of-the-mill three jaw chuck. If you are into production work, A 5C collet chuck is the answer. MT3 is pretty limited to what you can get, the ER40 will suffice for short run production, these collets are more forgiving (will clamp down one mm, .040, so you don't need as many as you would of the 5C variety which are only good for .010 or so, but they (ER40) take a wrench to open whereas the 5C collet chuck has a rubber handle around it mounted on the chuck.
 
Thanks Tom! no production work here but all the cool kids on YTube have them lol
 
My preference is 5c, for the reasons you've listed. You don't state what lathe you have, but if a thru the spindle drawbar is an option, as opposed to a spindle nose collet chuck , that's how I'd go. It's not necessary to get the full range of collets in 64ths, or even 32nds. Start with 1/16" increments up to 1/2" and 1/8" increments above that. This will cover 99% of what you will ever need. Get a lever actuator if you can, otherwise a handwheel. I use my collets more than anything else.
 
I've been thinking about collets for my lathe recently as well, as an alternative to the chucks I already own. I've decided on getting an ER32
setup mounted to a backing plate. This makes it possible to run longer stock through the spindle bore unlike the MT3 setup you mentioned.
As Tom said, ER's handle a range of diameters better, which means fewer collets and lower cost. They also are available as metric
as well, if that matters. I've also considered at some point adding a small milling attachment to my lathe: because ER's are designed for
tool holding, they would work for holding mills.

Something like this:

profibohrer_er32_spannzangendrehfutter_80_mm_p1.jpg

You mentioned drill chucks. My Logan has a Jacobs 59B drill chuck that handles stock up to 3/4' in diameter. It's really pretty usefull
for small quick jobs like spacers or pins, but since the TIR isn't very good, you can't turn a part around and have it run true. It's also nice
to work around since it's smaller than a 3 jaw. Not an alternative to collets at all however. I use it like a 3 jaw for some jobs, and use
my 4 jaw for everything else.


DSCF7365.jpg
 
For the lathe, I use a ER40 "zero-set" chuck from Shars with their D1-4 adapter to match my spindle. It has 4 screws you use to adjust the runout, so you can really dial it in.

On the lathe, it works great as I still have the full through-bore to work with. I'm thinking of trying their R8-ER40 adapter for the mill at some point.
 
Thanks for all the input guys. Yeah for quick small jobs e.g. trimming the head off of a bolt using the toolpost grinder the drill chuck has worked well enough that I thought about getting a straight shank drill chuck that I can grab in the 3 jaw chuck since it's what I use 99% of the time.

ER chucks are a definite consideration but I keep going back to the silly spindexer and collet blocks which have their places in a machine shop.

FYI my lathe is a 9x20, the spindle is a through bore.
 
ttabbal said:
For the lathe, I use a ER40 "zero-set" chuck from Shars with their D1-4 adapter to match my spindle. It has 4 screws you use to adjust the runout, so you can really dial it in.

On the lathe, it works great as I still have the full through-bore to work with. I'm thinking of trying their R8-ER40 adapter for the mill at some point.
Click to expand...


Don't want to hijack this thread, but ttabbal, how do you like the quality of the Shars parts? I've been thinking about the same setup
for mine.
 
^ don't worry about hijacking, as long as we're discussing the collet chucks I'm interested in the details too.
 
stioc said:
Thanks for all the input guys. Yeah for quick small jobs e.g. trimming the head off of a bolt using the toolpost grinder the drill chuck has worked well enough that I thought about getting a straight shank drill chuck that I can grab in the 3 jaw chuck since it's what I use 99% of the time.

ER chucks are a definite consideration but I keep going back to the silly spindexer and collet blocks which have their places in a machine shop.

FYI my lathe is a 9x20, the spindle is a through bore.
Click to expand...

No reason why you couldn't put a collet chuck on your lathe, and use the same collets in a block for other jobs.
 
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