MT3 Stuff from CTC Tools

[19brendan81]

Hi Guys,

Here are some pics of some MT3 stuff that I ordered for my new lathe. They arrived in approximately a week and im very pleased with the look and feel of the items. I have used the drill chuck and the live centre and they are great (I havent measured runout in the live centre though). The MT3 - ER40 collet holder was purchased in the event that I want to chuck something up to 26mm diameter in my tailstock, and depending on what mill I get it may be used for that also. It also could go in my lathe with the Mt5 -> MT3 adapter that I have. Plus it was only $24 or something so I just lashed out. The half dead center is also a must have for the home workshop and I think it cost under $10, so it was a no brainer.

I think all up these 4 items were $80 or so, and the postage was another $70. I wasnt impressed with the price I paid for postage but I needed this stuff in a hurry so didnt bother challenging him. Besides, even with the huge postage this cost less than half what it would have been to buy locally.

[Dave J]

Nice haul, let us know when you check the run out. Your right it's well under the price here even with postage. I am pretty sure H&F's sell a live centre for $150. Another way around it is sea shipping which is about 1/3 of the price.
I bartered when I bought my lathe and had them throw in a nice Taiwanese live centre so I have never tried the Chinese ones and would be interested in the runout..
The ER40 will come in handy for the headstock to hold smaller bar pieces.
I could only wish the NT30 ER32-40 where that cheap for my mill.

Dave

[simonl]

Hi Brendan,

Look at you! Your like a kid in a lolly shop with all your new toys!

I have some stuff from CTC tools too. For what I need I can't fault their products and their price is the best around... even with their expensive shipping rates.

I have a 0.001mm dial indicator, ER32 collet holder, ER40 collet holder (both with MT4 for my mill) a MT5 to MT4 adapter (for the lathe use), complete ER32 collet set and a 50mm Boring head set. I am happy with all the products so far. Never having a mill before, I am new to the ER collet system, I love it. Such a nice positive feel when you tighten it up and the way it ejects the tool when you undo it. Brilliant!

Think I may buy a couple of those cheap ($8.50) dial indicators to make a tramming tool as shown in this forum previously.

Cheers,

Simon

[19brendan81]

"Look at you! Your like a kid in a lolly shop with all your new toys!"

ha ha, yep. Fortunately, I have already bought most of the stuff I need for the smaller lathe...but these were must haves for my bigger machine. I should have no need to buy anything else now (ha - yeah right).

Think I need to get a post office box so the missus doesnt keep finding out about my purchases.

[boilermaker8]

"

Think I need to get a post office box so the missus doesnt keep finding out about my purchases.

:D:D:D i know what you mean, my missus just shakes her head nowdays "ANOTHER parcel arrived for you today:roll:":D:D:D

[19brendan81]

Ha ha, same here.

[simonl]

Ha! There was a time when at work parcels used to turn up for guys all the time. They would use the work address to receive their ebay parcels so they wouldn't get grief from the misses.

Nowdays, my wife is used to receiving the all too familiar Aussie post card in the mail telling her I need to pick something up from the post office. She just rolls her eyes now....

Cheers,

Simon

[eskimo]

Ha ha, same here.

and here:D

I am buying some things to keep me during the evneings...telescope stuff...and they dont ever seem to stop arriving......yes I am going to get yelled at yet again

on another note (OT) ... we thought we got ripped off with tooling...geeez...it goes on with a lot of stuff .....you ought to see what they charge here for astronomy telescope accessories as compared to US...ie a celestron neximage over there is $100 + freight (approx 50) ...here its 300.00

complete scopes are the same but freight because of weight/size cuts into that stuff a bit...but still a lot cheaper that Aus

I now have a USA address for this reason ...to get accessories for lots of stuff

[Stustoys]

I buy all my stuff on the misses' credit card. If she bothered to look she would know all about it..........just like checking the tyre pressures she rarely bothers. :D

Stuart

[jatt]

Its great having the shop across town. She never sees the bills......heh heh! Of course its always for work.

