Like CNC machinery, tooling continues to improve every year. Cutting tools last longer and run faster, toolholders and vises gain a firmer, more accurate grip, pallet systems continue to reduce downtime. At the same time, though, these and other mainstays of the machine shop world are doing something even more important: they’re getting smarter. Whether it’s Bluetooth-ready tools for milling and deep boring or electrically activated four-jaw lathe chucks, there’s no shortage of IIoT-capable tooling and workholding systems to help get a shop started down the Industry 4.0 path.

“If you need to hold on to a 1⁄8" endmill or drill, you want to use a 1⁄8" collet even though there is some flexibility in that size,” Moon said. “The more the collet compresses, the more runout you’re going to introduce.”

To extend the reach of a tool an extra 12.7 mm (0.5"), “people will push that tool out to the very end of the holder,” he said. “It’s as if you were holding a stick with the very tips of your fingers versus holding it with your hand.”

“People get the idea that tighter is better, but that’s not the case,” Moon said. “When you over-tighten, you’re over-stressing the nut and collet, and the metal starts to yield and bend at some point.”

FPC Slim Line collet chucks are designed to make it easier to use cutting tools in confined work areas. Image courtesy of Emuge

For shops set on using ER collets, he said the best way to optimize performance is to closely match collet size with tool shank diameter.

If there’d been an actual IMTS 2020 instead of a virtual one, you almost certainly would have visited BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc. at Booth 431610 in the West Building, Level 3. There you would have seen that year’s extensive product lineup, including the Unilock Stabilizer 50 and quick-change Uniflex Ball Systems, an ATC-capable line of Chip Blowers, and what was then a brand new product, the EWA fully automatic, intelligent fine boring tool. Visitors to this year’s show will see those same products and many others but will also notice a new company name: As of Jan. 1, BIG Kaiser is now BIG Daishowa Inc. of Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Dovetail-style vises are a great way to grip parts for five-axis machining except for one thing: Preparing the blanks is a hassle. TCI Precision Metals of Gardena, Calif., will tell you there’s an easier way. Since 1956 the company has offered various value-added services, including precision sawing and waterjet cutting, CNC roughing, flattening and straightening, and, yes, cutting those pesky dovetails in steel, stainless, aluminum, superalloys, and “anything but magnesium.” The majority of these are duplex-milled to +/- 0.002” [.051 mm] tolerance, often accurate enough to avoid further machining. Stop by Booth 432123 and ask them to explain why “machine ready is Lean ready.”

While shrink-fit and Weldon flat toolholders accommodate only one tool size, hydraulic and milling chucks allow the use of straight reduction collets to change tool sizes, Miller said. But he added that the presence of reduction collets in these chucks hurts their performance, resulting in increased runout and/or decreased clamping force.

A problem with ER collets in this regard is what gives an edge in flexibility to them over competitors: their compressibility.

Inside these chucks is “just a straight bore,” Miller said. “So you need a tightly toleranced straight cylinder to go inside these holders.”

William Leventon is a contributing editor to Cutting Tool Engineering magazine. Contact him by phone at 609-920-3335 or via email at wleventon@gmail.com.

Generally about 152.4 mm (6") long, spanner wrenches for ER collet nuts “are designed to keep you from imparting a giant amount of torque to those things,” he said. “But shops get into trouble when somebody torques down (the nut) by hand and then grabs a hammer and gives the wrench a couple of hits just to make sure the nut is really tight.”

Collets are among the items most commonly found at machine shops. But people who routinely use these toolholding mainstays probably don’t have all the important facts about them.

Besides the versatility of the ER collet system as a whole, users get the toolholding flexibility of the individual collets in the system. This is due to the slotted ER collet design, which allows a good deal of compression and therefore can accommodate different tool shank diameters, explained Andy Moon, product manager for milling and toolholders at Guhring Inc., Brookfield, Wisconsin. He added, however, that this flexibility is limited to a small range, which can be anywhere between 0.5 mm (0.02") and 1 mm.

Shops that want to use collets but don’t want the compressibility of the ER type may want to consider FPC collets sold by Emuge.

CNC lathes, machining centers, and EDM can be nothing but expensive hunks of iron and electronics without tooling. Here’s a rundown of some of the cutting tools, toolholders, chucks, vises, and pallet systems—showcased at the IMTS Tooling and Workholding pavilion—needed to make them run efficiently and profitably.

Secures a cutting tool during a machining operation. Basic types include block, cartridge, chuck, collet, fixed, modular, quick-change and rotating.

