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In this blog we are going to explore the different types of toolholders, which includes Collet Chucks, End Mill Holders (Weldon Holders), Hydraulic Toolholders, Heavy Duty Milling Chucks, Shell Mill Holders and Shrink Fit Holders.
Collet Chucks:
The Collet system was initially developed for drilling and has evolved into an effective and cheap solution for end mills. It includes the chuck body, locking nut, and clamping Collet. Collets are very versatile, as different Collet sizes can be used in one holder, allowing different-sized tools to be held. They come in a variety of shank sizes and types. However, they are not the most accurate.
Single Angle Collet System:
- ER Collet Chuck: Known as a single-angle Collet because it uses the single angle of its’ design to locate and centralise the tool. Mostly used for drilling and lighter cutting milling applications. Very good concentricity and often balanced to 16,000rpm to 6.8G. Often used in CNC machines with spindle speeds up to 15,000 rpm and are widely used in the SME market due to their versatility.
- TG/PG Series: For heavy drilling and some milling applications. The system provides good concentricity and good grip force. The nut system does not lend itself to good balance at higher speeds.
Double Angle Collet System:
For smaller drilling applications where you need clearance. This system is the simplest to use but is lacking in concentricity and grip force. Not your choice for precision high-speed applications.
End Mill Holders (Weldon Holders):
Machining heavy? These are your holders. As the name suggests, they’re used to hold end mills but are also known as Side Lock holders across shop floors.
End mill holders hold cutting tools with more rigidity than Collets, due to the high tolerance bore the shank is placed into. The Endmill is then secured in place with a grub screw, which locates into the Weldon flat on the tool.
This in turn eliminates tool creep, or tool pull out - as it’s more commonly known. Only tools with a Weldon flat should be used with these holders.
Hydraulic Toolholders:
Hydraulic tool holders are the easiest holders for most operators to use, you simply undo the screw, and the tool will be released. They should be applied when high tolerance machining method are applied, and where expensive round tools are being used when you want to maximise tool life.
They minimize tool chatter with natural vibration damping from the hydraulic fluid, giving you excellent balance and high runout accuracy.
Heavy Duty Milling Chucks:
When you need higher rigidity in lower-speed milling and nominal drilling applications – use these. They’ll give you very good concentricity and good side load capability.
However, their movable large clamping nut restricts the balance and centrifugal force capability, limiting the speed to 8,000 to 12,000 rpm. More commonly used on 50 taper machines with high toque capabilities to remove material.
Shell Mill Holders:
These are used for the larger diameter indexable cutting tools using a lockscrew or socket head cap screw to retain the tool in place and are commonly used depending on the milling cutter manufacturer’s specification.
Either or both are provided with each holder depending on the size.
Shrink Fit Holders (Heat Shrink):
A shrink fit tool holder is designed to secure cutting tools used in high-speed milling machines but should not be ruled out for the slower spindle machines. Rather than using a set screw or collet chuck style to grip an end mill, the shrink fit toolholder uses friction to retain the cutting tool by heating and cooling the toolholder.
These are best used when high speed, high accuracy and surface finishes are paramount. MSC’s Application Engineers tend to use mainly the Shrinks because of their higher clamping force and 3-micron tolerance runout. They will give you excellent concentricity and balance, have no moving features, and have thin nose diameters, making them exceptional for high-speed machining and hard-to-reach applications. However, these can’t be used with ceramic tools because of the heat generated. A Heat Shrink machine should be purchased to achieve optimal performance
If you’re ready to shop toolholding, head over to https://www.mscdirect.co.uk/toolholding-and-workholding now. Look out for the different types of toolholders as mentioned above!
