# Collet Chucks



## Leviblue (Mar 3, 2015)

I recall seeing discussions on collet chuck sets on the forum, but my search didn't result in the topic. 

I'm looking for a collet chuck set/system that would work with a 1x8TPI #2MT wood lathe head stock.
Curious what others are using.


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## KenV (Mar 3, 2015)

Good  Morning -  ER32 collet chucks thread on the headstock.  Jerry Beall hit the market with these some years back and sells a good product.   PSI sells a knock off that fits 3/4-16 and 1-8 headstocks.  Craft Supply has a similar one that fits 1-8 and 1 1/4-8 threads.  

I have Beall and CUSA versions.  Both are good.

None come with a full range of ER 32 collets,   Head to E-bay for a set of metric one or a full set of imperial ones.   18 in the metric set and 22-23 in the imperial set should cost less than $100.


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## Edward Cypher (Mar 3, 2015)

Beal, psi, woodcraft and CUSA all have collet chucks.  There is also MT2 collet chucks on ebay.  Look for the r32 collets and the metric set covers all diameters where as the sae set has some gaps.  Many get the basic collet chuck and then by the collets elsewhere including from amazon, ebay and a host of other places.  I personally have the psi one and am satisfied, I've used the beal one and it is a hair nicer but not sure it is worth the extra dollars.  That being said it is well made!!


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## knowltoh (Mar 3, 2015)

I bought mine at PSI.  Absoutely love it.  I purchased additional collets from Little Machine Shop.


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## Edward Cypher (Mar 3, 2015)

Posted late but +1 on what Ken said.


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## Charlie_W (Mar 3, 2015)

The collet chucks which fit into your #2 MT will fit more lathes but will not allow you to extend your work back through the collet Chuck into the headstock.

I have the Beall. Only one I have used...it is great!  Will probably pick up more collets in the future.


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## Leviblue (Mar 3, 2015)

Thank you everyone that posted. I see the r32 version mentioned, but aren't each brand specific to that brand?  Or are there any that interchange with another?  I'm guessing the collet insert and nut portion are machined differently for each. Sorry for the multiple questions. I don't want to buy one and find out I should have got something different.


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## KenV (Mar 3, 2015)

Leviblue said:


> Thank you everyone that posted. I see the r32 version mentioned, but aren't each brand specific to that brand?  Or are there any that interchange with another?  I'm guessing the collet insert and nut portion are machined differently for each. Sorry for the multiple questions. I don't want to buy one and find out I should have got something different.



ER 32 is an international standard and the collets are interchangeable with the holders.  One size external fits all.   The insides are different sizes.

There is an article in the library about ER 32 Collet size ranges.

There are different sizes with different ER series  - e.g. ER 16  ER 25, ER 40


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## Sylvanite (Mar 3, 2015)

ER-32 collets are made to an industry standard size.  Different brands of ER-32 collets will interchange between different brands of ER-32 collet chucks (provided that they are within spec).  I have two Beall ER-32 collet chucks, and an assortment of english and metric collets from multiple sources.  They are interchangable.  I also have an ER-40 chuck and a set of ER-40 collets.  The ER-40 collets are larger and will not fit in the ER-32 chucks (nor vice versa).

I hope that helps,
Eric


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## Leviblue (Mar 3, 2015)

Perfect!  Thanks again for the assistance.


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## Rich L (Mar 3, 2015)

Edward Cypher said:


> Beal, psi, woodcraft and CUSA all have collet chucks.  There is also MT2 collet chucks on ebay.  Look for the r32 collets and the metric set covers all diameters where as the sae set has some gaps.  Many get the basic collet chuck and then by the collets elsewhere including from amazon, ebay and a host of other places.  I personally have the psi one and am satisfied, I've used the beal one and it is a hair nicer but not sure it is worth the extra dollars.  That being said it is well made!!



If you get an "english" or "inch" set with 1/16" increments in diameter you will have gaps in holding diameter. If you get the full english set on 1/32" increments you get full coverage. The metric set on 1mm increments is, as noted above, complete coverage and requires fewer collets than the english or inch set.

(from the Rego-Fix catalog - the folks that invented the ER collet)

Cheers,
Rich


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## Mintman (Mar 3, 2015)

I have little machine shops collet chuck on my metal lathe and PSI's on my wood lathe.  I love them both and switch a set of mm collets between both.


