Thread: How to avoid tool runout with ER collet

Originally Posted by Mdouble

It looks like my collet adapters are machined at a slightly incorrect angle (unluckily I got 2 from separate suppliers) and wont seat the collets correctly.

Just checking, by "collet adapters" do you mean "collet chuck"?

Could you let us know who was the supplier - so we don't go there!
If 2 different eBay suppliers, one suspects they were just 'retailers' with the same source.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Mdouble

Can anyone recommend a supplier with a reasonably priced accurate collet set?

Thanks everyone for your help

CTC Tools. They only sell DIN standard collets/sets. I got all mine there. No problem.

There are a lot of non DIN collets/sets being sold on Ebay, Banggood etc. Not worth the risk.

Originally Posted by nearnexus

CTC Tools. They only sell DIN standard collets/sets. I got all mine there. No problem.

I haven't used mine much but I will second that.

Originally Posted by BobL

Just checking, by "collet adapters" do you mean "collet chuck"?

Yes, the collet chuck. I originally called it a chuck, but it was referred to as an adapter by another user so I thought I'd better stick to that terminology to reduce confusion .

Originally Posted by rcaffin

Could you let us know who was the supplier - so we don't go there!
If 2 different eBay suppliers, one suspects they were just 'retailers' with the same source.

Cheers

They were generic ones off ebay (and look almost identical).

When I bought the collet set, it arrived without a spanner. I argued with the seller, but they insisted it didn't come with one. I decided to buy another chuck (with spanner) instead of just buying the spanner, so I'd have 2 chucks for different tooling set up.

Mat

If you have access to a metal lathe, you could set up a grinder to grind the collet chuck to the correct angle, saves buying a replacement.
If you don't want to do that, let me know and I'll buy them from you, as I love a challenge. Not that I'm set up for a challenge just yet.
Kryn

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

If you have access to a metal lathe, you could set up a grinder to grind the collet chuck to the correct angle, saves buying a replacement.
If you don't want to do that, let me know and I'll buy them from you, as I love a challenge. Not that I'm set up for a challenge just yet.
Kryn

I was thinking it trying that. It will be an interesting challenge. Although, I'm nowhere set up either

Mat

You'll need a taper turning attachment for the lathe, they're fun to make. I visited someone a few weeks ago, and mentioned he'd been asked as to why so many machines, he said "it was to make parts for theat machine to make parts for that machine to make an accessory for that machine"
Kryn

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

You'll need a taper turning attachment for the lathe, they're fun to make

I was thinking of just using a small die grinder mounted on the compound. It's a short taper to grind.

Mat

Is the collet chuck hard,if not just machine the taper and then polish.

Yes, you could remachine the taper, or regrind it. Note that you must make it 8.00 degrees, not 7.9 or 8.1 degrees.

I have bought a number of sets of collets from eBay. I did check they were to the DIN standard. In my (limited) experience, Chinese stuff when made to DIN spec seems to work OK. You will probably find that technical stuff like collets are being made on German CNC machines. They are industrialising fast.

Cheers
Roger

I'm getting a malicious site warning from the isp at the moment for some reason, but I've bought er collets from ht-tools.net in the past and haven't had problems - a couple of bucks a pop. Is CTC still taking forever on orders?

Originally Posted by Hunch

I'm getting a malicious site warning from the isp at the moment for some reason, but I've bought er collets from ht-tools.net in the past and haven't had problems - a couple of bucks a pop. Is CTC still taking forever on orders?

It varies - My last order took 2 weeks but the one before that took six weeks.

Originally Posted by rcaffin

Yes, you could remachine the taper, or regrind it. Note that you must make it 8.00 degrees, not 7.9 or 8.1 degrees.

I had a little play tonight. I remember I bought a hex collet block (which the collets seem to fit in there much nicer than in my chucks).

I set it up in the lathe with as little runout as possible. Then put the test indicator on the compound to dial in the angle (within 0.02mm or so). I then tried one of my ER chucks. I ended up with around 0.2mm on the indicator (I only had it mounted in the 3 jaw by the body of the chuck, but I turned the spindle and checked in multiple spots, with the error always in the same direction). A bit of confirmation is always nice.

Mat.