Homemade 6K collet closer

Made a collet closer for my 10K. Basically three components….handwheel, bearing carrier, and tube.
First photo....
Tube is 7/8” OD x .109” wall DOM tubing turned down to fit thru the spindle and threaded one end for the 26 tpi 6K collet.
Bearing carrier is 1-1/2” 1018 CR counter-bored and grooved for washers, bearing, and retaining ring.
Handle is 5” unfinished cast iron from McMaster Carr. PITA to file/sand/polish. Probably should have bought the already polished version from McM.
Handwheel, bearing carrier and tube are silver soldered together then all turned down to make it pretty.

Second photo....an exploded view of the assembly

Third photo....Detail of the bearing carrier.

Fourth photo....Various parts and tools. Clockwise from the right:
Delrin thread gauge I made for the thread protector.
Thread protector.
Retaining ring, thrust bearing, and washers.
Two boring bars I didn’t have. These are real cheap…uses a little set screw to lock down the HSS tool. Didn’t think my tool grinding skills were up to the task but they cut beautifully..smooth as a baby’s butt.
Internal threading tool w/ insert from Shars.
Retaining ring groove cutter. $15 on ebay. Works great.
A 6K collet….those things are tiny.


Fifth photo....Backside of the thread protector. The holes are for indexing to cut the grooves. Tom from Oxtools has a youtube that describes this technique. Thanks Tom! It works perfectly. Challenge question: Can you tell which hole I broke the drill off in?

Thanks for viewing!

...forgot the last pic...assembled and installed.

BTD said:

...forgot the last pic...assembled and installed.

Click to expand...

Since no one else seems to be noticing, that is some VERY nice work on the 6K collet closer. Thread protector has a pleasing visual appearance as well. Too bad you broke off a drill bit in one of the indexing holes on the backside. I know it has nothing to do with function, but that would have ps'd me off too... Anyway, great job.

Nice work! I'll be following in your footsteps soon for my 16" once it's running again.

wow! Amazing work. I LOVE the bearing idea. I bet that makes using this an absolute breeze.

What is the purpose of the indexing holes behind the spindle protector/collet remover? <--- Never mind, I see they're for cutting the grooves.

Nice job.

If you don't have it already, you might want to drill a hole in the side of the spindle protector for a pin wrench so that you can get it off if it gets stuck (without having to resort to vise grips and ruin all that good work).

Like this:


You should get the wrench first that fits your diameter and then drill for the pin on that wrench.

Steve

thomasutley said:

Nice work! I'll be following in your footsteps soon for my 16" once it's running again.

Click to expand...

Thanks Thomas....Oh, and when you build your's, don't forget to take the oily bearing, washers and retaining ring out BEFORE you silver solder everything together....ask me how I know (OTOH...don't ask.)

xplodee said:

wow! Amazing work. I LOVE the bearing idea. I bet that makes using this an absolute breeze.

What is the purpose of the indexing holes behind the spindle protector/collet remover? <--- Never mind, I see they're for cutting the grooves.

Click to expand...

Thanks Explodee...I'd seen several designs and one guy did it both with and without the thrust bearing. He said it made a dramatic difference so I went that direction.
As I said, I saw a youtube of Tom at Oxtool using the hole pattern for indexing and it works great. Most everything I know (which isn't a lot) comes from Keith Fenner, Abom79, Oxtool, Keith Rucker, Stan @ Bar Z Industrial, and, of course, this forum.

SteveM said:

Nice job.

If you don't have it already, you might want to drill a hole in the side of the spindle protector for a pin wrench so that you can get it off if it gets stuck (without having to resort to vise grips and ruin all that good work).

Like this:

You should get the wrench first that fits your diameter and then drill for the pin on that wrench.

Steve

Click to expand...

Steve,

Absolutely on the hole and pin spanner. When I was machining the protector, I tested the fit on the spindle...not tight...just snug..or so I thought. Ended up using a shop towel and pipe wrench to get remove it.
(If anyone's counting that's three screw-ups so far.)

Very nice!! I like the generous size of the hand wheel.

Pete

Great job!

Could you tell me what CAD program you used to make your 2nd and 3rd photo?

I'm looking for a CAD program that would allow me to draw 2d shapes with dimensions and produce a 3d rendering.

Thanks in advance.

Chuck
Burbank, CA

Chuck Evans said:

Great job!

Could you tell me what CAD program you used to make your 2nd and 3rd photo?

I'm looking for a CAD program that would allow me to draw 2d shapes with dimensions and produce a 3d rendering.

Thanks in advance.

Chuck
Burbank, CA

Click to expand...

I use Solidworks. It is not an easy program to learn and very expensive. The version I have is many years old...but works fine for me.