Collet Closer - How Worn is Too Worn?

[SamI]

Hi guys,

I'm hoping for some advice.

I bought a lever operated collet closer off of eBay a week or so back. It's beginning to look like much less of a bargain!

The main bearing had seized and while I freed it up it was rough as and had a lot of play. I decided to do a complete strip down to fix the problem along with remedy any other issues whilst I was at it.

Anyway, the main body of the part seems quite worn. I guess the best way to determine if it's too worn would be to try it out but as it's in pieces and I'm at a stage where I'm questioning whether it's worth the effort I thought I'd ask for some input.



You can see some grooves worn by the locking dogs. What are peoples thoughts on this? Still usable or would I be better off making / sourcing a new one? I guess if this has worn significantly then chances are the dogs are worn also.

It was advertised as in good working order but I guess at this stage it's a bit late to go back to the seller now as I've had to machine the bearing retaining nut off the other end.

Thanks,

Sam

 

[P. Waller]

Simple, if it works it is not terribly worn, if it does not work and is unusable it then requires repair or replacement.

If you are a home user it is unlikely that you will open it and close it 500 times per day 5 days per week.
If it works use it as is.

 

[SamI]

As it stands it isn’t in a position to be reassembled and fully functioning so I was wondering if someone with experience may be able to tell me if it’s likely to cause problems before I invest time in repairgin it. Although I agree, if I could have got it back together I would have tested it out and only worried about it if I ran into problems.

As it is I have spotted two cracks in the pictured part so I’m not going to risk reassembly. I’ll remake that part from D2 tool steel and harden so it should be good enough for what I’m needing it for just now. I was thinking of making the locating bore for the closed position a tiny bit undersize to compensate for wear in the dogs. If that doesn’t work I can always skim it to dimension at a later date. On the plus side it means I can make all the threads metric!