Morse taper collets

[Penultimate]

Greetings
Does anyone use Morse taper collets to hold parts in the lathe? I've seen other spring collet set ups and I use one on my mill. However, Morse collets seem handy because they eliminate one level of potential runout between the lathe bore and the part.
Thanks

 

[Curly]

We have a set to fit the #2 Morse taper in our wood lathes headstock. They hold well as long as whatever you mount is within their size range, in fact they can hold so well you may need to tap the drawbar (bolt/all thread in our case) with a soft hammer to get it out. No loss of bed length if the lathe is small. There is no chuck to get in the way of tools. Closed end mandrels work well in them. Nice and solid and as you mentioned minimal if any runout.

A little hint. If you like to make replacement finials etc., use a dowel or tenon cutter to size them round to mount in the collet.

 

[rherrell]

You need a drawbar for those so it would eliminate the thru hole and limit the length of your blank.

If you use a Beall or a Beall type collet chuck it eliminates the headstock bore because it seats against the spindle backplate. Check the runout on your backplate, it should be under .001"

 

[HamTurns]

I use Morse collets all the time, they're very handy.

That's all I use for pen making if I'm using the mandrel (compared to between centers).

I have a few sizes, at about $7 each they're affordable too.

Happy Turning
Tom

 

[randyrls]

They are handy, but have limited use. These type of collets only grip on a particular size. The size must be within .005" or so. As you say, the MT collets are used in milling where end-mill shanks only come in a few sizes.

ER32 collets are more useful as a set of 18 metric collets will clamp from 3mm (~1/8") to 20mm (~>3/4") no matter what size the work is.

 

[Penultimate]

Thanks for your helpful comments. I think I'll try some morse taper collets. My metric size range ER25 collets work well in my mill. I don't need a drill chuck.

 

[Paul in OKC]

If you are turning tenon to hold onto anyway, I think they would work just fine. I have thought about picking some up myself.