A 5C Collet Stop

Bernard Towers little accessory for owners of 5C spin indexers will speed up a lot of jobs and improve accuracy.

The ever-popular 5c spin indexer has been around a long while and has found good homes in many model /home engineers workshops It has had many home brew modifcations and impro ements written about it in the past, but I have not seen a design for a collet stop for short workpieces

By the way the 5c collet system is getting close to its 100th birthday!

With ten items to put hexagons on a part midway along each piece, a collet stop for the indexer seemed the way to go, photo fig Alright I know they are quite cheap but there’s something about using tools that you have made yourself and it’s a nice quick job for a wet winter Sunday

Firstly, a piece is machined to 1 040” outside diameter and screw cut 24 tpi x 60 deg for 0 750” distance Then drill and tap 3/8” or 10 mm x 1 0625” deep Mill a he agon across fats afer of thread and part o then tidy up

Make up a threaded rod (good opportunity to practice your screwcutting), dome the end and slot the other end, photo 2 Also make one for collets smaller than 3/8”/10mm The rod for the smaller sizes is just plain, threaded with a 1/4 x 26 internal thread one end, then pilot pieces of special sizes can be made up to suit particular jobs Make a hex nut to suit the stud and you are good to go, photo 3. I bet they can’t deliver one in the time it takes to make it!