Overheard a tooling rep say something about tool holders that clicked for me

I was at a shop open house last Tuesday and this old school guy from Kennametal was talking to one of the machinists. He said most guys run their holders way too loose and then wonder why the finishes look bad. Said to tighten the collet nut an extra quarter turn past the usual click. I went back to my machine and tried it on a finish pass for a steel part. The surface looked way better, no chatter marks. I always thought I was cranking them down enough. Any of you guys run your holders tighter than the standard recommendation?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren_thomas167d ago

Man, I've probably been leaving a quarter turn on the table this whole time. My parts probably looked like I was cutting them with a butter knife.

patricia_hayes6d ago

Three years of machining and I just realized I've been running tools like they were made of glass, @wren_thomas16. My last batch of parts looked like someone chewed on the edges before I deburred them. Now I'm wondering how many cutting tools I dulled for nothing.