ER collets for CNC mill and lathe

[clocker]

Hey all, I got bit by the CNC bug and will be converting my ZAY 7045 mill and 11x26 lathe when the parts come in next week (yup, planning on taking pics and movies). Question for you all is regarding collets that can be used in both machines. I have some small parts that need to be machined in the lathe. Right now all I have is the stock 3 and 4 jaw chucks. Chucks seem like the only way to go for larger parts, but collets seem better for <1" dia. So I was looking at 5C, ER32 and ER40. It seems that the ER series could be used in both machines due to the way they are compressed. There are MT4 (Lathe) and R8 (Mill) adapters for ER. *I'll still probably use R8 for cutters in the mill for the most part.

So... What do you folks use for collets and what would you use if you could do it again? I want to be able to change out parts quickly and still have accurate work holding.

[Jason3]

Hi Clocker,

I use ER32 collets for almost everything in my manual mill and I'll be using them for my micro lathe too. I've been very happy with them, the one complaint I'd have is that the 20 mm max. is a bit small - I'd have liked ER40 to get up to 1" capacity. A 5C collet chuck for the lathe would've been nice, but the collets generally cost a little more and the chuck would have been too big really.

So, my ideal would be ER40 for the mill, and 5C for the lathe, but for a set that can be used on both, I'm pleased with the ER32 collets I have

Regards,

Jason

[escott76]

Originally Posted by clocker Hey all, I got bit by the CNC bug and will be converting my ZAY 7045 mill and 11x26 lathe when the parts come in next week (yup, planning on taking pics and movies). Question for you all is regarding collets that can be used in both machines. I have some small parts that need to be machined in the lathe. Right now all I have is the stock 3 and 4 jaw chucks. Chucks seem like the only way to go for larger parts, but collets seem better for <1" dia. So I was looking at 5C, ER32 and ER40. It seems that the ER series could be used in both machines due to the way they are compressed. There are MT4 (Lathe) and R8 (Mill) adapters for ER. *I'll still probably use R8 for cutters in the mill for the most part. So... What do you folks use for collets and what would you use if you could do it again? I want to be able to change out parts quickly and still have accurate work holding.

Just don't forget that on the lathe if you want to stick stock though the bore you'll want a method of holding the collet so you can do so. MT4 adapter prolly won't let you get stuff out the back. Not as much of an issue on the mill.

[LongRat]

I run an ER25 collet chuck on my 9*20 lathe and an MT3 ER25 collet chuck on my mill. The lathe chuck allows the stock to pass through as escott76 describes. I'm very pleased with this set up.

[clocker]

Thanks all for the tips.
LongRat, do you have a link for where you got the lathe chuck?

I have been looking at adapters like this http://cgi.ebay.com/ER-40-Collet-Chu...3286.m20.l1116 and can see the limitations with pass through

[LongRat]

Yeah, that type is fine for a mill but not ideal in the lathe. I got mine from Warco (UK) - here is a link: http://www.warco.co.uk/Turning-Acces...291D2254D.aspx