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## Mack C. (Mar 4, 2015)

KenV said:


> Good  Morning -  ER32 collet chucks thread on the headstock.  Jerry Beall hit the market with these some years back and sells a good product.   PSI sells a knock off that fits 3/4-16 and 1-8 headstocks.  Craft Supply has a similar one that fits 1-8 and 1 1/4-8 threads.
> 
> I have Beall and CUSA versions.  Both are good.
> 
> ...


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## KBs Pensnmore (Mar 4, 2015)

*A word of warning, not all ER collets are the same!!!!!!*

I just went through all this with my metal lathe, ER collets from China are different than the standard, I bought an ER25 in 1/2"Vertex, (which I'm told is the European standard size) as it was urgent for a job.
When it got here, it was about half the length of the Chinese ones.
Left hand side one is Vertex while the right hand side is Chinese


Kryn


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## KenV (Mar 4, 2015)

Mintman said:


> I have little machine shops collet chuck on my metal lathe and PSI's on my wood lathe.  I love them both and switch a set of mm collets between both.



I had not looked for a few weeks -- 

Found the Metric set for $99 with standard shipping included (allesgute).  There were a some vendors with the full imperial for a few dollars less to $118 and then there were others for  higher prices

Search was for "ER 32 Collet Set"


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## Rich L (Mar 4, 2015)

KBs Pensnmore said:


> I just went through all this with my metal lathe, ER collets from China are different than the standard, I bought an ER25 in 1/2"Vertex, (which I'm told is the European standard size) as it was urgent for a job.
> When it got here, it was about half the length of the Chinese ones.
> Left hand side one is Vertex while the right hand side is Chinese
> View attachment 130235
> Kryn



That's interesting. "Clearly" the one on the right is not a DIN standard ER collet. There are lots of Chinese manufacturers (mainland and Taiwan) that make them to the standard so I, for one, would be interested to know what manufacturer made the weird one and calls it an ER collet.

Cheers,
Rich


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## KBs Pensnmore (Mar 5, 2015)

I bought it from a fleabay seller in Australia, as it had free postage and was where my metric set of collets came from. I'd also made a collet holder for my 7 X 12 lathe that suited my existing set of collets. I've not seen the DIN design pictures available on Ebay from China.
This post was just a warning to others that buy on Ebay, to check that it is suitable for their needs.
Kryn


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## lwalper (Mar 5, 2015)

I've got the ASE set from Woodcraft. Nice quality, but the gaps in sizes is sometimes frustrating.


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## Rich L (Mar 6, 2015)

KBs Pensnmore said:


> I bought it from a fleabay seller in Australia, as it had free postage and was where my metric set of collets came from. I'd also made a collet holder for my 7 X 12 lathe that suited my existing set of collets. I've not seen the DIN design pictures available on Ebay from China.
> This post was just a warning to others that buy on Ebay, to check that it is suitable for their needs.
> Kryn



I did some research on that collet you have and it's almost certainly an EX20 collet. That is a Schaublin design. Not too surprised that someone (the seller) who may have not known what it was, got it confused with the ER type.

Rich


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## LeeR (Mar 6, 2015)

knowltoh said:


> I bought mine at PSI.  Absoutely love it.  I purchased additional collets from Little Machine Shop.



I have the Beall chuck, but also used Little Machine Shop for the collets.  Great service.


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## KBs Pensnmore (Mar 6, 2015)

Rich L said:


> KBs Pensnmore said:
> 
> 
> > I bought it from a fleabay seller in Australia, as it had free postage and was where my metric set of collets came from. I'd also made a collet holder for my 7 X 12 lathe that suited my existing set of collets. I've not seen the DIN design pictures available on Ebay from China.
> ...



Thanks for that Rich. I'll check it out on Google.


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## lwalper (Mar 8, 2015)

So these ER32 collets will fit my WoodRiver collet chuck?


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## Charlie69 (Mar 8, 2015)

From what I've seen on the internet the wood river collet chuck doesn't use er32 collets.   If you want a MT2 er32 chuck they can be bought off the bay for $35 shipped.