“Our focus products remain the same as in 2020, but we will also feature tool digitalization and our new tool data scanning directly to machine controls, along with our existing technology for boring, milling, and drilling,” said Jack Burley, vice president of sales and engineering. “I encourage everyone at IMTS to stop by and say hello, and while there, be sure to ask about our passive ‘Smart Damper’ tools for deep-hole boring on lathes or mills and extended reach milling applications, which help to reduce the vibration that causes poor tool life and surface finish.”

Condition of vibration involving the machine, workpiece and cutting tool. Once this condition arises, it is often self-sustaining until the problem is corrected. Chatter can be identified when lines or grooves appear at regular intervals in the workpiece. These lines or grooves are caused by the teeth of the cutter as they vibrate in and out of the workpiece and their spacing depends on the frequency of vibration.

A prime example is Haimer USA LLC. Although the Villa Park, Ill.-based company’s location at IMTS is the same as in previous years (Booth 431510), its focus has shifted to the Industry 4.0 revolution. Visitors will see Haimer’s newest shrink-fit offering, the i4.0 machine series, said to be adjustable for all types of tool holders and suitable for solid carbide and HSS tools. The Nano NG i4.0, Comfort i4.0, and Premium i4.0 shrink machines are just a few examples, and like all of the machines in this lineup, are equipped with wireless communication capabilities, a 7” [177.8 mm] touch screen, and intuitive software for greater ease of use, as well as options for a hand-scanner that automatically sets the correct shrinking parameters, length presetting, and the auxiliary Intelligent New Generation coil.

As an example, Miller pointed out that an ER32 collet chuck can hold tool shanks ranging from 3.175 mm (0.125") to 19.05 mm (0.75") in diameter with different collets. ER systems, he explained, include different collets for every 1 mm (0.04") increment in tool shank diameter at a minimum, so it would take at least 17 collets to cover the 3.175 mm to 19.05 mm shank diameter range.

The PJC straight collet is a reduction sleeve for small-diameter cutters with peripheral coolant supplies. Image courtesy of BIG KAISER Precision Tooling

“For milling applications, Iscar has introduced a line of mini-indexable milling heads to go along with its long standing Multi-Master system,” said chief technical officer Tom Raun. “For parting, grooving, and turning on Swiss-style CNC lathes, there are several new designs including the Neoswiss line of quick-change, interchangeable, heads and the Swissgrip line, available in parting and grooving down to 0.024” [.061 mm] wide. Lastly, Iscar has bolstered its popular Sumocham drilling line with heads and bodies just 0.157” [3.99 mm] in diameter, along with new, modular, drill bodies for use with the Multi-Master and Flexfit tooling systems.”

On the downside, Miller said ER collets fall short compared with other toolholding options when it comes to gripping strength. As a result, he said, ER collets are not well suited for high-torque cutting. So his company mostly recommends them for finish milling, drilling and reaming applications.

Placed in a chuck, a collet forms a collar around the tool to be held. The standard ER collet is the most widely used tool-clamping option for machining applications. Commonly used to hold endmills, drills, taps and reamers, ER collets exert clamping force when tightened with a nut.

Some effective practices for getting the most from collets are easy and obvious. For example, Moon recommends taking out and thoroughly cleaning a collet and collet chuck every time that a tool being held is changed out. Simply blowing off chips and any other debris with an air hose is all that’s required. He said if cleaning isn’t done regularly, debris will cause wear on the outside of a collet and the inside of a toolholder.

“Based on the fact that the manufacturing industry is extremely busy but continues to struggle with supply chain-related delays on machine tools, it’s the perfect time for shops to dive into how to make their existing machine tools more productive,” said president Brendt Holden. “Haimer products allow our customers to get the most out of their machine tool with our ability to provide a consistent and accurate tooling assembly to the machine each and every time. We will be showing products in our booth that will illustrate this clearly to anyone looking to get more out of their equipment, whatever its age.”

In addition, shop personnel should visually inspect the collet and chuck while a toolholder is out of a machine and disassembled.

Space provided behind a tool’s land or relief to prevent rubbing and subsequent premature deterioration of the tool. See land; relief.

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As one of the leading cutting tool and tooling providers in the U.S., Arlington, Texas-based Iscar Metals Inc. needs no introduction. The company offers a huge selection of indexable cutting tools, toolholding, and other milling and turning products, and whether you use their products or not, it’s a good bet you’ve at least heard of them. And for anyone trying to reduce tool costs and increase utilization, Iscar is offering a group of new products designed with modularity and versatility in mind.

On the other hand, shrink-fit holders are sized based on tool shank diameter, said Dan Doiron, milling product manager at Emuge Corp., West Boylston, Massachusetts. This means that a shop would need a different shrink-fit holder for each tool diameter. In addition, he said, a shop using shrink-fit holders needs a heating unit to install tools in the holders, adding more cost to that option.

