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I'm new to the world of Machining. I'm getting my lathe and mill set up in the near future. I have a Craftex CX701 lathe. I would really like to get a 5C Collet Chuck for my lathe. It would be a very helpful addition to my lathe for the type of projects I have in mind.
My problem is I don't know how to tell which 5C Collet Chuck will fit my lathe.
What are the things I should be looking at to find the proper chuck?
Trevor
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Your lathe comes with 125mm diameter chucks. That's about 5" so you should be able to use something like this:
http://www.shars.com/products/toolholdin...llet-chuck
You'll have to make a back plate in order to mount it to your lathe.
Ed
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Hello
I would not go for a 5C chuck system its clamping range is very limited, The ER system is far superior and ER40 would be a decent size on your new lathe or the ER32 would work nicely too. ER collets depress in either direction by about .018 (IRRC) and the 5C is about .005 at a stretch. Moral of the story " more holding range in odd size stock"
your going to find in this hobby tooling is going to consume all your hobby bucks in the end your tooling could quiet easily be worth more than your machines you originally purchased to make the things you want to make. Collets are in my opinion one area where you have to invest time and money, you need a plan on what system you want to purchase make a shop standard then purchase quality products.
Our hobby revolves around one central never ending problem " Work holding"... and collets play a big role in quick accurate solutions to this ...
My advice is do your research on collet systems, if you have a mill make sure the system works on both. The ER system is the most expensive for the collets themselves but there benefits outweigh the high original investment.
One more note on ER collets home made chucks are very easy to make yourself all you really need to buy is the clamping nut as they are so cheap on ebay its not worth trying to make it is a pretty complicated part to make.
Anthony.
ieezitin, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jan 2013.
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The following 1 user Likes Mayhem's post:
Roadracer_Al (06-13-2017)
(06-09-2017, 10:18 PM)Cross Slide Wrote: ...I would really like to get a 5C Collet Chuck for my lathe. It would be a very helpful addition to my lathe for the type of projects I have in mind...
What sort of projects do you have in mind?
Hunting American dentists since 2015.
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(06-10-2017, 09:19 AM)Dieezitin Wrote: Hello
I would not go for a 5C chuck system its clamping range is very limited, The ER system is far superior and ER40 would be a decent size on your new lathe or the ER32 would work nicely too. ER collets depress in either direction by about .018 (IRRC) and the 5C is about .005 at a stretch. Moral of the story " more holding range in odd size stock"
your going to find in this hobby tooling is going to consume all your hobby bucks in the end your tooling could quiet easily be worth more than your machines you originally purchased to make the things you want to make. Collets are in my opinion one area where you have to invest time and money, you need a plan on what system you want to purchase make a shop standard then purchase quality products.
Our hobby revolves around one central never ending problem " Work holding"... and collets play a big role in quick accurate solutions to this ...
My advice is do your research on collet systems, if you have a mill make sure the system works on both. The ER system is the most expensive for the collets themselves but there benefits outweigh the high original investment.
One more note on ER collets home made chucks are very easy to make yourself all you really need to buy is the clamping nut as they are so cheap on ebay its not worth trying to make it is a pretty complicated part to make.
Anthony.
Anthony.
Thanks for the info. I did look at the ER style of collet last fall. But since then I already purchased a complete set of 5C collets. It's a 57 piece set from 1/8"-1" in 64th increment. I also have a set of 5C collet blocks and a 5c collet stop. I definatly don't want to change now!! Lol.
My mill uses R8 collets. Unfortunately both of my machines are not going to use the same collets. But luckily my mill came with a complete set of R8 collets.
I was just thinking a Collet Chuck would also be a useful addition to the collection.
Trevor
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(06-10-2017, 09:40 AM)Mayhem Wrote: (06-09-2017, 10:18 PM)Cross Slide Wrote: ...I would really like to get a 5C Collet Chuck for my lathe. It would be a very helpful addition to my lathe for the type of projects I have in mind...
What sort of projects do you have in mind?
Mayhem.
There are several projects I would like to build that use round bar stock.
One project I will be doing is taking some round 1/2" bar and turning it down on one end to make pins for a building fixture of an aircraft my friend is starting to build.
All the pins need to be the exact same length. So with the collets and the stop installed it should be a fairly easy job. But he also needs 1500 of these pins. So I want a set up that is easy to work with.
Trevor
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(06-09-2017, 10:59 PM)EdK Wrote: Your lathe comes with 125mm diameter chucks. That's about 5" so you should be able to use something like this:
http://www.shars.com/products/toolholdin...llet-chuck
You'll have to make a back plate in order to mount it to your lathe.
Ed
Ed.
Thanks for the info. That makes sense now. I didn't know what style of mounting I needed. Building a backing plate shouldn't be to tough.
Trevor
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I have one of those 5C collet chucks, with a D1-4 mount, I spent about a week, to get it to run "true", works good, but I actually use it about 3-4 times a year. Knowing what I know now, and was going to do it again, I would have gone ER40, instead.
jack
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(06-12-2017, 06:46 AM)the penguin Wrote: Knowing what I know now, and was going to do it again, I would have gone ER40, instead.
Yup, I agree Jack. That's what I did but I think Trevor has the 5C collets already.
Ed
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06-13-2017, 07:58 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-13-2017, 08:00 AM by the penguin.)
(06-12-2017, 05:33 PM)EdK Wrote: (06-12-2017, 06:46 AM)the penguin Wrote: Knowing what I know now, and was going to do it again, I would have gone ER40, instead.
Yup, I agree Jack. That's what I did but I think Trevor has the 5C collets already.
Ed
Yeah, I realize that, already have the collets, make the collet chuck, a wise decision, The way it was explained to me was, a 5C collet is a work holding collet, where the ER series collets systems, are both a work or tool holding collet. Its the reason, you don't see mills with 5C spindles of spindle collet chucks. The ER system is just more versatile.
All that being said, I have 5C collets, they are incredibly handy to have, I think OP's question on a 5C collet chuck is important information, it just if I knew what I know now, I never would have bought in the 5C system, I would have gone ER40.
I have the 5C chuck he was asking about, it can be a very workable tool, I did find it incredibly fiddly to set up, to get it to run true, but once there it works great, but like most tools it has limitations.
jack
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