I got some Lyndex (made in Japan) collets back in the 80's and was impressed
with the quality, can't comment on the current crop. Why don't you consider
what I did when I started out. I got a Royal set in 1/16" sizes. Since
these are the most commonly used sizes, they get the most use. I then filled
in the rest of my collet rack over time depending on need and whatever deal
I came across.

Tony

"Paul T." wrote in message
...
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've heard good comments about Bison collets but I don't see them sold by
any of the tool discounters, does anyone know where the Bison collets can
be
purchased for reasonable prices?

Thanks,

Paul T.