A friend who owned a machine shop that went belly up gave me 26 5C colletts from 1/16 to 1-1/16". I would like to make a collet holder for my 12" Enco lathe. I'm thinking of making the holder from alminum because I have a suitable sized piece. My question is whether aluminum will hold up for this type of use? Engineman
collet holder
Mar 20, 2008
3 Replies
If you could machine it the first time, you could also clean it up when it wears. A spin index spindle has the right internal taper and a short threaded draw tube you could extend.
Aluminum would work, but would wear quickly. Much better option is to get an unhardened Morse taper adapter. My 13" lathe had a #5 taper in the spindle, so I got a #3 to #5 adapter. I bored out the #3 taper hole to fit 5C collets and installed a index pin. Worked well and was simple to machine in situ.
Randal
======== Its a lot of work to make a collet holder.
Looking though the Mar/Apr Home Shop Machinist I noticed an ad that may be of interest.
A 5C collet chuck for 139$US and chuck adapters for 32-45$US depending on your spindle nose.
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If you have a face plate and don't need through collet/spindle capability you can use a collet vise for 30-40$.
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Unka' George [George McDuffee]
------------------------------------------- He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).
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