Pledge: 5C ColletBlock

We are looking at purchasing a(n) X for the space. Pledge opened: date

Pledge leader: User:Toby

The item

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Budget estimation

Approximate target: £118
<quotes from suppliers>

Specification

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/5C-Fixtures/5C-Collet-Block-Set-2

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/5C-Fixtures/5C-to-ER32-Collet-Adaptor

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/5C-Fixtures/5C-Collet-Adjustable-Backstop-2

Additional information

There's been a bit of discussion about replacements for the collet blocks (square and hexagonal ER32's) kept in the metal shop toolroom. For those who don't know what these are, they are workholding devices which do a brilliant job of holding smallish parts for work in the drill press or milling machine, allowing all kind of useful tricks like indexing around to make square or hexagonal shapes on the part. Unfortunately the current ones have some drawbacks - the nut is a little damaged and doesn't always hold the collets properly, and they are beginning to lose their shape a little. We'd like to take this opportunity to replace them and also upgrade them to a 5C collet block. This holds collets of a slightly different design which we do not have, but for now at least we would buy it with an ER32 adaptor so that we can use our existing full range of collets. Advantages of this are:

• The block itself is longer, overcoming the usual hurdle of gripping the block only at the very end of the vice jaws without the floor to stop it twisting downwards

• A backstop screw can be used to control the depth of insertion when repeating the same operation on multiple parts - a huge timesaver

Additionally, having a 5C block would open the door to using 5C collets themselves in the future, which have a couple of advantages over ER (although vice-versa, ER is sometimes better than 5C)

• You can buy a variety of different-shaped collets, including square, hexagonal, internal expanding and thin part stepped collets

• They work with the quick release function on the collet block

URL's for the three parts we would aim to buy (the first 2 need to be bought together, the backstop screw is a very useful addition that we would aim for at the same time)

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/5C-Fixtures/5C-Collet-Block-Set-2

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/5C-Fixtures/5C-to-ER32-Collet-Adaptor

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/5C-Fixtures/5C-Collet-Adjustable-Backstop-2

Here's an additional link to the 5C collet selection from arc euro, showing the various designs that are available:

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/5C-Collets