The mt2 er32 chuck works great in the tail stock for drilling.


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## seamus7227 (Mar 8, 2015)

lwalper said:


> So these ER32 collets will fit my WoodRiver collet chuck?



IIRC the woodriver collet chuck holds ER25


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## lwalper (Mar 8, 2015)

Well that's nice to know! They're $30 cheaper :biggrin:


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## mredburn (Mar 8, 2015)

The er25 doesnt go as large as the er32


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## KenV (Mar 9, 2015)

mredburn said:


> The er25 doesnt go as large as the er32




I use a Kelton handle with ER 25 collets -  It will go to 5/8 inch round and ends about there.   

ER 32 heads up to about 13/16 max


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## lwalper (Mar 12, 2015)

Here's an interesting site with all sorts of collet sizes.


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## Leviblue (Mar 12, 2015)

I've been reading through the posts.  For my clarification, er25 and er32 collets will fit into a #2mt with a spindle head that's 1x8tpi?

Thanks in advance.


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## mredburn (Mar 12, 2015)

The collets are a size,ER 11,16,25,32, etc the collet chucks for those sizes come in mt2 and others or you can buy a collet chuck that is threaded to fit on a 1 x 8 like the Beal Chuck in that size.


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## Mack C. (Mar 12, 2015)

Leviblue said:


> I've been reading through the posts.  For my clarification, er25 and er32 collets will fit into a #2mt with a spindle head that's 1x8tpi?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


If the spindle head is 1 x 8 tpi, my choice is the Beall collet chuck which happens to thread on the spindle head and takes er32 collets. (no need for an MT2 arbour) It comes separate or with selected collets. Your choice!

The site that lwalper mentions below is far from my comfort zone as far as price goes.


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## mredburn (Mar 12, 2015)

if they dont say where the collets are made they are probably made in China. Since you can buy Chinese made collets a lot cheaper than they are selling them I would look at Ebay or Amazon, maybe Shars.com


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## lwalper (Mar 13, 2015)

I got this reply from Woodcraft Tech


> This chuck does not work with any other collets.


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## Mack C. (Mar 17, 2015)

I have these on order from tpactools.com--TP 210 er32 18 pc. metric, 3 mm --20 mm, $85, no mailing cost in the US.

Time will tell if they are worth the cost!


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## shastastan (Mar 24, 2015)

I have the PSI collet set and the quality seems fine for my purposes.  When doing some small projects. I have drilled a hole in the stock the size of store bought dowels.  I cut off a small section of dowel and mount it in the stock and collet.  This has held very well for my projects.  Of course, you have to be careful how much pressure you apply with your tool, but you can't be very forceful with small projects anyway. YMMV


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## Lenny (Mar 24, 2015)

Personally I wouldn't even consider a morse taper collet. It would severely limit what you can do with it.


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## Rich L (Mar 24, 2015)

Lenny said:


> Personally I wouldn't even consider a morse taper collet. It would severely limit what you can do with it.



_*Bare*_ Morse taper collets are indeed a pain because they're relatively fixed in size (they do have minimal clamping range) and you have to knock them out to change sizes. I hope you're talking about these bare collets. Morse taper collet _*chucks*_ (for ER collets) are easy. One of my lathes ( Jet 10-24 ) has a combination of threads for threading on a conventional jaw chuck and a MT3 internal taper that I use for my MT3 ER40 collet chuck.

I know that ER40 chuck adapters for small lathes are hard to find but I highly recommend the ER40 size range. The smallest conventional metric collet for that range is a 2-3mm collet. Plenty small. Large end is 29-30mm. Plenty big.

Cheers,
Rich


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## darrin1200 (Mar 27, 2015)

Mack C. said:


> I have these on order from tpactools.com--TP 210 er32 18 pc. metric, 3 mm --20 mm, $85, no mailing cost in the US.
> 
> Time will tell if they are worth the cost!



I would be interested to know what you think of the companies service Mack. That is the cheapest I've seen these.


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## Mack C. (Mar 27, 2015)

darrin1200 said:


> Mack C. said:
> 
> 
> > I have these on order from tpactools.com--TP 210 er32 18 pc. metric, 3 mm --20 mm, $85, no mailing cost in the US.
> ...


I've PM'd you!


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