Appreciate the advice. You've got a point about American made at import prices. I don't mean to come across like that, I just wasn't ready for the differences in collet pricing. I'm invested in other American tooling like Aloris, even Baldor motors, etc. Seems used may be my best bet until I can pony up the change.
I can appreciate that, and in fact like to buy similar type tooling myself. It really depends on how many collets you plan to buy, as an entire set gets pricey. I find that having a full set on the mill is more useful for me, but I have a full set of Hardinge collets for my lathe (actually Rivett, but they were made by Hardinge), and it does come in handy...but since the size only goes up to about 1-1/8", it is limited on the usability, IMO. More often than not I'm holding stock in the collet on the lathe, but on the mill I'm holding drill bits and end mills and the collets are much more useful for me in that regard. All of our mileage varies and it depends on what you're doing with them. I have a set of ETM ER40 collets that I use on my mills. I like them, but they are ER, not 5C and are not made in America, they are made in Israel.
To answer one of your other questions, if you buy a set of collets in 32nds and want to fill in the sizes later, you will pay the premium to get the 1/64th sizes, IMO. It will be cheaper if you buy an entire set up front, but consider what I stated in the previous paragraph, as I don't think will get the use out of a full set, especially in a home shop.
Normally on the lathe, I find myself turning a similar size, like 5/8" or 9/16", 1/2". Those common sizes are stock sizes I normally use, so having the full set is less useful. Where it is useful is when you're turning odd sizes and need to hold them in a collet, I've had that happen in some cases but to be honest it is the minority of the time I use my lathe. A chuck will always work as well. For a lever collet handle, the common sizes may be more useful...my $0.02.
I'll likely buy a few lesser collets to try out against the Hardinge collets we have at work, I never expected there to be a difference in releasing the part, just figured the imports wouldn't be as precise.
They certainly can, just depends. I would just look for some NOS Hardinge collets in sizes that you need and/or plan to use. Buying a set, especially in 1/64th sizes will get costly. I have a full set of 6R collets in 1/64th sizes that came with my lathe...but I probably wouldn't buy a full set if I didn't get them. OTOH, my ER40 collets gets used all the time and most all of the sizes. Luckily because of the collapsibility on the ER collets you only need 1/32nd sizes. And I originally had a 15 collet set of ETMs, to fill in the missing 1/32nd sizes I didn't have required I paid the premium for those. I got them from Enco on a 30% sale, so that helped. I use them all the time on my mills.
Thanks all for the advice!
No problem, take what I tell you with a grain of salt. I'm not a professional machinist and just do work for myself in my home shop. Still, I like to own and use quality tooling. There is some balance in doing that without spending too much.
