Have you used 5C collets on a lathe?

I bought a 5C collet because the comparatively small (2") nose diameter allowed me to get much closer with my tooling in certain circumstances. It also provides better runout specs compared to the three jaw chuck with similar setup times. It does take more time if changing collets though.

Another issue is the limited grip range of a 5C collet. Minimally, at least 37 collets would be required to cover the range from 1/16" to 1-1/8" by 1/32". Better would be 73 collets by 1/64". Purists would say that stock should be nominal to a few thousandths undersized. The limited grip range can be compensated for by wrap a piece of shim stock around the work to bring it within the collet grip range.

An ER32 or an ER40 collet chuck is an alternative to the 5C chuck. ER collets have a greater grip range so fewer collets are needed. The ER32 and ER40 collets have a maximum stock size of just over 3/4" and 1" respectively. Closing the collet is done by means of tightening a nut. ER collets are more expensive than 5C collets so the benefit of a reduced number of collets is offset somewhat.
 
Which Lathe did you get? Might have an Morse Taper (MT) in the spindle. My 1440 has a #5MT.
I'm with @mikey about the ER40. Haven't bought an ER40 set yet but I'm using an ER32 off the Logan on the 1440.
I chuck it up in the 4J and indicate it in.
Now on the mill it's another story, I now have (6) accessories that use 5C collets, and I only have (4) collets in my stash. :rolleyes:
 
I have lots and lot of 5c collets. One of the best things is you can use the collet on the lathe . Then use the same collet on the mill or drill press with a indexing fixture. I also have a set of metric collets ,hex and square collets and step collets that will hold up to about 4 inch parts. And I often use Id collets where I can hold up to about 4 or 5 inches by holding on the bore of parts. And I have soft emergency 5c collets that I bore to any size I want. I have bored them excentric then turned stock to make cams. I used to turn the cams used in KDK quick change tool posts. I also have collet chucks for 2j ,3j and Jacobs rubberflex collets. But my go to collets are 5c With my lever collet closer. I also like the fact that I can use my Hardinge dead stop collets when needed. Also Rovi id collets are dead stop collets. One other thing if doing production work you can often load and unload parts in like ten seconds with out stopping the lathe.
Jim
 
I use 5C collets on both my manual mill and CNC mill and lathe for both turning and fixturing. I like the clutch collets that I can machine for special size parts. I have a 6" one I use frequently.

I also use 16C on my turning center, but for small stuff it's much less expensive for me to buy the 5C's if the part will fit them.. They only go up to 1-1/8 for a standard collet. Accessories such as collet extensions and stops are again much less less expensive.
 
I don’t have any production needs, though I have a 5C closer and a full set of Lyndex collets. I’ve never used them for the lathe, but with Square and hex collet blocks, I use them pretty frequently on the mill.
 
The 5C crowd is spot on. Advantages aplenty. The ER crowd also weighed in with their advantages. I think both crowds acknowledges the main issue is $$$. I agree with everything they say. I used collets on a Hardinge tool room and found it to be an excellent experience. A very accurate chuck was also available so it was usually a question of which was on the lathe and if the starting material fit a collet. We have them by 64ths and also hex and square.
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If you are on a smaller lathe (bore cannot support the hollow draw tube AND you are making dozens of things, the 5C collet and the draw bar will limit the length of the stock regardless of it's diameter. A front closing collet system would be a better choice.

Another consideration is in a hobby shop, you are far less likely to need both the lathe and mill at the same time (there is only one operator and time is not so important. That suggests a collet system that will help the milling machine, dividing head, spindexer and other things make make a lot of sense. Some people have used an ERxx, on both the mill and lathe spindle. Makes double use of the collets.

After all that, it is a matter of preference and funding. An operator proficient with a 4J can get it done.
 
If you don't have a large enough MT and you don't want to swap chucks, you still have options. You can get round, square and hex 5c collet holders that can be held in your chuck (4 jaw preferred for centering obviously.) They're also useful for holding a part across multiple ops, say if you need to move it over to a mill or grinder. Not nearly as fast to operate as a drawbar but still very useful under the right circumstances. Often times the square and hex ones won't let you access the retainer if it's in a chuck, but there are round collet blocks that have a square drive like a regular chuck. Can be had cheaper, but here's an example: https://www.mcmaster.com/3302A21/
For the other, I think you could make a semi-captive drawbar that goes through your headstock with a little thought, say if you use a removable pin to hold the nut to a shaft. More work to set up than a good collet closer, but easier on your back.
 
I happen to have the 5c setup for my lathe with the release handle but it spends most of its time on the shelf as I do not have the collets and choose to use an ER32 collet setup instead. The ER collets are cheaper and more flexible in terms of the range of diameters a given collet can handle. The 5c collets work best when stock is within .005 of nominal size. The 5c may have some advantages for semi production work as you can utilize stops and change out parts while running, but that use case is rare for me.

I have 3J and 4J chuck options available, but do prefer the ER collets for 3/4" and under work, and when precision alignment is desired.

I have a collet chuck adapter that I machined from a L00 blank for my lathe but I allowed for some slop in the flange and bolt holes to permit fine adjustment after it is mounted to the machine, as it seems that the L00 taper mount can be out by .001 or so in repeatability.

You could also just mount the ER collet chuck within a 4J as well.

ER32_collet_chuck_L00.jpg
 
SLK001 said:
A 5C collet is made to be used with a draw bar thru the spindle of the lathe. That means that the spindle thru bore has to be greater than 1.4". There are adapters that mount a 5C collet with a chuck. However, that puts the work at least 3.5" of "stick out" from your spindle. That starts to add inaccuracies into your setup.

I use 5C collets all the time and love the accuracy they give.
Click to expand...

As mentioned in other posts there are a number different ways of holding the 5C collets. The most common being the draw tube and the collet chuck. While it's nice to have a large bore spindle it isn't all that necessary. My Seneca Falls only has a 3/4" spindle bore. However when using a collet chuck it can handle stock up to the diameter limit of the collet. The chuck itself is 5" deep so when using 1" stock it can handle a length of 10" without support. Any collet that has a full length bore would be able to handle stock 5" long plus 5x the diameter of the stock without support.

Keep in mind however not all collets have through bores. In the Hardinge line round collets up to 1 1/16" have full bores. Some other manufacturers make round collets with a bore up to 1 1/8", Those with a bore of over 1 1/16" in diameter the bore only extends about an inch deep. Also in the Hardinge line only round collets up to .985 in diameter have internal threads for stops.

As for distance to the tailstock the collet adaptor on my Sheldon machine extends 1 1/2" from the face of the spindle. Both the 3 jaw and 4 jaw chucks extend 5" beyond the spindle. In this case you gain 3 1/2" between the spindle and the tailstock when using the collet draw tube. On my Seneca Falls machine the collet adaptor extends a little over 3/4" beyond the spindle (the downside is this system can only handle round collets to 9/16" in diameter). The 3 and 4 jaw chucks are 5" long just like those on the Sheldon machine. In this case when using the draw tube collet system you gain 4 1/4"

The collet chuck on this machine is the same length (5") as the 3 and 4 jaw chucks, so it's a wash as to which to use on stock smaller than 1 1/8" in diameter.

Another interesting observation is that my Hardinge collets have a grip range of +/- .005". The Shars collets have a grip range of +.000/-005"

The Hardinge ones have an advertised runout of .0002" while the Shars "standard" collets have a runout of .0006, and the "high precision" ones have a runout of .0005". Hardinge collets list for $42.00 each while the Shars standard ones list for $5.80, and the high precision ones list for $9.50.
 
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