MT2 blanks.

I want to buy some morse taper blanks for some tooling. I've always made my own when necessary but hardened shanks are desirable. Besides, they aren't expensive these days. There are many suppliers but are they all the same? I'd rather pay a little more if they were higher quality.

Any suggestions?

It might be a help to set out exactly which aspect(s) of quality are important for your needs, and ask the various suppliers if their products will meet your needs*. This will allow you

a) to sort out those firms who really know about the stuff they are selling;

b) to rely on what they say as part of your contract when you buy - not fit for purpose is much easier to prove if you have clearly stated your purpose.

c) to let us know how you get on ...

* this might include the hardness, the dimensions of the taper, the provision (or not) of centres in both ends, the relation of the taper to the blank diameter, the concentricity of any draw-bar threads, etc - just depending on how wear resistant, accurate or interchangeable (etc) you need them to be.

Cheers, Tim

ArcEuroTrade is a good source.

Hello Jonathan,

I bought some blanks and a lot of other tooling many years ago from Arrand Engineering at Knossington Oakham. They don't have a website so you have to call them.

I have no reason to doubt the quality of their stuff

Phone 01664 454566

Regards Brian

Thanks, Brian I tried Arrand but they don't do one with a big enough head diameter. I realize that you have to be trying quite hard to mess up such a simple thing but after a less than optimum experience with collets I thought it might be worth asking at least if there were any differences. Other than head size the obvious qualities are truth and hardness. The mating taper is only a stub type and I don't want to risk damaging it. I repaired some jewellers' swaging rolls recently that were through hardened, glass hard and brittle. Shattered as a result There is a reason why Arrand kit is more costly. I'm ordering one for one of the critical jobs and going cheap on the less demanding ones

I bought a couple of Arrand ones a long time ago and used one for a slitting saw arbor. 'Fraid so say that after a while it developed a crack and eventually snapped! However it was an excellent fit. I have a drill chuck arbor that came with an Asian keyless chuck (albrecht clone) that wasn't a good fit in the taper. I've not seen blanks which are larger than Arrand - theirs' are 1.25 inch dia IIRC whereas others seem to be 1 inch.. You could always loktite on another bit?

Thanks for the replies. The largest Arrand available is now 1" only. Perhaps no more are being made and stocks are running low. It's funny that we now regard Arrand as pricey when back in the day they were the budget replacement for J&S et al. How times have changed. Still would prefer the new stuff to be more consistently better though one can't have it both ways I guess.

Jonathan,

Provided the quality of the MT taper meets your requirements, surely it is a simple thing to 'add' diameter (or length) to the blank portion as John suggests. I would have thought this was a normal application of these 'blanks'.

For many folk this would be a much easier turning operation than compared to making a good taper and there should be a large surface area for the Loctite to grip. The accuracy of these additions will be down to the individual of course. I've done this a few times and not had any real problem so far (although I did find a bit of broken 3mm drill embedded in one!). My latest slitting saw holder (which is MT1) had a 25mm blank end. I loctited an additional piece on to it and then bored this out to 1" (which is the ID of my slitting saws). I guess the finished item is about 35mm OD now.

Regards, IanT

Unless things have changed recently, all the MT blanks I have bought in the past have never had a hardened shank. In fact I have often had to remove the odd ding from the soft MT surface in order to provide a good fit.

Doug

Last year I bought a No2 Morse x 1.5" blank end arbor from Arc to make a 1" slit saw arbor. . The taper fitted perfectly and the material machined a treat. In the past I have bought several chuck arbors from Arc all perfectly OK.

Arc are "my supply of choice" for buying my tooling etc. as they do seem to have reasonable quality control, offer innovative products, fast delivery and the one and only time I had a problem with one small drill in a pack of 5 they exchange the lot them immediately with an apology and no quibble. Also their catalogue is excellent.

My only connection with Arc is that I am a satisfied customer.

Eric

Arc and Arrand it is then. It'll be interesting to compare them. I think I was being too pernickety about not wanting to extend them. I frequently use adhesives at work but still have an irrational prejudice. Stupid of me.

Arc do useful large diameter blanks. Below are pics of an MT3/ER25 collet holder I made from one. The steel turned and threaded very nicely.

Neil