ironhoarder
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2005
- Location
- Waterford, VA USA
I had to do some machining on some small stock today- 0.118 steel rod.
I have a 1/8" Hardinge collet and my next smaller size is 1/16. I can tighten the 1/8" collet down enough to hold to work for cutting some e-clip slots, but I also need to thread one end with a die, and the 0.125" collet couldn't quite hold the 0.118 work from turning.
So- my question- for small work like this, what is a good way to shim the work so the collet will bite it a little better? I guess wrapping the work with a few turns of paper would be one approach, but maybe better would be to wrap it in a small piece of emery cloth?
I didn't bother because I figured it would be hard to shim such small work evenly and keep it concentric, which would defeat the whole purpose of using a collet instead of a chuck.
I thought about putting some heat shrink tubing on it, but that would probably make it too thick.
What to do when you work falls between your available collets, esp when the work is very small?
I have a 1/8" Hardinge collet and my next smaller size is 1/16. I can tighten the 1/8" collet down enough to hold to work for cutting some e-clip slots, but I also need to thread one end with a die, and the 0.125" collet couldn't quite hold the 0.118 work from turning.
So- my question- for small work like this, what is a good way to shim the work so the collet will bite it a little better? I guess wrapping the work with a few turns of paper would be one approach, but maybe better would be to wrap it in a small piece of emery cloth?
I didn't bother because I figured it would be hard to shim such small work evenly and keep it concentric, which would defeat the whole purpose of using a collet instead of a chuck.
I thought about putting some heat shrink tubing on it, but that would probably make it too thick.
What to do when you work falls between your available collets, esp when the work is very small?