Collet
Glossary · Workholding & Setup
At a glance
- Category /
- Workholding & Setup
- Related /
- 2 terms
- Source /
- Written in the shop
A collet is a sleeve that grips a workpiece or tool evenly around its full circumference as it is drawn into a taper.
In practice
Because the grip is distributed rather than concentrated at three points, a collet holds with better concentricity and less distortion than a chuck — but only over a narrow size range for each collet.
Why it matters
For small, accurate, repeated work a collet is faster and truer. Its limitation is that it needs the stock to be close to nominal size; a bar a few thou oversize will not enter.
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