Mill chuck advice needed

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

It would seem to me that the use of screwed shank cutter holding systems are in decline for industrial use, I may have the wrong impression but seeing what industrial suppliers stock gives me that impression. ER seem widely available at any price you want to pay from cheap and cheerful Asian imports to high end Swiss. The ER system is flexible in that is will hold anything that has an accurately made round shank and is long enough for the full depth of the collet. The collets can also be shared among your machines even if a different chuck is required. Drills can also be used if shank is in good condition also edge finders and indicators are easy to mount without need to change or remove the chuck. I still have a substantial selection of screwed shank cutters and an SKF Fastloc chuck which is Clarkson compatible but the ER is rarely out of my mill these days.

Mike

[VicParticipant @vic]

I stand to be corrected but from what I’ve seen there seem to be more items available in ER32 than any other size?

I have ER chucks for both my Lathe and Mill, collet blocks and a Spin Indexer that all take ER 32 collets. I might have chosen ER40 when I first bought a chuck for my lathe but there was no point in going any bigger than ER32 as the bore of my lathe is only 20mm.

[Alex MasonParticipant @alexmason47486]

Posted by Thor on 28/03/2018 16:30:48:

Hi Alex,

I have an ER-32 chuck from ChesterUK, on my chuck I get the same tool runout as Jason. When using very cheap collets the runout may increase to 0.02mm.

Thor

Thor, are you using the ER32s on your C8 lathe also? Did you make a custom chuck or find something compatible?

[VicParticipant @vic]

ARC sell these Alex.

**LINK**

[Alex MasonParticipant @alexmason47486]

The problem is EMCO have a proprietary locating taper and bolt arrangement on this lathe. Not sure these are compatible.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by JasonB on 28/03/2018 16:21:40:

Unless you buy bargain basement direct from China where you are taking pot luck then an ER chuck from one of our usual suppliers of chinese made products will be more than adequate for hobby use use.

This is my one which shows 0.0004" on the tool and 0.0003" on the socket that is about 0.01mm run out on the tool.

That’s pants Jason, you want 2 micron:

**LINK**

[Another JohnSParticipant @anotherjohns]

Hi Alex;

I've got a Compact-8 with the ER25 holder (from Emco) for it.

I purchased a full set of collets – RegioFX, if I remember the name correctly.

On my mill, I have a Schaublin (again, spelling) ER25 collet chuck.

I find it all incredibly useful. I purchased this all back in the early 1990s, before the Asian imports became so popular.

The ONLY issue I've found is that, sometimes, the collet I want is on the other machine; I have picked up some Asian collets, and these appear fine, as others have also said. Over here, many things are still in inch, so one of the collets is a 1/2" one, which matches the drill chuck straight shanks that I have.

On my mill, the ER25 collet adapter hasn't been off in years; I have a couple of drill chucks on straight shanks, that I just put in a collet.

On the lathe, 90% of the time, the ER25 collet holder is in place, but that really depends on what type of things you are machining. Right now, I'm doing lots with small rods (boiler fittings).

 

Edited By John Alexander Stewart on 28/03/2018 18:09:15

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Posted by Alex Mason on 28/03/2018 17:42:24:

Posted by Thor on 28/03/2018 16:30:48:

Hi Alex,

I have an ER-32 chuck from ChesterUK, on my chuck I get the same tool runout as Jason. When using very cheap collets the runout may increase to 0.02mm.

Thor

Thor, are you using the ER32s on your C8 lathe also? Did you make a custom chuck or find something compatible

Yes Alex, I am using ER 32 collets both on my milling machine and on my Compact 8, I did make the collet chuck for my C8, see here. I didn't quite get as low runout as for the purchased one (I'v got too many thumbs).

Thor

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by Vic on 28/03/2018 17:53:50:

That’s pants Jason, you want 2 micron:

**LINK**

I don't see me having much need for the 2 micron collets . As I said for the majority of home use 10 micron is perfectly acceptable, just look at all my engines that run fine why would I want anything better apart from willy waving?

Alex, I used to have a Emcomat 8.6 which was the better quality geared head version of the compact 8 and I made a backplate to take other chucks which just had the short tapered register to match the Emco's nose

[Jon GibbsParticipant @jongibbs59756]

Posted by Thor on 28/03/2018 18:40:31:

Posted by Alex Mason on 28/03/2018 17:42:24:

Posted by Thor on 28/03/2018 16:30:48:

Hi Alex,

I have an ER-32 chuck from ChesterUK, on my chuck I get the same tool runout as Jason. When using very cheap collets the runout may increase to 0.02mm.

Thor

Thor, are you using the ER32s on your C8 lathe also? Did you make a custom chuck or find something compatible

Yes Alex, I am using ER 32 collets both on my milling machine and on my Compact 8, I did make the collet chuck for my C8, see here. I didn't quite get as low runout as for the purchased one (I'v got too many thumbs).

Thor

+1 for making your own collet chuck and buying a commercial bearing nut.

HH has a really good set of instructions here… **LINK**

Jon

[ZanParticipant @zan]

Cutters dropping out? Not fully gripped? Slow to use.? – quicker than changing an R8 collet no difference for a Clare ot clarkson type….How strange The ER system is extremely rigid and versatile, I rarely use anything else the inbuilt size variation makes it ideal for both imperial and metric cutters and any size of drill. My 32 system is also used in the myford as highly accurate collet system mush better than the draw in type which demands work close to the nominal size of the collet. I did have a screw in system but sold it as it was impossible to hold parallel shank cutters such as the cheaper ones obtainable at shows or any carbide cutter. Get the ER system you won't regret it

[Bernard ReillyParticipant @bernardreilly64467]

I recently purchased a ER 32 x 3 MT collet chuck from Bang Good.com at £18 approx. On checking with a DTI I same results as video posted. More that good enough for my needs

B Reilly Glasgow.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

I hope the 3 MT is better than the 2MT I got from them. It rattled in the machine socket.

After blueing it up with lines of marker and giving it a twist, it only fitted the socket at the innermost end. Nowhere near MT2!

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