Looking to buy another collet chuck

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jttheclockman

jttheclockman

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Anyone have a good place to get a quality collet chuck these days. I see many on ebay but never sure about quality when you buy from some of those guys. Probably looking to buy some collets too and increasing my sizes above 1" Thanks in advance.

I have the Beall spindle type now, is it better to get another spindle type or a morse taper type??
 
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KenB259

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Little Machine Shop has one, that if I were in the market for one, would be my choice. A little pricey at 130.00, not sure if that includes and collets, but they say is concentric to within .0002. Also I'm not 100 percent sure it will mount on a wood lathe, something to look into for sure before buying. PS, John upon looking at this chuck a little closer, it doesn't appear to be for wood lathes. I cant really delete this post, so just disregard it all :)
 
jttheclockman

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Ken a good quality chuck will cost $$ for sure. I believe the Beall is around $150 with a few collets. Not sure what runout on a spindle VS a taper would be. If quality I would think very close. Anyone with some info is appreciated.
 
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anthonyd

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I just bought the ER32 chuck without collets from Beall for around $80 dollars several years ago and bought a complete metric set of collets from eBay. Very little runout. I was able to make several kitless pens with it on my wood lathe before I got a metal lathe.
 
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Mikeyt

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anthonyd said:
Hi John,

The Beall company makes a high quality collet chuck for wood lathes and are great to deal with.

Beall Tools - Lee Valley Tools

www.bealltool.com www.bealltool.com

Tony
Click to expand...

I have second the chuck from Beall. I bought the e32 for wood lathe works great got it with some different sizes and has been great. I also bought one for my metal lathe from little machine shop the collets are interchangeable on both lathes. It has been worth the few extra $$. I only wish I had done it sooner and not tried to save money on different chucks that just don't work as good as the beall collet chucks.


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JimB

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John, a disadvantage of the Morse taper style is you can't push your work piece far into the collet and into the headstock. So if you work with long pieces and only want a small section sticking out of the collet to work on and the rest of it going into the headstock then you will need a screw on type.
 
Curly

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John I wouldn't get a taper type because they need a drawbar to hold them into the taper if there is any chatter. You don't want it falling out do you? Also for the smaller diameters the material can be longer since it can pass thru the taper of the headstock.

You can't get ER32 collets over an inch, in fact they max out at 21mm/.827". If you want to go just over an inch you need to step up to the ER40 collet size (corrected to ER50 in post 10 below) and as far as I know Beall is the only one to offer a chuck that size. The Beall site isn't working for me so I can't link it.

littlemachineshop.com

ER Collet Sizes

This page shows the size and clamping range of the various size ER collets that we carry.
littlemachineshop.com littlemachineshop.com
 
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RobS

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Beall does make the ER 50, ER50 series collets have a capacity of . 218-1.339 inches

Beall Tools - Lee Valley Tools

www.bealltool.com www.bealltool.com

Beall ER 32, 1—21 mm (0.039—0.827")

Beall Tools - Lee Valley Tools

www.bealltool.com www.bealltool.com


Note, ER50 collets cost more, so may be worth buying both. and only using the ER50 for the larger sizes.

I run the ER32 Beall on my jet 1221vs, and the littlemachineshop holder on my metal lathe

metal lathe, er 32: https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=4231&category=
 
Charlie_W

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I've had the Beall collet Chuck for some years now....screw on version 1 1/4"x8tpi. I did purchase a set of metric collets which I like due to the varied sizes. I've not had any problems at all...it seems to run true and works like a charm...would definitely buy another from Beall if needed.
Do consider buying the Chuck body only and the metric set of collets.
 
jttheclockman

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Well that is a great point about the non hole in a taper chuck and to me that is important for certain projects. Glad I asked and it looks like another Beall is in order. I like the one I have but hate to have to keep changing collets when I work certain projects. I will look at the larger one for sure. A collet chuck seems to me the best way to get zero runout on segmented pieces. I have many other ways and chucks but always seem to go to the collet chuck. Thanks all and glad i asked.
 
Mr Vic

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Thanks for asking John. I was corresponding with one of my chapter folks on just this topic. He also recommended the Beall Collet Chuck. He had tried the Apprentice and had issues.

Thank you all for your input.
 
More4dan

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What tolerance do you really need on a manual wood lathe? I agree on the advantage of passing material through the spindle, especially on my metal lathe with an MT3 taper. An MT2 can only pass a little over 1/2". I have several ER32 chucks from www.banggood.com that are good quality for under $25. I use the MT2 chuck in my tailstock for accurate drilling/milling. I have a flange mounted one that lets me pass 20mm through the headstock of my 7x10 metal lathe, $60. And one with a straight shaft I use to hold taps that I modified to work like the LMS die holder and slides on the LMS MT2 die holder shaft. I also purchased a full set of 19 metric ER32 collets for $55. Quality is not 0.0002" but neither are either of my lathes. I find that I regularly use about half the set when making kitless pens. I rarely use my chuck anymore on my metal lathe, almost exclusively use the ER32 collets. I just use my 4 jaw chuck for diameters larger than 20mm, pin jaws on the wood lathe, 4 jaw independent adjustable on the metal lathe I can adjust to minimum run out.

