Chinese ER20 Collet Chucks, Anyone have them?

[Jamespvill]

So I've been looking at ordering a batch of 10 ER20 Collet Chucks from Ebay, I've been looking at these ($160 for 10 including shipping) for a few months now and just haven't pulled the trigger because I'm not sure of the quality and/or tolerances on them and until recently I didn't have a mass of machinist folks to ask if they have any experience with them. Of course, I would always like to buy American, but at $16 a piece including shipping it's hard to resist the temptation....think of all the collet switching that will save me!

Anybody play with chinese collet chucks and have some knowledge to pass along?

 

[darkzero]

I don't even mess with China ER collets from the hit & miss stories I have heard from them being loose to unacceptable runout. I'm sure many out there have good experieneces but I'm not willing to find out as there are so many different unknown manufacturers.

I don't buy American, Polish, or Japanese either to save cost. I buy strictly Techniks brand, made in Taiwan. Their stuff is reputable for being pretty damn good for an asian import & they aren't expensive. That's what I'd recommend.

I buy Techniks for my ER & DA collets. FWIW my collet chucks are Bison & GMT. My R8 collets are China & I'm fine with them, got them free with my mill & there's only 3 sizes that I use occassionally anyways..

 

[martik777]

I have had no issues with my chinese ER25 chuck or collets (full set and chuck was <$60). CTCtools is reputable and with ebay buyer protection you should be ok.

His feedback reports on that chuck are all positive.

 

[stevecmo]

James,

What's wrong with the ER-20 collet set you just got last month?

Steve

 

[David S]

I have had no issues with my chinese ER25 chuck or collets (full set and chuck was <$60). CTCtools is reputable and with ebay buyer protection you should be ok.

His feedback reports on that chuck are all positive.

I agree with martik. I have an ER11 and ER25 set from CTCtools and am very satisfied. I haven't checked run out, but for what I do making clock parts it is just fine.

The collet holder has an MT2 taper to fit my lathe headstock.

David

 

[Don B]

Anybody play with chinese collet chucks and have some knowledge to pass along?

I may have just gotten lucky but I purchased 2 set (20 total) from the same seller and have uses and checked 14 of them, all are within the quoted tolerance, I was skeptical about quality so I ordered one set of ten first and after checking them I placed the second order, I'm very happy with them.)

 

[Jamespvill]

James,

What's wrong with the ER-20 collet set you just got last month?

Steve

Hey Steve, Nothing wrong with the collets or the collet chuck. The collets were cheap as dirt chinese ones from ebay and the collet chucks were Darkòn brand from Canada. I'm just a stickler for making things easier and easier....thus getting lazier and lazier as time goes by! :thinking:

- - - Updated - - -

I don't even mess with China ER collets from the hit & miss stories I have heard from them being loose to unacceptable runout. I'm sure many out there have good experieneces but I'm not willing to find out as there are so many different unknown manufacturers.

I don't buy American, Polish, or Japanese either to save cost. I buy strictly Techniks brand, made in Taiwan. Their stuff is reputable for being pretty damn good for an asian import & they aren't expensive. That's what I'd recommend.

I buy Techniks for my ER & DA collets. FWIW my collet chucks are Bison & GMT. My R8 collets are China & I'm fine with them, got them free with my mill & there's only 3 sizes that I use occassionally anyways..

I didn't know that Techniks was made in Taiwan, Im curious now about collet quality...I think I might have to allocate some of my income to some collet comparisons...

 

[Jamespvill]

I may have just gotten lucky but I purchased 2 set (20 total) from the same seller and have uses and checked 14 of them, all are within the quoted tolerance, I was skeptical about quality so I ordered one set of ten first and after checking them I placed the second order, I'm very happy with them.)

Seeing as I just might have a few extra dollars floating around I think that I might jump for a set, if for no other reason than to warn others about them after I realize that I made a $160 mistake!

I think that I'm going to also snag up some Tecknicks stuff to do some comparison.

You all tried to talk to me with reason and experience but the alluring savings provided by cheap chinese imports is too powerful for me to deny! :rofl:

Actually, I think I'll turn this into something educational more than anything. I'll post a write up when they arrive, and also try to include comparisons of some Darkòn, chinese imports, Taiwanese, and heck...might as well grab a Tormach one too since i'm throwing wads of money at my computer screen. I have no doubt that Darkòn and Tormach will be the utmost quality, but I am really curious to see how the other stand up to North American quality.

Anywho, thanks for the advice everyone! Stand by for the comparison...not sure how long the collet chucks will take to hop over the big blue.

 

[ronboult]

Hi James

I purchased the same set of 10x ER20 +2x ER25 Collet chucks ( BSello) and some ER20 & ER25 collets from CTC tools.

I am very pleased with the finish and accuracy of both the chucks and the collets. I can't tell any difference in runout between these and the R8 Collet that I use to hold them. I have dealt with CTC before and have found there products and service excellent. Their shipping is a little dear to Australia

I think you will like them.
Ron

 

[jatt]

Yeah I have a set and a collet chuck from the same supplier.
Would have to pull out the receipts, but I do remember tracking it from China, through a Hong Kong seller to me here in oz.

My experiences with them so far have been fine. I will say though that I havent worked to tight tolerances on anything thus far.

If I somehow stuff one, then its not such a big deal cost wise.