Agreed ! I was wanting to be able to drill and tap using the ER32 collets. The morse tap collets are all right, but tend to strip out and you need the additional length for the R8 to #3 morse taper. My thought was to shorten up the length hanging out the spindle. Also to be able to use metric end mills and number and letter drill.pete wrote:.......To be honest proper R8 collets that ARE well made with low runouts are better in almost every way. But the ER's excell because of there range. When I want spot drilled holes and drilled locations very accurately placed with a good DRO I don't even use good keyless drill chucks. There's an unbelievable difference in just how rigid spot, center, or any drills are held compared to even an Albrecht chuck. Very slow to use and change drills compared to even a keyed drill chuck though. I don't think I'd use the ER's as a full replacement for a good keyed or keyless chuck. When I do want the extra accuracy then the ER's are in my opinion well worth the extra time.
Yes it does duplicate and I have thr R8 collets and a few weldon holders. The cost of the ER32 and a set of metric ER32 collets was less than $100. I wasn't expecting to see that they didn't cut the wrench flats though. I have contacted the seller and they offered to return $5 to me. What a joke. I was disappointed to see the shank was hard turned instead of the normal ground shanks. They just got here this week and I haven't checked them out yet.pete wrote: My Emco and Bison sets all check out well under the allowable limits but they sure weren't cheap. Using ER's on a mill just depends on the work your doing. Yes as others have already said they eat up a few inches in Z. And just aren't quite as rigid as the standard R8 collets are. I guess only you can judge if the few trade offs are worth it. They would duplicate your tool holding a bit and add cost, but a limited set of R8 collets for your most used tool shank sizes is still worth having in my opinion.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Richard W.