mila_mitchell•4d agoRising Star

I lost $150 on a set of collets that were just a little bit off

I bought a cheap set of ER32 collets off an online auction last month thinking I was getting a good deal. Paid $150 for a full set from 1/8 inch to 3/4 inch. They looked fine in the pictures but when they showed up the runout was terrible. I put a 1/2 inch end mill in one and measured over 5 thousandths of wobble at the tip. That's way too much for any kind of precise work. I tried to clean them and check for burrs but the taper just wasn't ground right. Ended up chunking them in the scrap bin and ordering a proper set from MariTool instead. Has anyone else gotten burned by cheap collets like this or am I the only one who fell for it?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakewhite4d ago

Have you heard about the whole "Chinese collets are a gamble" thing that pops up on forums sometimes? I read somewhere that some of those cheap sets are ground on worn out machines, so the taper angle is never consistent from one collet to the next. Five thou is brutal though, that's basically useless for anything but a drill chuck. I figure at least you saved yourself headaches by tossing them instead of fighting with them for months.

margaret_bennett34d ago

Worn out machines? That explains a lot. Five thou is insane, I can't believe anyone ships collets that bad.