Thread: Using collets on the wood lathe

Tony,

You need one of these, a bit pricey but maybe McJings have a cheaper one.


Peter.

A better way to go, would be to get a chuck made up that has a 1X10 tpi thread to fit the lathe and to accept your collets on the other end.
Ordinary collet chucks can be bought on flea bay for up to about $80.00, one of these could be modified to take your lathe thread, which would be a lot cheaper than making one from scratch. If you have any friends with a lathe, it might cost a slab or two, but you could offer to help empty them also.
The reason I suggest this, is that using an adaptor extends the collets out too far and also any offset/out of round/not running true is magnified greatly.
Kryn

I like my Vicmarc Collet set

IMHO, save hassle- buy either the Vicmarc or the Gary Pye collet chuck !

Regards,
Cam

IMHO Vermec sets are good value and good quality. I recently bought an ER32 set with a chuck that suits my spindle thread for $130.

http://www.vermec.com/cnc-accessories.html

Thanks for the replies. Peter I have one of those reducing sleeves but on my mini-lathe it might not be practical as the workpiece will be a fair distance from the headstock. Looks like I might have to go down the collet chuck route. Brad, that is a good price for chuck and collets, the link you have shows the collets only I think but I will give them a call.

If the collets are ER32 you need this one with a drawbar in the back
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http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-ER32-...item258951f72b

ER25
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ER25-Coll...item417ec4f841
Same applies as above

Thanks Tore that looks perfect and only $22, can't see any reason why this wouldn't work.

Originally Posted by Tiger;

Brad, that is a good price for chuck and collets, the link you have shows the collets only I think but I will give them a call.

I am pretty sure that price included the chuck and spanner, though I could be wrong as I bought a bit of other stuff at the same time. Definitely worth a call, you won't be disappointed in them.

You can get them from here too.

Thanks Treecycle, I missed this somehow so appreciate the link.

Please consider the Vermec ER25 or ER32 collet chucks as I personally believe they are the safest collet chuck on the market. MT collet chucks must be used with a draw bar to prevent them inadvertantly working loose as certain cuts will draw the MT out of the spindle taper if there is no tailstock support. On thinner spindle stock or for work with no tailstock support it is essential to use a draw bar with any MT colet chuck accessory in the headstock.

I can highly recommend collet chucks & the Vermec ER chucks as I have been using them for several years.