I've been making something like a 3/4" cross-drilled brass spacer that requires spotting then center drilling 1/2" round brass before I part it off. After a couple hundred pieces, I'm sick of swapping two different bits into my tailstock Jacob's chuck. This is on an MT2 tailstock in my HF 3-in-1.
I'm looking at tailstock turret that takes 5/8" straight shaft tooling. Looks like I can get a couple of collet chucks that can be mounted with the bits I need, or use Jacob's chucks.
But are those import tailstock turrets rigid enough? I'm a far far cry from precision machining, but I do need a fairly well centered hole, and the business end of my tool is going to be a long ways from the actual tailstock.
Then I see they make quick change collets. How quick are they? It looks like you have to unscrew a retainer nut to swap collets, and that would take longer than getting things in and out of a single Jacob's chuck. They look nice and stiff, but slow. If I'm missing something let me know.
I also saw quick change tool post, but those aren't a super good option for what I'm doing.
Any suggestions or experiences are welcome.
thanks