13 Piece R8 Collet Set Is It Enough? ??

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umahunter

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I have a jet mill drill up until now I've just been using the couple collet that came with it 1/4 3/8 1/2 I would like to get a complete set and I'm trying to figure if a13 piece 1/8-7/8 by sixteenth would cover most of what a person would need what say yee of more knowledge :) ???
 
The 13 piece set would be more than enough. You will notice that you can generally cover everything you need with 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", and 3/4". A 3/8" end mill can be bought down to a 1/8" (or smaller), so it's unlikely you will use a 1/8" collet for an 1/8" end mill. However there will be times when you need the off size collets.

R8s are cheap, so I would get the 13 piece set.

Jason
 
I agree with Jason. I wouldn't bother with a 1" R8 as the tool is clamped in the collet outside the spindle, really scary set up. If you have something with a 1" or 1 1/4" shank I'd use and end mill holder.

Bruce
 
I am what would be considered a newbie. I have only been machining about a year and a member of the "club" 3-4 months. I have the 13 piece set and so far it has covered everything I've needed. Not to say that later on I may run into needing some metric collets, but for now the 13 piece set is a good place to start.
Bill
 
I only have 11 and it covers all the needs I've had so far.

Just saying.
 
I concur with the other posters, I got a set when I got my mill back around 2000 and there have been a very few rare times that I wish I had anything more. Having said that, I have used my 1/8" collet many times as I do a lot of small work with 1/8" carbide cutters.
Go for it and you should not be disappointed.
 
Since getting a set of R8 collets for the mill, I rarely use a chuck any more. I have a 24 pc. set x 1/32" which allows me to use any of the drills with a collet. The advantage is by removing the chuck from the mix, the drill tip is closer to the spindle which gives you more vertical work space. This can be an important factor on a small mill. The collets also have better runout specs. than typical chucks.

R8 collets will draw down 1/32" from nominal size. This gives me the capability of mounting any diameter from 1/16" up to 3/4". Depending upon the width of the slots in the collet, you could have a problem drawing down a 1/16". Even if you could clamp an 1/16" undersized shank, the grip on the shank suffers and runout is increased.

If you elect to buy a set by 1/16", you could fill out the set later but it would most likely require you to buy individual collets as sets by odd multiples of 1/32" are rare, if they exist at all. I made that mistake when I bought my 5C collet set.
 
Aw, come on, guys! We need to sell him on getting round collets in 1/64" increments, plus full sets of hex and square collets as well. Every style of emergency collet, too. 8^)

Reality check: I have a 13 pc. set of import collets by sixteenths, have only used about half of them. I also have a few NOS Lyndex collets in perfect condition in sizes 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, and 3/4" that I got cheap in a couple tool lots and keep rat holed for high precision work and where I am not likely to trash them. I have only used the 1/2, 5/8, and 3/4" of those, and if you are careful with your tooling choices those three sizes plus a 1/4 and 3/8" are really about all you need...

However, I do have a bunch of older end mills in good to new condition and some of them have sixteenths shanks. Haven't needed to use them yet...
 
13 would be 6 more than I have had for the last 6 or 7 years! I just make sure the end mills (and other tools) I buy have shanks to fit the collets I have. Although I have been slowly upgrading to Tormach's tool system and ER collets to enable accurate tool length offsets.

Made a collet rack for the R8s by boring appropriate sized holes (1"?) in a piece of aluminum angle, powder coating and bolting it to a near by wall.
 
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