REGO-FIX HK clamping nut?

[mikey]

My tool envy syndrome now has acquired a top-of-the-drawer swiss-made clamping nut.

Who woulda' thunk that a nut could inspire such happiness and confidence! Rego-Fix - really, really good stuff.

Congrats!

 

[Cadillac STS]

Today I received the new Clamping nut from REGO-FIX. It is their latest: Hi-Q ERB32 for ER 32 collets. Just like the one that did NOT work for me, the new one has a friction bearing ring. UNLIKE the one that didn't work for me, the the lip of the friction bearing ring is ECCENTRIC and is marked with a dimple where you insert the tilted collet. Then the collet just snaps in. Then is closes down onto the threaded collet chuck. To get maximum gripping, REGO suggests using a torque wrench. For my LMS collet chuck hitched to a Grizzly 7X12, my pin-spanner works fine by hand. I tried it on some of the small diameters (like 0.083"), and I could not make the rod budge in the collet no matter how hard I tried.

Happy ending. My tool envy syndrome now has acquired a top-of-the-drawer swiss-made clamping nut.

Would someone describe how to use a torque wrench on the collet? Is there a special torque wrench for it? How to set up a standard one wo work?

I thought about making a deep socket adapter with a 1/2 inch square on the bottom for a torque wrench. Is this tool available? Needs to be deep enough for the stick out of the tool.

 

[jouesdeveaux]

Would someone describe how to use a torque wrench on the collet? Is there a special torque wrench for it? How to set up a standard one wo work?

I thought about making a deep socket adapter with a 1/2 inch square on the bottom for a torque wrench. Is this tool available? Needs to be deep enough for the stick out of the tool.

REGO has some info on it on their web site.

 

[Ken from ontario]

I just tighten it well enough so when I go to loosen it I'd need to exert some force to release the nut. practice makes perfect.

 

[mikey]

Would someone describe how to use a torque wrench on the collet? Is there a special torque wrench for it? How to set up a standard one wo work?

I thought about making a deep socket adapter with a 1/2 inch square on the bottom for a torque wrench. Is this tool available? Needs to be deep enough for the stick out of the tool.

It appears that the torque wrench adapters are made to fit a specific type of torque wrench. The one that Techniks uses is made by Norbar and most adapters made by Parlec, Rego-Fix, Techniks and others all fit this type of wrench. It just happens to not fit the ones most of us already own. I have Sturtevant-Richmont and Precision Instruments torque wrenches; they are an industry standard that are used in many factories and the auto repair industry but none of the torque adapters for ER collets fit them.

I have not been able to find an adapter that will work with a standard 3/8 or 1/2" drive torque wrench. They do make some with a square drive hole broached into a spanner but I'm not sure how accurate they are.

The bottom line is that if you want to accurately torque an ER nut then you have to buy a Norbar torque wrench and the adapter to fit your nut. Stupid, yes, but that is the reality. Now someone will come along and tell us that you can make one and do this or that calculation but let's see the verified confirmation of torque values before we all jump, okay?

To torque an ER nut properly, you should use a fixture to hold the chuck and then torque the nut with a torque wrench with the proper adapter. Trying to do this with the chuck in the milling or lathe spindle is difficult and probably inaccurate. However, that is how most of us do it, sans the torque wrench.

 

[Buffalo21]

I drilled a 3/16” hole in the side of the R8 x ER32 collet chuck, so I could use a pin wrench (swing type) to tighten/loosen the retaining nut. I found this to be the easiest and most convenient method, for me to get the end mill tight in the ER collet.

 

[Bob Korves]

I just tighten it well enough so when I go to loosen it I'd need to exert some force to release the nut. practice makes perfect.

Ken, you might be surprised at the torque specs for ER collets. The larger ER collet sizes call for some hefty pulls to be at the recommended torque.

 

[Ken from ontario]

Ken, you might be surprised at the torque specs for ER collets. The larger ER collet sizes call for some hefty pulls to be at the recommended torque.

I don't doubt that Bob , if the proper torque wrench wasn't so out of reach for us hobbyists I wouldn't hesitate to get one, I happen to have a strong grip in my left hand lol.
I do admit when I first got the ER chuck I underestimated the necessary clamping force but I blame some of it on the cheap ER nut that came with it.

 

[Cadillac STS]

I got an ER 25 ball bearing collet nut. Nice to see it work with the tightening pulling the collet directly down as the bearing turns instead of tightening while rotating directly on the collet.

Probably imperceptible difference in performance in my hobby use situation but seems like a nice way to go.

 

[Bob Korves]

I don't doubt that Bob , if the proper torque wrench wasn't so out of reach for us hobbyists I wouldn't hesitate to get one, I happen to have a strong grip in my left hand lol.
I do admit when I first got the ER chuck I underestimated the necessary clamping force but I blame some of it on the cheap ER nut that came with it.

Torque is a pretty simple thing to test roughly, without specialized torque wrenches, to get in the ball park. Torque is measured in foot/pounds, or in newton/meters. Using the imperial system, if you are pulling from one foot distance from the spindle center line, with one pound of force, then you are placing one foot pound of torque on the nut. 40 pounds of pull at one foot is 40 foot pounds. 80 pounds at 6 inches is 40 foot pounds. Simple arithmetic. So, take the wrench you are using for tightening your collets and drill a hole in it near the end of the handle. Measure how far that is from the spindle center line. Get something simple like a spring fish scale, hook it in the new wrench hole and pull on the handle hard enough to reach the torque you are looking for, using math to find the needed pull. You would not need to do this every time, just do it to get a good feel for the actual recommended tightening force. You could also put a square hole in the handle and use an actual square drive torque wrench to tighten the collet, and that works. Kind of awkward, and requires doing the math for the compound torque of the compounded wrenches. I'm sure there are other ideas. I do not use ER collets, so far, but I know for sure that I would not buy a dedicated torque wrench for them if I did have them.