A couple of years ago, there was a Chinese TTS ER20 collet chuck that got pretty good reviews on accuracy, fit and finish. Now I don't seem to be able to find them. Has that source dried up?
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A couple of years ago, there was a Chinese TTS ER20 collet chuck that got pretty good reviews on accuracy, fit and finish. Now I don't seem to be able to find them. Has that source dried up?
Wholesales 10pcs C3 4 ER20 1 38 Straight Collet Chuck Holder CNC Milling Lathe | eBay
Try this link, the site shows that its an active listing.
They dont always have all sizes available but usually er11 and er20.
I use the er20 and er11 varieties, no problems with excessive runout.
I also bought some Chinese endmills, the ad says they are good for wood or aluminum, I have about 3000 wood blocks to make and I didnt want to ruin expensive cutters on them, so I bought 10 just for a test. They work suprisingly well, the edge seems to last as long as a HSS quality cutter, they were less than 20 dollars for 10 of them delivered! They are 3 flute 6mm and not center cutting, but on wood that doesnt make much difference in my application.
Acids in the wood destroy the sharp cutting edge quickly, carbide or HSS if the wood is not very dry, but at this price just replace the cutter.
6mm x 6mm 3 Flute HSS Aluminium End Mill Cutter Extended CNC Bit Sale - Banggood.com
The Novakon guys have some for $15 a pop that are non-ATC holders. Very reasonable.
Still available as of about 5-6 months ago. You may have to dig a bit on e-bay. The seller was Bsello68, the collets were YinSheng. Still out there, still tagged with the graphic, but a different seller name now. Ebay seller is now "cncmachinetool", but the YS and bsello68 graphics were on the pictures last August. 10 buck a piece plus 6 shipping (by DHL) so 16 bucks total cost. Last set I bought met the same specs as the originals, slightly different packaging but pretty clearly the same suppiler.
So reading this thread reminded me that I had purchased some of these when this subject first came up, and had good results from them. I decided I could use some more and ordered from the link in the earlier post. I don't quite know how they pull this off, because the seller doesn't claim to have his stock pre-positioned, but I received my order in 47 hours! Ordered on eBay at 2:22 pm, April 24th, came some time before my 1:30 mail delivery today the 26th. Didn't come in the mail, but when I walked out for the mail the kid next door met me with the package.
Terry
I bought some of the cheap TTS copies and checked them for accuracy compared with the genuine Tormach product.
They were much less accurate. See my report PDF below.
Keen
Precise Bits published a slick approach to getting a collet concentric for routers. Amazingly crude in appearance with apparently good results. Haven't tried tuning up any of the cheap collets, as I've had very good results with the collets Bsello68 sells using small diameter (.032) cutters. The Chinese suppliers seem to have proliferated, though, and what's available may be a case of Jet vs Harbor Freight: all from the same factory (reportedly, anyway) but the better stuff goes to one supplier and the looser spec stuff goes elsewhere.
Added: I do use precision collets, and I do check new holders with a carbide dowel and v-block. Every one, no matter the source.
I too have been running the Bsello ER20 collet holders for a few years and have not had any issues with run out in the 24 that I had. I routinely use them, with quality CNC collets, to hold 1/8" shank tools and 1/4" tools. Like you GLCarlson I have had no issues running 0.032" 4 flute ball and even 0.020" ball mills with as good of a surface finish as the Tormach can muster. Maybe there was a bad batch of them at some point that hit New Zealand, but the ones that I purchased have been good to me. Here's a quick shot of some intricate work being done with el' cheapo ER20 and a Kyocera 1/32" ball mill.
Attachment 318292
I'm like the other folks, I was quiet happy with the original batch, my only testing was checking the run out with a dowel pin chucked up and the Bsello holders tested essentially the same as my Tormach ones. I will check the new batch and let everyone know if they are the same or different.
Terry
My shipment also came in roughly 2 days. Amazing! (DHL was the shipper)
I find it pretty amazing that they were able to ship something from China to my door in New Mexico faster than Tormach in wherever they are. I also seem to recall calculating that the shipping cost was lower than Tormach's as well, but I think Tormach has rejiggered their shipping pricing since then.
How do you folk feel about the ethics of buying copies versus supporting the original inventor and developer?
I am not being trying to be smart here - there are pros and cons... it is a genuine question.
Keen
Well seeing as the ones that I purchased were the 1.38" OD versions I would have to say that I bought an original design in its own right :-). Amazingly I find that they still repeat in Z within a thousandth of an inch with my manual draw bar tightening. I don't copy other folks IP and turn it into a salable good-period. Unfortunately there is no reciprocity in the developing world and it can be quite challenging to identify counterfeit products from the "real thing" these days. If someone wants to take the chance and purchase from a 3rd party who am I, as an individual, to interfere with their risk taking behavior? As I get older I can attest that the concept of Karma is becoming more tangible to me on a daily basis.