“Our collets have a minimal amount of flexibility, following ISO H6-H9 standards,” Doiron said. “They are designed to fit one specific tool diameter.”

The company recently expanded its line of FPC collet chucks to include Slim Line models. Available in 2 mm to 14 mm sizes, the slim design and tapered shape of these models eliminate problems caused by a toolholder when trying to access work in confined areas or negotiate challenging angles.

Visitors to IMTS 2022 can see Promess Inc. at Booth 236623 in the North Building or Booth 135941 in the East (both on Level 3). President Glenn Nausley said that, despite current manufacturing challenges, the New Brighton, Mich.-based assembly and test equipment manufacturer continues to develop new and innovative assembly solutions while still delivering in standard lead times. One of these is a Promess Robot Press with tool changer that can be dropped off and picked up on-demand, “giving robot cells the ultimate flexibility to conquer the most demanding needs.” There are also the L-frame and Benchtop workstations, said to give the user a smaller footprint while keeping the turnkey performance and precision that so many are used to with an all-electric solution.

Also at the West Building, Level 3 is Kyocera SGS Precision Tools Inc. of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Booth 431546 will display a wide array of cutting tools, among them the company’s Series 77 H-Carb seven-flute high-efficiency end mill, designed for deep axial cuts during trochoidal and high-speed machining applications, and the Z-Carb HPR five-flute roughing end mills for high metal removal rates and surface finishes of 80 RMS or better on most materials. Kyocera SGS has also introduced two styles of barrel cutter—the MultiCarb series for steels and high-temp alloys and the S-Carb APF-B series for non-ferrous materials. Both use the more common taper form and reportedly deliver 90 percent or greater cycle time reductions compared to ball nose end mills in certain applications.

Swing by Booth 431522 to discuss how these items (and others) can take your machining applications to more productive levels, while increasing utilization of your shop’s tooling and carbide investment.

When using collets, the things that shops do — and don’t do — can make a big difference in how collets perform and how long they last. One common mistake made with collets is over-tightening the collet nut.

For best results, he recommends the use of a torque wrench for tightening. He said shops today can find tightening torque recommendations for different ER collet sizes.

Flexible-sided device that secures a tool or workpiece. Similar in function to a chuck, but can accommodate only a narrow size range. Typically provides greater gripping force and precision than a chuck. See chuck.

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With the other options, “you’re really locked in to one size toolholder for a specific-size cutting tool,” he said. “But with collets, one holder size can hold a wide variety of cutting tool shanks. Especially for smaller shops, that versatility will make things easier.”

Doiron cited another bad but fairly common practice: overextending a tool held by a collet to make the tool reach a little farther, thereby sacrificing critical gripping force.

For hydraulic chucks, BIG KAISER Precision Tooling has introduced straight reduction collets. One type, which is called Perfect Seal, seals the cutting tool shank so coolant can flow through drills at high pressure. The other, which is named Perfect Jet, lacks a seal but reduces the clearance between the collet and cutting tool to improve coolant delivery along the tool shaft.

Torque wrenches aren’t used to tighten collet nuts in most cases, Moon said. But shops can get satisfactory results using a spanner wrench.

“We are extremely excited about acquiring Tecnomagnete and offering even more specialized workholding capabilities to help customers with their diverse manufacturing needs,” said Larry Robbins, president of SMW Autoblok’s Commercial Division. “Their technologies are a perfect complement to our growing product offering, and we look forward to what the future holds.”

SMW Autoblok Corp. of Wheeling, Ill., has been busy since IMTS 2020. The company broke ground on an 11,000-sq.-ft. [1,022-sq-m] facility in Meckenbeuren, Germany, to house its new division—SMW-Electronics—that will focus on developing sensors, clamping systems, and software to help automate and digitize manufacturing processes.

“When you have a larger amount of collapsibility, there is more room for runout to be introduced and quite a bit more room for instability or chatter,” Moon said. “So for high-performance applications, especially being a milling guy, I generally do whatever I can to steer people away from an ER collet chuck.”

Many IMTS visitors might approach Booth 432146 and wonder why a well-known press brake and punch tooling manufacturer is there. Don’t worry, mate, Anoka, Minn.-based Mate Precision Technologies is now in the zero-point workholding business. Its compact, next-generation 52/96 Mate DynoGrip vises, Mate DynoLock Bases, and Mate DynoMount mounts and accessories are based on years of internal use at the company’s 300,000-sq-ft. [27,871 sq-m] manufacturing facility in Anoka. As Vice President Frank Baeumler said recently, the team there machines a huge number of parts each year, and in order to maximize their own CNC equipment, developed a quick-change clamping system to hold them. With a “timed” trapezoidal leadscrew, reversible jaws, and a 52/96-mm locating footprint, the modular workholding platform offers flexibility and compatibility with other zero-point systems.

