The Advantages of collet chucks MT mount vs splndle mount

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DavidA

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Everyone seems to agree that collet chucks are the way to go--I agree! The discussion seems to be Spindle mount against MT mount. The advantages of spindle mounts are greater depth and ?. The depth of the MT mount being limited to length of the collet plus about 1/4". The spindle mount varies according to the diameter of the project( due to MT in spindle). Clearly, the spindle mount wins this one. The advantages of the MT mount are flexibility, (can be used in headstock or tail stock) when used in the headstock it needs a draw-bar for safety(--no big deal) the Mt Mount with the proper collet) can be used to hold drill bits with greater accuracy than a drill chuck. A bear spindle collet chuck runs about $82.00 from Beall. I don't know if PSI sells a bear chuck or not, regardless you are limited to are 1 inch spindle without an adapter. The Beall can be ordered to fit your lathe. I purchased an 11 piece collet set (ER32) that covers from 3/32" to 26/32" from Ebay for $30.50. The #2MT collet chuck was $15.00. The shipping was $ 39.25 for insured Air Mail and customs fees ( from Hong Kong ) for a total of $85.00. Delivery time was 11 days. If I find that I need greater Depth, I can order a spindle mount from Beall. (total investment would be $167.00)

Not Trying to Start a War just a discussion,

DavidA
 
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I believe I would opt for the Spindle mount and keep the MT mount for drilling, the price on the collets is good. This way you can have your cake and eat it.
 
A MT mount in a clean hole will have the least amount of run out because it is the closest to the spindle. The further out, the worse it is, so a spindle mount will have a bit more run out, but run out is not much of an issue with making pens as long as you can keep the numbers really small.

I'm not crazy about using a draw bar...it's not that a spindle mount is much faster to change out a collet, but the spindle mount is less cumbersome to deal with. On a mini wood lathe the difference is minute, but on a larger lathe it's a pain messing with the draw bar and the collet at the same time being that the draw bar may be inside a housing unit...like on my lathe the housing unit where the draw bar would have to exit is a nearly 2 foot away.
 
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