Occasionally she might see some items in the back of the ute, but by then its usually battered from use. "Oh I've had that for years dear"

[Greg Q]

My Postie (Bob) and I have a pact: He sometimes rings me and I meet him up the road. That's if I'm on my third parcel in a week. Lately I seem to go in spurts: nothing for a month then four in a week. Ain't it funny how just when you think you've seen the last of the must-have items ebay will cough up a dozen of them in three days. Thankfully I am fully tooled now until I find a surface grinder, then the cycle will start all over.:-

[jatt]

I'm sure if we did a raid of the missus stuff (jewellery and shoes comes to mind) then there would be a few sneaky purchases we didnt know about. Those things can add up real fast $$$$

Then theres the pampering thing. Hon I can boil some rocks and put em on ur back, play some whales h#mping music. I wont even charge u for it.

Lunches out with the girl pals........ it goes on.

[arose62]

I could only wish the NT30 ER32-40 where that cheap for my mill.
Dave

Dave,

have you looked at the CTC website?

$40-ish for NT30 collet chucks isn't too bad, IMHO. I'm sure H&F would be adding zeros to the end of that price.

I bought the full set of ER32 collets, a chuck, and some other bits, and it was about $400 less than from H&F. Postage was about what it would have cost me in petrol to buy in person.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Steamwhisperer]

you guys are lucky
I have to draw up a justification sheet itemising income versus expenditure ongoing costs utilising a nominal 4% productivity gain blah blah blah.
Saying things like "'cause it would be cool to have one in the workshop" doesn't cut it, as does "I've always wanted one", "It's a good price", "If I don't buy it they are gunna scrap it" etc.etc.
What did work well was when I had a heart attack. I milked that for all it was worth. All you have to say is "working in the shed relaxes me and I need such and such to do that". I got carte blanche on the card for quite a while. Needless to say that didn't last too long so now I just get what I need, put up with about a week of door slamming and we are sweet again.
God love 'em.

Phil

[eskimo]

you guys are lucky

What did work well was when I had a heart attack. I milked that for all it was worth.

Thats a tad drastic way of going about it....just a bit risky for me

[Steamwhisperer]

Thats a tad drastic way of going about it....just a bit risky for me

I could say "you do what ya gotta do" but I won't. Hopefully I won't need to use that one again. It's actually nice to see another Christmas and I thought I would never say that.

Phil

[PDW]

you guys are lucky
I have to draw up a justification sheet itemising income versus expenditure ongoing costs utilising a nominal 4% productivity gain blah blah blah.


I just buy what I like, when I like. Compared to boats, machine shop stuff simply doesn't rate. I paid less for my Monarch CY lathe *and* Victoria mill, including tooling, than Edson wanted for the boat steering gear alone. I made my own using the tooling so it's paid for now.

Everyone knows that boats are a huge money sink so nothing else even rates in comparison. I just bought a new Bukh 36HP marine diesel at outrageous expense because I couldn't bring myself to rebuild the old Yanmar and worry about something else failing.

As a precaution, I ensure that nobody else actually knows what I buy, when I buy it or why I want it. My machine shop is completely separate from the house and there's only 1 key. Mine. Life is simpler that way.

PDW

[bwal74]

I've just recently bought my Hercus 260ATM. Absolutely no tooling or equipment. My wife thinks I have a ebay addiction because I'm getting a parcel every week or two. Still haven't made anything. But turning metal does relax me!
ps love the CTC and Chronos sites!

[Dave J]

Get it while you can,
Watching the news a few months back, I now see the smaller retailers are pushing for GST and import tax on everything as they say they are loosing out. They will then be able to raise their prices because we will be paying more to import things.

Not mentioning any names of big tool stores here in Aus, but it gets me when the dollar went up no prices came down, then when the dollar went down the prices went up more, and now the dollar is up again the prices are still the same and have never dropped. They wonder why we but overseas, all the people we buy off in the US and UK are paying the import fee and tax just like over here, but can sell it at a fraction of the price.

Dave