5C Collet Chucks, Fixtures and Depth Stops · Dec 31, 10:09

We needed to have a quick, self-centering, fixturing system for a final operation of small, round parts that are made via our HF 8×12 CNC lathe. While there are some commercial fixtures such as the Yuasa 5C collet block fixture (5C Multiple Collet Chuck Block Yuasa #640-404) which accommodates 4 5-C collets, it’s also quite pricey at somewhere between $1,600 and $2,000. What’s nice about the system (aside from being able to buy and use out of the box) is that it’s squared up and made of meehanite cast iron. It’s a solid fixture:

There are others as well, sold through smaller distributors (not available from MSC Direct and the like)

Beere’s 10 UNIFORM 5C MULTI-COLLET FIXTURE

BTC (Boss Tool Works) 5C Boss 4 Position Collet Fixture

Lexair, Inc’s 65401 5C X 3 (3-up) Tri-grip Hydraulic Air Pressure Fixture

Clearly, for production purposes, this is the way to go (short of purchasing a CNC lathe with a live tooling, extra axes, etc..).

We decided to go the homebrew route yet-again by purchasing some Interstate-brand (Taiwanese import sold through MSC, Enco, etc..) 5C collet chuck holders. They typically come in the square and hex versions. There’s an additional cam-lock that can be purchased separately. Of course, there’s the option to buy the entire set of three.

The good news is that Enco has these on sale right now (probably in many Hot Deals catalogs throughout the year):
Model #SX235-7050 Unit price $40.95 (versus the MSC/Enco 09670118 Non Indexing – Collet Chucks & Fixtures Type: Square, with standard closer Collet Series: 5C for $24.98 – and that’s just one holder!). The normal price for the set is over $70!

You can use the hex holder for 60 degree operations or chuck it in your lathe in the standard 3 or 6-jaw chuck. I suppose you could also use the square one with your 4-jaw and true it up, but that sure seems like quite a bit of work!

These come in a nice plastic case for storage (actually better blow molded plastic cases than those from China).

And the contents:

Here’s a picture of the square chuck with a 5C collet inserted and a depth-stop (MSC 09682014 5C Solid Adjustable Collet Stops Type: 5C Solid Adjustable Collet Stop For Use With: 5C Collet Material: Steel). One of the questions we asked MSC was whether or not the depth stop could be used with the chuck AND the cam-lock system. They didn’t know unless a bin check was performed. We figured we’d take the chance. Worst case, we use a shorter bolt for the depth stop. That’s easier than making the threaded nut that screws into the ID of the 5C collet. Sure enough, it won’t fit:

We’ll be putting more info on our home-brew 5C collet fixture in the coming days. This should be an interesting project! Happy New Year!

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