5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

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Odyknuck
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5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Odyknuck »

When I bought my Lathe many year's ago it came with a 5C collet drawbar that I never used. Building the Mikado, I suspect I may need some collets for the small parts. What I don't know is what goes on the chuck end? I assume something with a 5C taper, please advise.
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Bill Shields
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Bill Shields »

Generally is is called a 5c adapter, and thread guard / extractor.

Assume your lathe is either MT 5 or the south bend standard which is MT 4.5

Find out what your lathe is first.

You can find what you need on eBay or other places. Most people selling them KNOW what they are worth. Expect the adapter to be in the $100+ range.

Do not put the adapter in place without the thread guard/extractor behind it..otherwise getting it out is a headache
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Odyknuck
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Odyknuck »

Ok thanks for the info. I cannot tell if the lathe has a taper in the bore without removing the chuck. I am considering just buying a cheapo D1-4 5C collet chuck and call it a day.
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Bill Shields
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Bill Shields »

Almost all lathe of spindle's his size have a taper in the bore

Look at the mfgr spec sheet.
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Bill Shields »

eBay 5C nose adapter for ideas.

Prices seem to be $200 range
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Odyknuck
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Odyknuck »

I was looking at them. Do you feel the adapter would be the way to go over a collet chuck without the drawbar setup.
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Bill Shields
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Bill Shields »

Never used one of the chucks, so cannot say from experience.

My small lathe has a collet in it maybe 70% of the time.

I even have a 3" chuck that has a 5c adapter in it..so that I do not need to mount the big chucks. It is a cheap quick and dirty way to grab something small but bigger than the 5c limit.

Different strokes...
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arborist
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by arborist »

I believe a company called JFK Precision sell Morse taper to 5C adaptors. Their price would give you a benchmark on the eBay prices.

Clearly, if you use the drawbar, you need easy access to the end of the lathe to loosen and tighten it and enough space to extract the drawbar when finished. You also need to look briefly how the drawbar interacts with the cover/guard at the far end of the spindle and also what it has at that end of it to keep it centred.

With the 5C chuck, everything is done from the normal working position. I have read that the chucks are quite low geared so take a lot of turns of the key to screw in the collet. That might be an issue if you are changing collets every few minutes, but you could make a square driver for a cordless drill to make that part easier.

With the camlock pins removed, the 5C chuck can do double duty as a workholding device on the milling machine.

If I were to buy a 5C chuck, I would not buy a cheap one that has integral spindle nose fitting. I would buy a cheap backplate mounted one as then I can dial in my own runout rather than being forced to accept the runout I am given by the manufacturer.
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Bill Shields
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Bill Shields »

yes...they are the people

https://www.jfkprecisionproducts.com/co ... pters.html

if you give them the model of your enco -> I would be very surprised if they don't know exactly what is needed.
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Odyknuck
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Odyknuck »

Thanks guys, I will look at JFK.
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Bill Shields
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Bill Shields »

Something to keep in mind...

If you are going to put longish bars in a collet, you need to consider how to keep bar whip under control.

Some folks to it with bushings on the knob end of the drawbar, otherwise put liners in the tube.

The technique is immaterial, as long as you understand that there will be a need to deal with it.

Other folks just cut the bar off and deal with a lot of remnants.

In reality, the problem is there with chucks -> but since the holding length with collets tends to be shorter than most chucks...the problem is more pronounced (tail wagging dog)
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Odyknuck
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Re: 5C collet drawbar for Enco Lathe

Post by Odyknuck »

Will do, thanks
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