I finally switched from a 3/8 to a 1/2 inch collet for my roughing endmills

For years I stuck with a 3/8 inch collet on our older Haas, thinking the toolholder was fine. About four months ago, I swapped to a 1/2 inch collet for a 3/4 inch rougher on a big aluminum plate job. The chatter on the first pass was gone completely, and I could push the feed 15% harder. The finish on the walls after roughing was so much better it almost looked like a semi-finish pass. Has anyone else found their machine just handles heavy cuts better with a bigger collet, even if the tool shank fits the smaller one?

3 comments

3 Comments

alices1622d ago

Taylor saying "less flex, more power" is great and all but I swear some people act like they're tuning a race car instead of cutting metal. My machine didn't suddenly turn into a battlebot just because I put a bigger collet on it. Its still a Haas, not a DMG Mori. But yeah, the chatter disappearing was nice. No more sounding like a angry bee every time I took a heavy pass.

aaron_ellis421mo ago

Totally! Stiffer setup means less flex, more power.

taylor_flores1mo ago

Less flex, more power" sounds good on paper but man, sometimes that stiffness just kills your feel. You can lose a ton of control if the board doesn't bend at all. I've seen setups so stiff they just buck people off on anything less than perfect snow.