I have a shiny new-to-me Tormach mill and I'm ready to start breaking end mills and splashing coolant all over the room, hopefully with some usable parts emerging at some point.

Pardon the completely naive newbie questions -

How much torque should I be applying to tighten ER20 and ER32 collets? Does the end mill shank diameter matter?

Should I add anti-seize or grease or oil to the threads of the TTS ER collet holder that grips and squeezes the collet?


Maritool sells a torque wrench (for $168) and a wrench head for ER20 collets for another $57 and a different wrench head for ER32 collets for another $57, but that seems like a lot of expense and precision for a guy like me who just wants to make big pieces of aluminum into smaller pieces of aluminum without an end mill slipping out and flying across the room.

Their FAQ page suggests oiling the holder's threads and using 50-55 ft-lbs for ER20 and 90-110 ft-lbs for ER30 ... with the caveat to reduce torque value 40% when clamping on shanks 30% smaller than the collet's maximum capacity. I have a set of ER20 collets that includes 1/16" 3/32" 1/8" 3/16" 7/32" 1/4" 5/16" 3/8" 7/16" 1/2"

70% of 0.5" is 0.35" which is between 5/16" and 3/8" so I assume this means
30-33 ft-lbs for 1/16" 3/32" 1/8" 3/16" 7/32" 1/4" 5/16"
and
50-55 ft-lbs for 3/8" 7/16" 1/2"