Tool Holder Systems

[Thee Dragracer1951]

I'm going to be tooling my new Horizontal.

I have questions about holders.

My new machine has a 14k big plus spindle. I machine a mix of aluminum, stainless and stuff like 4340. I like to press on, so to speak. I machine 4340 at about 1000 sfm adn .004 or so ipt. works well on my little Sharp. I've been using ER32 and ER16 collets. Problem is, I can suck a half inch four flute clean out of an ER32 holder. So, for roughing, I've been using regular endmill holders. Clamping on the weldon flat.

So, my question would be, what system of toolholding do I want to look at? I have a couple jobs that require that I reach into a hole to get a smaller cutter in there. Never been around shrink fit holders. Hows the life expectancy? What other options are out there. Are shrink fit holders better balanced?

What about runout?

Then I gotta think about a presetter.

[YoDoug®]

Shrink fit holders are usually the best as far as run out and balance. However, they can only be heated up to change tool approximately 300 times. I like to use hydraulic milling chucks for roughing, but they are typically larger diameter holders that can cause clearance issues with smaller diameter endmills. As for the presetter, I prefer to let the tool probes in the machine measure tools. If you are going to run lights out you will need to have tool probes for broken tool detection, so you might as well use them to measure tools also.

[GoetzInd]

I use mechanical milling chucks from Big Kaiser. They say they have more gripping force than heat shrink. Great runout and quick change. I love ours.

 

Mike

[Bruce Caulley]

Rego-fix do a chuck that has pressed in collets. Supposedly stronger than shrink without being oversized like hydro and powergrip chucks.

 

Bruce

[Darren Long SPE]

Have a Look at Hydro-Grip Chucks.

All the Major manufacturers are doing them, and in some cases are better than Shrink Fit.

Check out Albrecht

http://www.albrechtchucks.com/

http://www.albrechtchucks.com/apc_milling_chucks.cfm

[mike fisher]

We just started buying some Tribos holders and extensions. We have not had them to long to make any judgment call yet, but they have some small diameter extensions to get into tight places.

Anyone else have any experiance with these?

[robk]

Going with hydraulic you have to make sure that there are no weldon flats on you cutters.

We prefer shrink-fit in here. No brand preference as we use a few different ones. If going with shrink fit then spend the x-tra money on a more powerful unit so you're not stuck using carbide tooling only.

+1 to using a laser.

[Mic]

For roughing you should forget all about shrinkfit holders, hydrogrip and especially Tribos. They don't have high clamping force. I would prefer some mechanical milling chucks like Nikken's Multilock or Big-Daishowa's Mega double power chuck. Albrecht's APC chuck is also good.

 

But for finishing head shrink is perfect.

[Rick Henrickson 65]

haimer shrink fit