Workholding device that affixes to a mill, lathe or drill-press spindle. It holds a tool or workpiece by one end, allowing it to be rotated. May also be fitted to the machine table to hold a workpiece. Two or more adjustable jaws actually hold the tool or part. May be actuated manually, pneumatically, hydraulically or electrically. See collet.

Main body of a tool; the portion of a drill or similar end-held tool that fits into a collet, chuck or similar mounting device.

Runs endmills and arbor-mounted milling cutters. Features include a head with a spindle that drives the cutters; a column, knee and table that provide motion in the three Cartesian axes; and a base that supports the components and houses the cutting-fluid pump and reservoir. The work is mounted on the table and fed into the rotating cutter or endmill to accomplish the milling steps; vertical milling machines also feed endmills into the work by means of a spindle-mounted quill. Models range from small manual machines to big bed-type and duplex mills. All take one of three basic forms: vertical, horizontal or convertible horizontal/vertical. Vertical machines may be knee-type (the table is mounted on a knee that can be elevated) or bed-type (the table is securely supported and only moves horizontally). In general, horizontal machines are bigger and more powerful, while vertical machines are lighter but more versatile and easier to set up and operate.

SMW Autoblok also acquired Tecnomagnete, which is said to be the world’s leading manufacturer of permanent electromagnetic clamping and lifting systems, along with several new product lines. These include quick-change expanding mandrels and special chucks from SMW Autoblok Tobler, various wireless technologies including mechanical and intelligent workholding for workpiece clamping, and a full line of electro-magnetic chucking systems for four- and five-axis machining and turning applications—all of which will be on display at Booth 431700.

Other well-known toolholding alternatives include shrink fit and Weldon flat — also known as side lock — as well as hydraulic and milling chucks. Compared with these, the biggest advantage of ER collet systems is their versatility, said Alan Miller, engineering manager at BIG KAISER Precision Tooling Inc., Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Fluid that reduces temperature buildup at the tool/workpiece interface during machining. Normally takes the form of a liquid such as soluble or chemical mixtures (semisynthetic, synthetic) but can be pressurized air or other gas. Because of water’s ability to absorb great quantities of heat, it is widely used as a coolant and vehicle for various cutting compounds, with the water-to-compound ratio varying with the machining task. See cutting fluid; semisynthetic cutting fluid; soluble-oil cutting fluid; synthetic cutting fluid.

Machining operation in which metal or other material is removed by applying power to a rotating cutter. In vertical milling, the cutting tool is mounted vertically on the spindle. In horizontal milling, the cutting tool is mounted horizontally, either directly on the spindle or on an arbor. Horizontal milling is further broken down into conventional milling, where the cutter rotates opposite the direction of feed, or “up” into the workpiece; and climb milling, where the cutter rotates in the direction of feed, or “down” into the workpiece. Milling operations include plane or surface milling, endmilling, facemilling, angle milling, form milling and profiling.

Milling cutter held by its shank that cuts on its periphery and, if so configured, on its free end. Takes a variety of shapes (single- and double-end, roughing, ballnose and cup-end) and sizes (stub, medium, long and extra-long). Also comes with differing numbers of flutes.

Also in Booth 431522 is CTMS North America, Charlotte, N.C., a member of the IMC Group. It’s there that you’ll see the Matrix line of smart tool cabinets, tool management software, and a variety of other Industry 4.0 manufacturing solutions. If your shop is one of those that experience periodic stockouts, tool hoarding, unexpected machine tool downtime, or wonders where that last order of carbide end mills got off to, take a hard look at some of the Commodity and Tool Management Services’ many ways to get your tool crib in better working order.

Other recent developments involve collet designs that depart from conventional shapes. Most traditional collets have a taper. As the toolholder nut is tightened, this taper is forced into a matching one in the toolholder. Hydraulic chucks, however, lack this taper.

But even when customers come in with relatively light milling applications, Moon said, “if we can get them to move to a hydraulic, milling or shrink-fit chuck or even a side-lock holder, they can double their tool life because the tool isn’t moving around as much in the chuck and you don’t get the chatter.”

That’s because there’s a lot to know about collets — in a number of different areas. These include how collets stack up against other toolholding options and the latest in collet technology, as well as how to choose and use collets to extend their lives and get better results with machining.