Source for Aftermarket collet drawbar for Southbend with 3C collets

That's all it is, a handle on a tube, with 0.628-26 threads inside.

When I made one (for a different lathe) I couldn't find the right size tube, so I used a thinner wall one and brazed a short section of thicker stock on the end, that I could thread.

It helps to have a thrust bearing at the outboard end. Here's how I did it:

and

Enjoy - Jim

It isn't the drawbar tube that's hard to make, it's the actual collet closer piece that fits into your spindle taper. Gotta be 3MT outside and

3C inside and dead concentric. I owned one of those once that had over .0015" runout in it. It was made by South Bend and sold to me by Dave Sobel. I had a tool & cutter grinder place grind it true and it cost me more than I want to admit, and it went with my former lathe. The one I have that came with my current lathe runs dead on as manufactured.

I have a full set of 3C collets and very rarely use them. What I find more useful in actual practice is a 3MT-ER40 collet adapter for which I made a drawbar. This holds ER40 collets very concentrically, and those go all the way up to 1". Of course, I can't pass stock through, but it doesn't seem I need to do that very often.

Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington

The spindle nose adapter should be available from Royal. They run very true. And not that expensive. ERS

As an aside, did you try to follow up on that part with sobel, and if so what was his reaction to the issue?

Thanks - Jim

No, I didn't. As I often do, I put the stuff on the shelf until I needed it for a project, which was a long time later.

GWE

Don't spend money just to get 3C collet support, they're limited and expensive compared to the plentiful and cheap 5C collets and 5C accessories like collet blocks and indexers that you can also use in your mill. I use the heck out of my 5C collet block set on my mill and it cost me less than $50.

Instead if you have more time than money, make a 5C collet adapter with the kit from:

or if you have more money than time, buy one of the Bison 5C collet chucks, they work well.

Once I had 5C collet support on my lathe I liked it so much I busted for a full set of collets in 1/64" increments up to 1-1/8". I looked at a lot of different collet brands, and was dissapointed with the "mid-range" ones I tried first, they were worse in some ways than the el cheapo imports. I ended up getting Hardinge collets for the few sizes I use often (1/2", 3/8", ...) and got the Enco house brand full set on sale. The Enco set isn't too bad, like I said they're better than the mid-range ones I tried first. A couple of the collets had dinged threads but Enco replaced them no questions asked without even having to send back the bad ones.

With a full set you can grip any diameter from 1/8" up to 1-1/8" as long as you don't mind "pushing" a collet a little beyond its recommended range occasionally. With 1/64" differences, each collet has to cover a range of

+/- .008", which is a little more than the recommend range of a collet but since these are cheapos that doesn't bug me at all, and its been working out really well.

Good luck-

Paul T.

That's a shame. I strongly suspect that he would have replaced it with one in spec if you had contacted him.

Jim

Sometimes they're REALLY expensive:

-Bill Fill

Hoo boy. You could have bought all new Hardinge for that price.

I paid $23 each for a lot of mine. I have all the round collets plus several square and hex ones. If I sell my set it won't be cheap.

Grant

Bill Fill wrote:

My tool place has chinese 5C collets for $6--they are absolutely unusable. Next up is from Poland, altho not Bison: $13, and OK, imho; next up from that is I think Royal, in the low 20's. Hardinge I only dream about.

Hmm. I bought my 5C collets from Grizzly. They are certainly Taiwanese but they seem fine to me. Of course, I don't use them in any rotating spindle, just in 5C setups like an indexer, a hex or square block, or right angle fixture.

My R8 collets are Lyndex, made in Japan. I have used them for years and have never seen any serious runout. On the other hand, I haven't ever tried measuring them to a gnat's ass anyway.

GWE

Lyndex is not bad stuff. Though..they tend to be either too soft, or two hard. When soft they tend to spring open and wear faster, when hard they tend to snap off at the fingers, but generally they are decent collets with minimal runout and more than suitable for home and moderate commerical usage.

Gunner

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