ER16 Collets from Ebay

Has anyone purchased any ER16 Collets from Ebay fairly recently, and if so what was the quality like please? A link to your purchase would be useful if possible. My other option is a set from RDG, but they're more than double the price; I can swallow that if they're worth the extra - but not if theirs are the same as those on the 'bay but with a big mark-up......

Many thanks,

Brian

From my experience the RDG offerings will be the same as the eBay stuff but with a big mark up as you said, all made in China, which isn't a bad thing in itself. My last purchase from them wasn't a happy experience.

Tony

Edited By Tony Pratt 1 on 07/04/2022 20:15:39

If your Ebay find is coming from China just make sure you've factored in postage, duty, vat and handling charge. This adds up to quite a lot, been there been done by that

VAT and other charges are all now included. There shouldn't be any surprises.

I have not had great quality from the Chinese collets and suggest you look at APT who sell 3 grades of the common sizes. If you are using them for endmills, it would be better to buy the sizes that match the cutter sizes that you use rather than a large set, some of which never leave their boxes. APT do add VAT and postage. They also sell singles of carbide inserts for hobby use which means you can try them out to see which work best.

**LINK**

I've had several sets of the Chinese ones from Amazon. The quality is hit and miss but at least returns are free if they are really bad.

It almost seems like in a typical set most of them are fine but you nearly always get a couple of crappy ones.

I only have ER32 collets and have not had any problems with quality with those sold on ebay and made in China. Some may not be made to toolroom standard but are OK for general machining work.

I try to buy thru a local importer and always use Paypal for any money transfer. On the odd occasion where I could not get an exchange of goods or my money back, they gave me a full refund.

I've always preferred CTC Tools over eBay for this stuff. I believe their offerings - still from China - are a bit more "selected".

Cutwel have individual 10micron runout on offer at the moment, at least if the supplier states a max runout you have some comeback.

I run a mix of those and ARC ones on the CNC and they seem OK upto my max of 5000

Shopapt **LINK** have them with different accuracy stated.

Jim

The most accurate runout for ER collets I have seen is 3um. They are 2x the price of 8um collets if the Aliexpress shop has them. They also do a range of oversized collets too, but jus in the 8um accuracy. For example in ER 40 the collets go to 30mm. Most only do them to 26mm. Regofix used to do the oversizes as well. The high precision ones I got in ER20 were excellent. Forgot who I got them from on Aliexpress. It was back in 2016.

Trouble with ebay is it's a market-place, not a single seller. What's on offer varies from fake through to top-end surplus, even from the same supplier. Getting a refund in the event a lemon arrives can be problematic,

I don't know of any way of guaranteeing an ebay purchase will be fit for purpose. Could be a bargain or not, it's always a risk. Mostly ebay has worked out for me, and the few occasions I've come unstuck were due to pushing my luck - 'bargains' that were too cheap to be real. My purchases are always made with the possibility it might go sour in mind, and I take the rough with the smooth. No floods of tears if I get one wrong.

In practice, I prefer to buy tools from mid-range reputable suppliers who sort problems out. RDGs costs are higher in part because the price covers a high level of customer service in the event there's a foul up. A fly-by-night abroad has fewer obligations, and might not give any satisfaction at all.

My ER collets came from Warco (metric) and ArcEuro(Imperial). They're all good.

Dave

..and I'm always astonished at how many people forget that. It's like writing off an entire town's shopping precinct because you got stiffed once at the Sunday market.

+1 for CTC. I bought from them a while back when they only listed on eBay, and had good experience. At the time the company was run by a German based in China, and I was pleased with the products and the service. When I wanted an extra collet which was outside the range normally supplied he was very helpful and supplied what I needed at very reasonable cost. Collets I bought all seemed to be within the stated DIN spec. on runout.

Mike

I have just bought a 10um ER32 set from APT for £80 which I thought very reasonable, they also do a 15um version for £65 and frankly I cant see the point of paying any more than that for something as part of a hobby. I've no doubt they are Chinese in origin but so what, and if they are dreadful then redress is available from a bricks and mortar outlet. They aren't the only quality supplier but since they are close to home using them makes compete sense.

Regards

Martin

The problem with the bad collets is not just one thing. I had some amazingly bad collets, and when the collet was placed onto a mandrel that just allowed the collet to be held is when I found out the often the main 8 deg taper, even though it was not concentric, was at least fairly even in the run out readings from the back to it's high point. In most cases, it was the front 30deg taper that was cut on some obscure plane to the rest of the collet and was the main cause of the problems. I did a trial and repaired one of the 1/4 inch id ER 11 collets. It was a learning experience in both repairing a bad product, and trying to get the seller to recognise that what they sold me was junk. It is now a very good working collet, but needed a cylindrical grinder to correct it. I just gave up on all the other ones that came in the set. I then bought an ARC set and it has been a very good set for the ER11 series collets I use in the lathe for small parts holding. The ones I use in the cnc spindle are the 5um ER20 collets and the 5um ER11 collets that fit my ER20 to ER11 collet adapters that I made several years ago. It is amazing with the ER system how if the nut is bad,ie the thread is not concentric to the 30 deg cone inside, how it can push around the nose of the collet and make the part run out a measurable amount at the end of the part, give the indication that the collet is bad.

Always lots to learn even in a hobby.

Hello All, and many thanks for all the excellent replies

Based on the above I've been looking at the offerings from CTC, APT, RDG, Ebay and Amazon; an email to RDG to ask what the runout is on their collet set resulted in a response of "less than a thou", which is 0.025mm or less - which compares pretty poorly to others (they're usually 0.015mm or better). Prices are ranging from (for a set of ten):

APT: £46

CTC: £30

RDG: £37-50

Ebay: £18 (long delivery time)

Amazon: £22

I've a mind to give the Amazon ones a chance first - if they're cr@p then I can return them at no cost, so no risk.

I'll report back....

Many thanks,

Brian

Edited By B Tulley on 08/04/2022 22:07:09

AKA "beats me!"

Yes they obviously have no idea.

Tony

+1 for CTC I have made several purchases including a set of ER25 collets and have been very pleased with them and everything else they have supplied. I did buy an ER25 straight shank collet chuck from RDG to use on my Kennet grinder and the run out on the internal taper of that was just under 5 thou, unfortunately it had sat in a drawer for a year or so before I tried it so couldn't return it, fortunately it machined ok, but after a few similar experiences I don't buy anything from that company anymore.

I don't know if they sell ER collets but I bought 5C collets from ARC and Gloster tooling and they are very satisfactory, as was the service from both.

My Vertex ER 32 collet set was quite pricey but the accuracy of the ones I checked was very pleasing.

Dave