Making A collet Chuck For The Lathe

G'day everyone,

In this video I will be making a new ER 32 collet chuck for the lathe. I previously bought a MT3 ER32 collet chuck for the mill, which I occasionally used in the lathe as a collet chuck. Whilst it did work, I was never happy with the rigidity of the style of chuck, and the limited length of stock that I could use with it was an issue.

In this video I will machine a new collet chuck from a solid piece of 80mm steel. This one will mount to the spindle nose directly, which should be much more rigid. I will also be testing out my new tool post mounted grinder to grind the 8 degree collet taper.

I hope you enjoy the video.

#machining #diy #minilathe

Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction
1:40 - Mounting and Facing The stock
2:44 - Machining The Recess For The Spindle Nose
3:55 - Drilling and Tapping The Mounting Stud Holes
6:26 - Machining The Collet Chuck Body
8:14 - Drilling Holes For The Tommy Bars
8:57 - Cutting M40 x 1.5 Thread For The Collet Nut
9:50 - Boring Through The Collet Chuck
11:10 - Cutting The 8 Degree Taper
13:10 - Grinding On The Lathe
14:10 Sanding The Collet Chuck
14:54 - Final Grind And Test

[HM-Projects]

Heh so many comments about the stickout. It'll be fine, it's probably the same or less than the 4 jaw. You do need to mark an alignment point on chuck and spindle face so you always mount it the same way. Otherwise you could see the runout increase. Nice job.

[steved]

You should be very proud and pleased, to be able to make your own collet chuck from a small billet of steel to that quality and accuracy on hobby machines is fantastic well done and Thank you for sharing it with you.

[mymechanics]

From the thumbnail I thought you customized an HSK100 collet tool holder. Great job on that small lathe. Reminds me of the good old days as a teenager using my uncles small table lathe in his garage. Obviously never as accurate and creative like you.

[hanrovisser]

At 9:19 you started the main threading process. In the future:
A - use some kind of tapping oil etc
B - Make sure to not cut with both sides of your thread tooling. This results in you tearing away material instead of cutting clean threads. I suggest either using the 5:1 method or by angling your cross-slide to 29 degrees.
The 5:1 method is 5 lines of travel (0.1mm) in the Y-axis and 1 line of travel (0.02mm) on the compound slide. (note that when using this method it is handy to start test fitting when you are about 1mm away from your total depth of cut.)

I am a junior toolmaker, thus take what I say with a grain of salt... but this was the way I was taught and the way I cut threads quick and easy whilst still obtaining a quality finish.

[ronwilken]

I don't know how long you've had your collets but when mine were delivered, also from China, although they were well packed in clear plastic, oiled and in the usual yellow containers they needed cleaning. I washed them in a shop solvent to get rid of the oil but then I noticed strings of metal in the grooves from the slitting saws used to cut the slots. Using a utility knife, scriber or dental pick and long nosed pliers I went over each and every slot, looking at a light through the slots to make sure all were clean. This certainly cleaned up a fair amount of previously measured run out. My ER 25 collets run less than 0.001" run out. Plenty good enough for what I do.

Do you have a video on your tool post grinder setup? Indeed to make one and am gathering ideas.

[warbirdwf]

I really enjoy your channel and your creative way to achieve great results with the little lathe. I have two of those lathes. They are used daily in my business of restoring automotive parts. They have their shortcomings but overall I'm pleased with the results I get from them. I've learned a lot from your channel and appreciate your time and effort in making these enjoyable videos.

[SamGlasser]

It is always inspiring to see what can be done using simple tools. The creativity is in the mind not so much the machine. Nice job.

[Soren_Marodoren]

Oooo, great idea. This is something I need to make. Thanks for sharing.

[tomsmith]

Love this video...being able to make your own chuck for this lathe is pretty cool. Three things I picked up here: One was manual feed single point threads with the bars. That seems like a great idea for such short threads. Another was using the dial indicator to get the taper right. Nice trick. Finally, using a drill for an improvised feed. Pretty cool. Thanks for those.

As for the comments about not using the calipers in the markers in the trades, you should see what people in the trades in the US do with tools, especially electricians. Lineman's pliers? They're hammers, pliers, and reamers. Screwdrivers? Punches and pry bars. At the end of the day, it's just a tool. Some put them in display boxes, some put a little wear on them. All good!

[KravchenkoAudioPerth]

If you are on a budget look for AA grade Chinese collets. There are very good ones available at reasonable prices. Nice job! Loudly agree with the advice to mark your collet and the headstock so you put it back the same way every time.

[MrJoeGarner]

I'm very impressed with the quality of cut and the power of this small machine. I'm getting lots ideas for making mine more rigid.

[johndilsaver]

This was quite interesting for me and has lots of good ideas one can use in a variety of projects. Thanks for posting!

[ypaulbrown]

very well done, inspiring me to make a collet holder like this....cheers from Florida, USA, Paul

[AndrewGilmour-qld]

love your power feed for the cross slide

[astridvallati]

Great explanations, with the added comments.
One point from my observations...the chuck holder could be fabricated from a round plate, for fastening to headstock, and a chuck thread or slightly more diameter bar fixed into the back plate ( pinned, lock screwed or welded); this could be made with HS bore diameter for supporting longer bars ( with changeable sleeves) matching the Diameters available in the Collet set.
I am looking at saving all the machining of the massive cylinder of solid.
The fabricated unit chuck can be Finished-machined True ( as can be done), and the whole attachment used for a CNC- style Process of Profile turning of Round Bar ( or adding CNC to lathe itself).
Have saved Video to Hard Drive for future Reference ( I have a Hafco 250G).

[JETHO]

I'd rather watch your channel than to watch Abom with his unboxing videos. Good job btw.

[ronwilken]

If you machine the inside back of the chuck to the dimensions of a 5C collet, you'll be able to use the 5C depth stop with the ER32 collets for making repetitive short parts. Just a suggestion. If you've already machined it larger than the 5C inner bore, I forget what the dimension is, you could always make your own depth stop to suit your ER 32 chuck. Just a suggestion.
Keen to see how you do the taper.

[anmafab]

This is a pretty ambitious project on your little lathe!

[yak-machining]

I wish you had shown the inner run out of the taper

[Workshopfriend]

Good job! Thanks for sharing. I note your comments about the quality of the collets. I too am looking for better quality items but data is lacking except for top quality which come at a price!