Gary,

The ER system does not have an endmill locking system such as such as is
found in the Clarkson and Autolock systems, so, in theory it is
susceptible to allowing the cutters to work themselves out when making
heavy cuts. In practise, things seem different - at least for the
members of my model engineering club. One member, a retired toolmaker
of immense experience, uses MT collets in his Centec 2B. Another member,
the one who pointed my towards the ER system, eschewed the Clarkson
system in favour of R8, and then switched to ER. Neither have
experienced a cutter working out - nor have I. This could be because,
being hobbyists, we don't take the heavy cuts that are common in
industry. Of course, your mileage may vary.

I am part hobbyist and part gainful prototyper. Neither personality is
worried about taking deep cuts.

I called J&L for some advice and ended up ordering an ER-32 set that has
just arrived. My increased motivation was generated a couple of days
ago. I was removing my chuck (with which I am still on speaking
termsg) and was having trouble releasing it - then I suddenly had no
trouble releasing it. Ouch!!!!! (I always was a master of understatement).

I briefly considered going with a smaller ER chuck to get slightly
smaller collets, but liked the range of the 32 and decided to get it.
Looking at (vs. thinking about) the 3/32 inch collet, I am becoming more
convinced that I made the right decision.

The box also contains a DTI and the cheapest dovetail mount I could find
(for starters).

My edge finder (actually a combined edge/center finder) continues to
mystify me a little. Per Harold's comments, I will try running it a
little faster to see what happens. So far, I don't see quite what the
instructional movies on the net show. Instead of clear side movement, I
get more of a whobble. Is that what the combined finder does, or am I
just running it too slowly?

Bill