Friday, April 21, 2006

5c collet chuck

Machine tool accessories is a need for users to be able to quickly and easily install or remove particular cutting bits or other accessories from the powered rotating spindle of the machine tool. Lathe headstock has a rotating spindle to which one may want to mount a spur drive. The machine tool can present a threaded spindle, to which accessories are screwed. The machine tool may have a permanent chuck. The different types are collet chuck, jaw chuck, lathe chuck, Sjogren speed chucks, and 5c collet chuck.

A simple, low cost, and versatile option is to hollow out a truncated conical void in the rotating spindle, coaxial with the axis of rotation. Tools or accessories can then have a mating male conical shaped shank, which precisely fits into the void. The pressure of the spindle against the workpiece serves to drive the tapered shank tightly into the tapered receptable. The friction across the entire surface area of the interface provides a surprisingly large amount of torque transmission; so that splines or keys are not required. This system is known as a machine taper.