Hi metalhacker,

My 'floating collet' design appeared in ME 4230. 17 Sept 2004.

The two loose segments held in place by a keyring (an o-ring would do) work really well and could grip at any diameter. It has the advantage of only taking up about 1 1/4" of spindle length, much less than most designs.

I silver soldered a short lever (a flatpack furniture spanner) to the nut and now fitting and removing is a single handed 2-second job.

It also works as an indexer, described two issues later. Mike Chrisp expressed the view that the spindle bore may not be concentric, causing errors, but I measured mine and it's within a thou even at the tail of the mandrel.

Neil

Blimey, that wall has gotten grubbier in the last ten years!

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 04/10/2014 19:41:52

Metalhacker,

From page 261 of G.H. Thomas book workshop techniques he describes a head stock dividing attachment for the Myford 254+ lathe based around an expanding mandrel. This may be of interest to you as it no doubt could be adapted for a crank handle.I do not know off hand which ME edition (if any) this article was originally printed in.

Steve

With such a large spindle hole you might try a design that leaves a hole through for long stock, and perhaps even allows a collet closer through too.