Shrink fit tooling

[Dropout]

Has anyone done anything with shrink fit tooling?

I have a router and am sick of setting up tool bits with the collet. I have seen the Taig and Sherline end mill adapters but don't think that a system which involves grinding a flat spot on the tool and using a set screw will work at 20,000 plus rpm.

Hence the shrink fit idea. If an adapter could be made similar to the Taig and Sherline ones but used as a shrink fit, that'd solve my problem.

If the idea has merit, what should I make the adapters out of? Should the use the shoulder on the spindle for reference (a la Taig and Sherline adapters) or should they use the collet taper?

Dropout

[PixMan]

Shrink fit tooling is a great choice for high-speed applications, but making your own toolholders for it will be costly and perhaps risky.

Material of choice should be one that can take many cycles of dull-red hot to cold without losing temper. Perhaps and 8620 or 4350 would be good choice. Concentricity tolerance of the shank mount surface to the tool mounting bore is super-critical for balance issues, and the tool should be ground to spec on a good I.D/O.D. grinder.

What configuration is the the current tool holders? Straight shank or tapers?

[Dropout]

Originally Posted by PixMan Shrink fit tooling is a great choice for high-speed applications, but making your own toolholders for it will be costly and perhaps risky. Material of choice should be one that can take many cycles of dull-red hot to cold without losing temper. Perhaps and 8620 or 4350 would be good choice. Concentricity tolerance of the shank mount surface to the tool mounting bore is super-critical for balance issues, and the tool should be ground to spec on a good I.D/O.D. grinder. What configuration is the the current tool holders? Straight shank or tapers?

The current system is a collet in the spindle, no tool holders at all. I was thinking that a taper the same as the collet would work and then use a modified collet nut to hold the tool holder into the spindle. This would still require manual changes but would eliminate the need to zero out the Z axis each time a tool is changed.

[PixMan]

Originally Posted by Dropout The current system is a collet in the spindle, no tool holders at all. I was thinking that a taper the same as the collet would work and then use a modified collet nut to hold the tool holder into the spindle. This would still require manual changes but would eliminate the need to zero out the Z axis each time a tool is changed.

OK, I understand. Shrink fit tool holder don't really have positive way of locating length. Just what do the collets your machine uses look like? Are the single angle or double-angle style?

Your best bet (and most economical solution) is probably to first get length-qualified tooling. then devise a method of measurement to allow you to insert a new tool, take a measurement and input an offset. Otherwise known as a tool presetter Is this possible? What kind of adjustment method do you currently use for a new tool?