According to :
Hi, there is a pin, so if you slide the collet in it will engage on the
pin. What I haven't figured out is that the threaded ring that would
screw onto the collet is mounted on a ball race, so it is
free-spinning.

The 5C collet chucks which I have seen (e.g. the Bison ones)
have the threaded ring surrounded by a bevel gear which is turned by a
square chuck key in an appropriate socket in the side of the chuck
body.

If I were able to get the collet to screw onto this
collar, I could then tighten the outer knurled ring on the chuck which
pushes out the tapered collar (with the indexing pin) to compress the
collet. The only solution I have though of so far is to make a sort
of drawbar with a short thread on it to screw into the back of the
threaded ring. The short thread would allow me to lock it onto the
ring, thereby giving me something to turn on to engage the thread.
I'm pretty sure this isn't the correct method of mounting a collet in
the chuck, hence my post to see if I was missing something.

I've never seen one of these. Perhaps a bunch of detail photos
in the dropbox (http://www.metalworking.com) will give me an idea what
we are talking about.

Good Luck,
DoN.

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