Which collet system should I go for? | MIG Welding Forum

I'm certianly no expert but I'd vote for the ER system as well and just mount a chuck to a backplate, in a pinch you can mount it to the faceplate. Depending on the work you do you might never use the faceplate anyway.

Don't know how good you need it to be but some of the imported collets are excellent for the money,just buy from a reputable supplier.

My er40 collet Chuck from Arc is beautifully made with no appreciable runout.

The collets came from cutwell but are far Eastern, they are all within quoted spec (0.01mm runout) pay a bit more and it gets even better.

You could be set up with a er40 with collets up to 26mm for about £150

Lever systems are much faster for changing workpieces if that's a consideration however a bit harder to source collets and more expensive depending on system.



Er40 can actually go up to 32mm but above 26mm they are harder to find or quite expensive. Gloster sell them if your willing to pay £20 a pop for them.

With competitive price and timely delivery, Ruihan sincerely hope to be your supplier and partner.

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Hi Woodguy,

I'll try to answer and hope I don't add to the confusion.

I use 4 different collet systems in my shop: R8, 5C, MT3 and ER40.

R8: The most common (by far) taper collet used for milling machines in North America. Thus, the tooling is readily available and affordable in the new and second hand markets. I've never seen an R8 taper on anything but a mill. The collets require a draw bar to pull them up tight so they are closed end. The collet is released by backing off the draw bar and tapping it with a dead blow hammer.

5C: Quite common on production sized lathes, this is a self-ejecting pass-through collet. Though similar in appearance to an R8 the body is larger and the taper is slightly sharper and more abrupt. The outside far end of the collet is threaded for a draw tube that is connected to the locking/ejecting mechanism.

MT3/4: These are Morse Taper collets. The taper is rather shallow and locks quite firmly using a draw bar. They are closed end. Releasing the collet is similar to the R8 but may require a rather sharp smack to release as they can grip very tight because of the slight taper.

ER series: All of the ER series are similar in design, the difference is the physical size of the collet and capacity. These are a pass-though and self-ejecting design. The collet itself has two tapers and is shaped somewhat like a truncated diamond. A nut with a ring in it locks into a groove in the collet, the nut screws onto the chuck pressing the collet into the taper. The collets for each "step" (ER11, ER16, ER32, ER40 etc) are not interchangeable with each other.


The R8, 5C and MT collets have very little tolerance for off sized work. Your material/tool must match closely the size of the hole in the collet. The ER series is much more forgiving in this regard allowing as much as a millimeter variance in size.

There are many more collet systems used throughout history and the world but these are the most common, you will be able to find any of these at reasonable cost at any of the major tool vendors or on Craig's List/ebay.

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