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
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.
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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