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In article k.net, "Peter Grey" wrote:

"George" wrote in message
.. .
"Paul T." wrote:

I can't afford Hardinge or Royal but wanted to stay away from the chinese
cheapo ones so I bought a set of Lyndex 5C collets, thinking the quality
would be somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, the Lyndex collets
thread
too tightly on my collet closer (a Royal brand one) while every other
collet
I have (Hardinge, South Bend) threads on fine, so the problem is the
collets, not the closer. Snooping around the web I've found others having
problems with the Lyndex collets having oversize threads. On top of that,
the 1" Lyndex collet showed 0.0017" runout, while the Hardinge one showed
0.0005".
So the Lyndex collets are being returned. Does anyone know of "mid"
priced
5C collets that are good quality, or at least a source for import sets
that
aren't too bad?

Are the Enco brand ones they sell ok or junk?

I bought a set about 2 years ago. I assume that they are Chinese
though I don't know that for a fact. The problem that I have had with
them is that they tend to bust very easily.

Runout does not seem to be a problem nor is there any problem with the
thread as you describe with the Lyndex collets.

With the Enco collets, so long as you don't mind replacing one every
two or three months they are pretty cheap.

BTW, I've never-ever had a Hardinge collet bust on me.


How does one break a collet? I'm not asking to be a smartass. I'm new to
this and I don't know.

A friend of mine bought an entire set of Enco collets, checked them all
over for runout & sent back the bad ones, which they replaced. It took a
while, but he ended up with a decent set. This was a long time ago, and
I doubt they are the same manufacturer. He never had a problem with them
breaking. As a matter of fact, I've NEVER heard of anyone breaking a 5C
collet before.

I didn't buy Enco collets, because they don't have the internal thread
for a stop. I don't know if that is still the case. I have a very mixed
collection, built up over the years. Many are Lyndex, and they are fine.
I also have a lot of Fowlers, and they are also good. The Hardinge
definitely seem to be the best.

Doug White