Has anyone used this ER 40 plate

I was browsing ebay for lathe parts of course! I came upon this:New E40 ER 40 Collet Chuck Plate Fixture | eBay
It seems as though you bolt it up to a back plate and you have a low cost "collet chuck".
Please someone tell me if this is one of those too good to be true things. I am just now trying to get setup for collets but of course don't have much money. I am also attracted to the ER collets wider range of gripping per collet.
Doing some more searching and found a 23 pc collet set with a R8 adapter - I could use the same collets in my mill and lathe.

Your thoughts please.
thanks bryan

It may be fine, many of the guys here have bought Jeff's stuff and been satisfied. But, after buying the backplate to go with it, you may not find it to be so cheap.

If you search on "collet chuck", here on the forum, you'll find lots of examples of home made ER collet chucks, which cost very little. And it makes for a nice project, as well. You're on the right track, however, with ER collets - lots of range and parallel closing.

Paul

That's more than what they sell for on the Tools4Cheap website. Look here: Tools4cheap LLC Online Machine Shop Tooling Store: Mill Tooling,ER Collets and Chucks

Lots of positive opinions on here...

it`s great.
i bought one fully expecting to have to true it up before mounting it on a backplate.
there was no need.
one of the best deals out there IMO.

FWIW - i bought the plate with the collet set(both from T4C)- liked it so much i bought another plate.

I was thinking about getting one of those to use with my rotary table. Anyone know what diameter the bolt hole circle is?
Thanks
Andy

Well I want to thank everyone for their input. Thanks LkeithR for checking T4C website, that auction was the first place I had seen them. It was also nice to hear that some of you have used this item with good results. It seems like for me ER is the way to go. I would have to have a giant collection of 5C as I am already finding out just with using my collet blocks. I will still collect 5C stuff as there is yet no replacement for all the other work holding uses. Also seems like they make a spindex and blocks for ER collets, as well as adapters like 5C to ER.
I think for the odd work I do, with used or recycled stock- whatever I find, it seems like the flexibility of ER collets would work best for me.
thanks again, bryan

Uhh as far as I know you would be talking about the blocks and spindex available from Arc Euro in the U.K.? If so, then those only come set up for the ER-32 series collets and not the ER-40's unless there's been some changes very recently.

And Jeff at T4C is a great guy to deal with. But while the ER collets can handle a range of just about .040, they are the most accurate and repeatable at right around there nominal size. It hasn't happened to me yet, but I've read that constantly compressing them down to hold undersize stock can have the collets break segments off with some of the better heat treated and more expensive brands.Just thought I'd give you a heads up just in case.

Pete

Yes Pete you are right, I was referring to the Stevenson made blocks from Arc. I was saddened to see they are currently available for ER 32, but read somewhere that they are trying to get other groups available. Thanks also for the heads up regarding the collet longevity. For me if it were just a little more forgiving on the diameter than the 5C has been I will be golden. It's probably just because i'm new and it sounds like whining but, seems like most times I try to hold something in a collet, it's just barely too small. I guess I need to get with grinding my chuck jaws, then holding shorter things might not be as much of an issue.

BKC,
That's interesting about Arc maybe providing that spindex and the collet blocks in other sizes also. I've got a complete set of Bison ER-40's and have been thinking about buying a set of 32's just due to what Arc's selling. It sure would be nice to not have to do that. And I'd agree, It is too bad the square and hex collets and the rest of what's avaliable for 5c wasn't also built for the ER's like you've pointed out.

But like I said, I've only read about the collets breaking after many cycles of closings on work that's too small. Who knows just how many actual cycles that would take? If I'm trying to hold and drill a very accurate hole, I still use my collets over their full range for holding drill bits, and as I said I haven't broken one yet. One thing you do need to make sure of with the ER's though is your work or tooling extends just about all the way through the collet. If that's not done they can have poor run out and holding power. Both the front and rear segments need to compress down at each end of the collet for them to work as they were designed to. And a lot of ER collet users don't know the required high torque on the nut. For the 40 series it's 80-100 ft lbs. for good holding power on tooling. Probably in use on a lathe for work holding you could use a bit less.

It's just a thought, but if you need to go through the effort of building a backplate for that T4C ER-40 chuck, then your already about a 3rd of the way into building a ER-40 collet chuck from scratch. The chucks internal angles for the collets do need to be quite accurate, and your lathe has to be able to cut the metric threads for the collet nut. But overall it's not too tough.

Pete