Import 5c collect chuck question

[Ischgl99]

The prices really are no joke, but if the quality is there and the accuracy is there, what can be complained about? Pay once, cry once.

I agree completely, that’s what I usually do, but wished I bought more before they became so popular!

 

[Aaron_W]

I've not bought from Lost Creek, but often times the extra you pay "for the same item" is actually paying for somebody to open the box and reject those with obvious defects, somebody properly packaging the item for shipping, and then somebody answering the phone / email if you have a problem.

Example for me being a dividing head from Precision Matthews. Matt at PM basically admitted that theirs is probably made in the same factory as the cheaper ebay ones.
My experience was PM packed it in a heavy shipping carton and it arrived without incident. I've never had a need to test PMs customer service, but there are many examples of them trying to make things right.

Another poster bought the same dividing head off of ebay for maybe $100 less than I paid. Theirs was shipped in the lightweight display box which did little to protect a heavy (50lb) hunk of tooling from shipping damage. Theirs arrived with damage and they ended up spending weeks of back and forth with the ebay seller, before finally getting a refund, and then bought one from PM.

I've also bought from Little Machine Shop. Again, they basically sell the same import stuff you find on ebay, but it appears to me that they have people going through the inventory to do a second quality control check before shipping to the customer. They might even do a presale cleaning, because I've never received anything from them with the weird smelling oil or casting sand so common with import tooling.

 

[GrifterGuru]

I agree completely, that’s what I usually do, but wished I bought more before they became so popular!

Must admit, I spendout on quality tools of specific brands, even with power tools.

I did opt for some "el-cheapo" bicycle related tools for "lending" to people so I dont "lose" my good quality ones. Nothing specialist, but at least a little bit more than bargain-basement quality. Cant stand junk tools.

 

[GrifterGuru]

I've not bought from Lost Creek, but often times the extra you pay "for the same item" is actually paying for somebody to open the box and reject those with obvious defects, somebody properly packaging the item for shipping, and then somebody answering the phone / email if you have a problem.

Example for me being a dividing head from Precision Matthews. Matt at PM basically admitted that theirs is probably made in the same factory as the cheaper ebay ones.
My experience was PM packed it in a heavy shipping carton and it arrived without incident. I've never had a need to test PMs customer service, but there are many examples of them trying to make things right.

Another poster bought the same dividing head off of ebay for maybe $100 less than I paid. Theirs was shipped in the lightweight display box which did little to protect a heavy (50lb) hunk of tooling from shipping damage. Theirs arrived with damage and they ended up spending weeks of back and forth with the ebay seller, before finally getting a refund, and then bought one from PM.

I've also bought from Little Machine Shop. Again, they basically sell the same import stuff you find on ebay, but it appears to me that they have people going through the inventory to do a second quality control check before shipping to the customer. They might even do a presale cleaning, because I've never received anything from them with the weird smelling oil or casting sand so common with import tooling.

The limited experience I have had with L.M.S has been all positive. Not sure how they would handle internationally based problems, but I have never yet had to find out. The 6 jaw I acquired from them came out the box, had a quick check, straight onto the lathe with narry a problem in sight. Will give it a few more runs, then strip/clean/rebuild like I usually do to ensure no swarf has got inside.

Other parts I have had have never had a trace of a problem either. Just wish they would ship a leadscrew over to the UK... Save me a lot of machining to modify a different leadscrew to suit.

Had thought about emailing them about it, but never have.

 

[Pevehouse]

are all the import collet chucks basically the same? look on ebay and they are like 150, look at lost creek machine they are 260, if they are the same i would rather order the cheaper one and spend the difference at lost creek on other bits and pieces im looking for
thanks!

I agree with everything said here. Strip,clean debur for sure. I sprung for the cheap eBay chuck since Chinese is Chinese. Have yet to do any work to it though

 

[Nutfarmer]

The Chinese collet chucks are junk. A three jaw chuck will hold a better tolerance. I tried two. All they were good for is a door stop. If you want anything that is not junk Buck is the only way to go. If anyone wants a Chinese collet chuck I have one I will give you. May all the worthless venders that sell this junk…….

 

[GrifterGuru]

Have looked at Bison 5C, but as noted, a considerably high cost for hobby use only and I decided to stick to ER collets for the time being. Acquired a decent set of collets + ER faceplate, spanner, bearing nut and bar-handle for a shade under £420

 

[Aaron_W]

The Chinese collet chucks are junk. A three jaw chuck will hold a better tolerance. I tried two. All they were good for is a door stop. If you want anything that is not junk Buck is the only way to go. If anyone wants a Chinese collet chuck I have one I will give you. May all the worthless venders that sell this junk…….

With collets tending to be used for more accurate work, I think it is safe to say that is a time it is worth paying more for better quality.

A 3 jaw or 4 jaw chuck can be forgiven some error if cheap enough, 4 jaw because you can adjust, and 3 jaw because 3 jaw isn't for super precise work.

I've got a beater set of cheap ER32 collets for use when it doesn't matter and quality set. The cheap set of 12 cost the same as just two of the good collets, but looking for sales even decent collets aren't prohibitively expensive ($12-20 ea for ER32). Buy a few critical sizes, add a few more to fill in the gaps as needed or when you have a little money burning a hole in your pocket.

Now 4NS collets... I am glad that there are people willing to sell used sets out there, because I'm not paying the $300-400 per collet that those cost new.