Thanks for the replies.
Doc. - Good idea about reporting this guy. I just forwarded the IM to mebfab (who I think is the moderator for this forum).
Steve, Thanks for your advice, but I think I'll proceed with the head purchase. I live in Oregon and I've been looking for a M head for about 1 year now. The only heads I've found are on eBay and are either incomplete or look like something the dog drug in. This head looks good and is owned by a machinist who works for NASA who seems like a real stand up guy. The head comes with 4 collets (1/2", 3/8", 3/16" and a .281"). I'd like to get a 1/4" and a 1/8" collet and potentially other collets that are in better shape. If necessary, I might try to make my own collets and harden them. These are still being made by Hardinge and a place in India. The place in India is actually a pretty reasonable price for a new collet, but
one has to order 10 of them (over $1000), which I'm not willing to do (like I said, I'm a hobbyist and the SWMBO would not approve). There is a spindle shop in Portland, OR who regrinds spindles. I have absolutely no idea if they would do a job like this nor how much they would charge for the service.
I was just hoping that someone here would have a couple of collets. I would think that someone would make these to sell them, but maybe the $250 that Hardinge sells these for is the true cost of manufacture.
Dave