Product Description
By making your own custom split collet with a 5/8″ outside diameter, this part can hold almost any tool you wish to adapt to it. A set screw tightens on the split collet to hold the tool in place. It is also used to hold the collet adapter (P/N 2085/2086). The split face design with adjusting screws allows perfect centering of the tool’s tip. Like the previous tools, it is designed for the machinist seeking every advantage in the quest for total accuracy.
Much like the adjustable live center, holding a tool in perfect alignment in the tailstock without some method of adjusting it can be difficult or impossible. To achieve perfect centering, the tool is mounted to a front plate. The rear plate has the #0 Morse taper that goes in the tailstock spindle. Slightly oversize holes in the rear plate allow the two plates to be adjusted in relation to each other so that the tool can be brought into perfect alignment with the headstock. This is an economical way to have the accuracy of an adjustable tailstock for those who need it while keeping costs down for those who don’t.
The Purpose and Use of the Adjustable Tool Holders
The accuracy that is attainable by adjustable tailstock tools is governed by the amount of skilled effort you put forth. Only someone new to the machine trade would talk about “perfect” alignment. In the machine business, you talk tolerances even if you can’t measure an error because now the error has to be assumed from the tolerances of your method of checking.
These holders are simple to use. The holders are divided into two parts with flanges. These flanges are bolted together with two screws. The clearance holes for these screws allow the front to be adjusted in relation to the rear. The rear section has a witness mark (groove). This mark should always be located at the top so the holder is located the same way in the tailstock each time it is used.
