Inexpensive Spindle and Chuck/Collet

[Paul Alciatore]

Don't know if I could bring myself to butcher one. But I will keep it in mind. Perhaps an Atlas or Craftsman? I wouldn't feel so guilty.

My hesitation was for the SB, not the 7" mini lathe. I would butcher one of those in an instant. I have a SB9 and love it.

[Alistair Hosie]

I have both er 25 and er 32 collets and chucks to match if I just had the one I would opt for er 32 myself it gives you a wider range of sizes. IMHO er 32's seem to be the most widely bought and used. Alistair

[J Tiers]

Not going to find an HF type drill press with that low runout

Don't know why not.

The chuck will be trash, with probably well in excess of 5 thou runout. But you weren't going to use the chuck, were you?

The spindle and bearings are probably harder to make with bad runout than with acceptable runout, so I'd expect them to be acceptable.

What you would do would be to attach your collet holder to the spindle in place of the chuck, and then , since you have the grinder, you can grind the collet holder to take out the last bit of eccentricity, in place, on its bearings.

After that it should be "on" about as well as it ever will be.

you might have more trouble finding an HF (or other) cheap drill press that actually has two bearings in the quill. Many have but one at the bottom and rely on the splines to center the spindle at top.