Danny


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jttheclockman

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Dan everyone is different but I do alot of segmenting and when I use other chucks I can not get the true runout like a collet chuck because a collet chuck grabs the material all around it. Just the way i do things. I agree a wood lathe is definitely not a metal lathe or even a CNC and that is why I made that disclaimer in my latest pens I am showing. They are all handmade on a wood lathe using wood tools.
 
jttheclockman

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Goes to figure I just went to the Beall site and they are closed due to virus. I was going to get the big collet. Looks like that job is put on hold. May not see a few of those pens for awhile. That is a bummer. OK we move on.
 
Mr Vic

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darrin1200

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jttheclockman

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More4dan

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Another option could be a 4 jaw metal lathe chuck that has independently adjustable jaws. You would have to have a mounting plate to adapt to your wood lathe. This would allow you the move the blank to get the center exactly aligned with the center of rotation if you have a slight variation during assembly of the segmented blank. It can also "correct" runout of your lathe that would give more precise results than a collet. The collet does give a better grip with minimal marking of the Blank.

Danny

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Curly

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Danny there are 4 jaw independent knuckle banger chucks for wood lathes. Grizzly probably have them too. While you can dial in a perfect centre for drilling you would need a dial test indicator or dial indicator and magnetic base. Most people are unwilling to spend the time doing that or learning to do it. https://www.busybeetools.com/products/chuck-6in-4-jaw-wood-1in-x-8tpi.html
 
jttheclockman

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Yea that is an option but think what I need is that Beall chuck but do not know when they will open again. This virus has messed many lives up in many different ways. Thank the Lord I have been staying safe because it is all around my area. Just do not know what is safe any more. Thanks everyone.
 
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If you could adapt a 5C collet chuck, for me that would be the epitome of collet chucks. I know that I have read of them being adapted to the Sieg meta lathes, but my experience was with an ancient South Bend lathe. Little Machine Shop has them expensive and you would need a backing plate.
 
Curly

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I have a 5C for my metal lathe but it is a 13 x 37" so made for the weight. The 5C chuck is going to be a pretty big chunk of metal to be hanging off the spindle of a small wood lathe. LMS do have a 1 x 8 TPI adaptor plate to fit a 1 x 8 TPI spindle. The disadvantage of a 5C is the collets do not have the diameter grip range that an ER does so you need more of them to grip everything in a given range of sizes. The advantage is the range of collets beside round that make them very useful on a metal lathe and the holders and spin indexes for use on a milling machine. Once Beall is open again I think the big collet chuck will compliment the small one he already has.

The one thing this thread has shown ifs that there are many ways one can hold work to be drilled or worked.
 
jttheclockman

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Curly said:
I have a 5C for my metal lathe but it is a 13 x 37" so made for the weight. The 5C chuck is going to be a pretty big chunk of metal to be hanging off the spindle of a small wood lathe. LMS do have a 1 x 8 TPI adaptor plate to fit a 1 x 8 TPI spindle. The disadvantage of a 5C is the collets do not have the diameter grip range that an ER does so you need more of them to grip everything in a given range of sizes. The advantage is the range of collets beside round that make them very useful on a metal lathe and the holders and spin indexes for use on a milling machine. Once Beall is open again I think the big collet chuck will compliment the small one he already has.

The one thing this thread has shown ifs that there are many ways one can hold work to be drilled or worked.
Click to expand...
Exactly, Pete.
 
jttheclockman

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Got an email last night and it looks like Beall will be back open on Monday so will be able to get my order in then. Then I can get back to a couple of those segmented blanks I want to finish in this group of pens.
 
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jttheclockman

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eharri446 said:
John, you could go with this item: XtremeAmazing New 100MM DIAMETER ER-40 COLLET CHUCK Compact Lathe Tight Tolerance. You would need to get a 1"X8tpi backer plate from LMS to make it work. It takes collets up to 1 1/8 inch. You can get a complete set here: 12Pcs ER40 Collets Common Size 1/8 3/16 1/4 5/16 3/8 1/2 5/8 3/4 1 1-1/16 1-1/8. Even with the larger collets, you will still be limited to the size rod that will fit through an 2MT hole, which is less than 3/4".
Click to expand...
This is an older thread so will still answer, I got the Bealle large one and happy with it.
 
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