Why is it hard to find an ER11 collet chuck with a 2MT shank?

GizzieDude

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Total noob here, I am looking to make use of ER11 collets for turning very small things for models. My lathe has a #2 Morse Taper at the headstock, but for some reason I am having a hard time finding an ER11 collet chuck that will fit. All the ER11 available domestically have a straight shank (for milling, I presume). I have cheked all the major US online retailers. I have found one for sale overseas, but that comes with extra shipping.
Then it occurred to me that maybe the reason I am having trouble finding them. Maybe it's a bad idea to use ER11 on a lathe? Or maybe there is a different big picture reason that my noobness prevents me from seeing? Maybe #2MT is an unusual size? Or maybe I am looking in the wrong place?
Any insight is appreciated.

Chris
 
Perhaps the #2 mt is too small to be stiff enough to be practical. A rational approach might to be to make an collet adaptor that could screw onto the spindle nose, or a two piece affair that could consist of a backplate to screw onto the spindle, then a collet adaptor that would be mounted to the backplate with bolts parallel to the spindle and adjusting screws to center the adaptor, such as is used on the Buck Adjustrue chucks.
 
As near as I can find China is the only place you can find them. I do wonder how well they would hold in the spindle without a draw bar. Morse tapers don't like to be side loaded, they tend to try to work their way out.

Maybe a 5C collet chuck would be a better option. Also you could hold an ER11 straight shank holder in your chuck.
 
A lot of times collet chucks for lathes are the type with a through hole, the ones with shanks are as you say more often used on milling machines for holding tools.

A smaller er holder can be useful when requiring clearance for getting in tight with a small end mill.

On a lathe an er32 would hold down to 1mm diameter and the nut shouldn't be an obstruction.

Stu
 
What kind of lathe do you have? What is the headstock mounting spindle?
 
you can use an appropriate MT2 Collet and then use a straight shank ER11 holder as another way of accomplishing the same thing
 
Total noob here, I am looking to make use of ER11 collets for turning very small things for models. My lathe has a #2 Morse Taper at the headstock, but for some reason I am having a hard time finding an ER11 collet chuck that will fit. All the ER11 available domestically have a straight shank (for milling, I presume). I have cheked all the major US online retailers. I have found one for sale overseas, but that comes with extra shipping.
Then it occurred to me that maybe the reason I am having trouble finding them. Maybe it's a bad idea to use ER11 on a lathe? Or maybe there is a different big picture reason that my noobness prevents me from seeing? Maybe #2MT is an unusual size? Or maybe I am looking in the wrong place?
Any insight is appreciated.

Chris

I searched for "er11 mt2 collet chuck" on eBay and had several with tangs come up. For small stuff you probably wouldn't need to use a draw bar, and could use a rod to knock it back out of the taper. There were also some that came up for me on Amazon, including one with an M10 draw bar thread.
 
ER11 is sized for routers and other very small capacity tools. For MT2, try ER32. You'll find lots of options there. MT2 is plenty strong to support everything in the ER32 capacity (use a drawbar).
 
Just get a larger ER Collet on a straight shank and centre it in your 4 jaw, then hold an ER11 on a straight shank in that.
 
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