WTB Warner Swasey Master Collet

Guys,

Looking for the following Warner Swasey Master Collet.
Warner Swasey part number is 1369-1003.



Dimensions are:

C 3.630"
B 6.000"
A 2.308"

Thanks!

Chuck
Burbank, CA

Hi Chuck,

I bought a Warner & Swasey #3 turret lathe about a month or so ago. It has a master collet very similar in style to yours, but mine is slightly smaller. I have no desire to part with my collet anyway, but I thought I'd chime in to share information for whatever it might be worth.

I bought my entire lathe for a mere $300. It pretty decent shape and near 100% complete I might add. Including the collet and collet retainer ring. So I was very lucky to have obtained such a complete machine.



In any case, I looked around to see if I could find another master collet for it. Mainly just out of curiosity. What I discovered is that they are very hard to come by and very expensive when found. New they range from $750 to over $1000, just for the master collet. And that's if you're lucky to find someone who actually has one in stock. There may be places were you can pick them up used, but considering the prices for a new one I imagine even used ones will most likely be asking quit a bit.

Here's a link to my thread where I have pictures and measurement of my collet.

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...-bought-no-3-a-381892/index5.html#post3625267

In any case, what I was going to suggest is that your best bet might be to look around for an entire lathe that has a collet it in. As I say I got my entire lathe for $300. I got it at HGR Industrial Supplies in Euclid Ohio. But it's my understanding that there are similar outlets nationwide.

The bottom line is that you might be able to get the collet by buying an entire lathe for less than you might otherwise pay for the collet alone. Plus you don't even need to worry about the condition of the rest of the lathe. You might be able to get your money back by just taking the collet out of it and reselling it with no collet.

Anyway, just a suggestion.

In fact, at the time I bought my lathe they actually had two of them almost identical for $300 each. I almost bought the second one just for spare parts. In fact, I would have done that if I would have had the resources at the time to pick up two lathes.

While I'm mentioning this, they also had a W&S #4 lathe for sale also for only $300. I was tempted to pick it up as well. Mainly for the 12" 4-jaw chuck that came with it. It would have been worth buying the whole lathe just to get the chuck.

Anyway, that's just a suggestion. Keep an eye out for any cheap junk lathes that have the collet you want. It might be cheaper to grab the whole lathe than to find a lone collet.

Just as a final note. Based on the design of these master collets I think I would make my own before I would pay something like $750 for one. I'm sure I could make one for a lot less than that.

Good luck in your search. Maybe you'll find one for $25 that someone has laying around and simply has no use for. Even though they cost a lot to buy, it might also be difficult to find someone who actually needs one. So they might be seen as fairly "worthless" on the market as a whole.

So best wishes in your search.

Sweet Dreamer,

Thanks for your response. Out here on the west coast, It's hard to find
Warner Swasey turret lathes for less than 1000.00. Plus rigging is expensive as well. Took me a couple of years just to find this one.

I was hoping someone here on the PM board had one lying around.

If not, I will take your advise and make one.

Chuck
Burbank, CA

Chuck Evans said:

I was hoping someone here on the PM board had one lying around.

Click to expand...

In my other thread someone suggested to me that if I need parts for a Warner & Swasey lathe to check out the following resource.

Gahr Machine Company

This company is actually next to the HGR facility where I bought my lathe. I didn't have time to visit them when I was there.

Even though they are in Ohio, you might be able to call them and if they have the collet you are seeking they might be able to mail it to you. It shouldn't cost much to ship something that small and lightweight.

Whether they have one or not, and how much they might ask for one, is another story. Won't hurt to make an inquiry.

Let me know if they pan out for you.

Edited to add:

I see on their website that they say they will even make parts for you if they don't have them. I would imagine if they do that, you'd probably be back to looking at prices close to what I had mentioned previously. But it won't hurt to call them. Who knows? Maybe they have an old used one laying around they'll send you at a reasonable cost? Life's strange.

Hey Chuck, I got another idea while I was sleeping last night. It's kind of a stretch, but I thought I'd share it just for kicks.

There are a lot of machinists who have popular YouTube channels. My personal favorite is Abom79, but there are many others as well. I've noticed on their channels they often make specialty items for various viewers. They do this in part as a source of interesting content for their YouTube channel. I have no idea what they would charge for the work, but I'm guessing (and I could be wrong on this) that they might do is reasonable considering that they end up obtaining revenue from having made the video.

As a last resort, you might want to see about contacting one of them to see if any of them might be interested in making the collet for you as a theme for one or more of their videos. I would personally love to see Adam Booth make a collet like this. Although, I don't mean to put him on the spot. He may not be interested in this type of project.

But asking around in the YouTube community might produce a YouTube machinist who might actually be interested in taking on the project. Again, this is just a shot in the dark, but who knows? It might pan out. I've seen these guys take on projects for viewers before, so it's certainly not out of the question.

Here's some of my favorite YouTube Machinists, but I'm sure there are many others as well.

Abom79
Keith Rucker
Joe Pieczynski
Steve Summers

By the way, I've seen them take on far more complex projects for viewers. It would seem to me that this Warner & Swasey Master Collet would be a fairly straight-forward project. Although I could be wrong about that. There may be more to it than I realize. My guess is choosing the right material to start with and heat treating after machining would be critical factors. In fact, you could ask them to just make it, and then send it out to have it heat treated for the proper temper afterwards. It might even need to be ground after heat treating to final dimensions?

Just as another note, sometimes these YouTube machinists ship stuff back and forth between them for various operations. So you never know who might be interested in making videos on this project.

Disclaimer: This is just a wild and crazy idea I had in the middle of the night. But it might be worth pursuing as a last resort. I also have no idea what they might end up charging you for the finished collet. I'm assuming they might be able to charge you only for the parts or material, since they'll be making money from the YouTube video part of it? I'm not sure how that works.

In any case, I'm going back to bed. If I have anymore strange ideas I'll try to refrain from posting them.

Here's one made by Hardinge, but I have no idea if it's the correct size for your machine. They don't give dimensions, but it's listed as for a #5.

This one is listed for a #3, which is I think too small for you.

Doc.

Master Collet

Doc,

I've seen those ebay items, the first is too big and the second is too small. The 1369 is in between, an oddball.

I can build my own, designing it now from the collet holder.

Just a "not enough time" thing right now.

Chuck
Burbank, CA

Chuck Evans said:

Just a "not enough time" thing right now.

Click to expand...

That's my life story. I just came in from building the last of an 8-part garage door system on the garage where I have my lathe. Prior to this I just had tarps hanging on the openings for doors. So now at least I have doors I can close this winter.

My lathe is waiting for me to build a 3 phase RPC. I have that project started. That's about as far as I got. I don't have 3 phase power here so I can't even fire it up yet.

I'd love to see Adam Booth make your collet just for the pleasure of watching him do it.

There were 'big bore' #3s with a bigger though hole through the spindle, that must be what you have. I ~think~ a standard master collet for a #4 is correct but I don't know that for a fact.

Chuck Evans said:

I've seen those ebay items, the first is too big and the second is too small. The 1369 is in between, an oddball.

Click to expand...

-The only other option I can offer, if you haven't tried already tried it, is either Small Tools or the aforementioned Gahr Machine (which may or may not be either branches of, if not the same essential company.)

I've bought a few tools from them- hard to find bits specific to the smaller No.1 and No.2 machines- but I have no idea how extensive their stores and supplies are.

If not, making ones' own is definitely an option. Some previous owner of my machine for some reason made their own "pusher", the collar that the closer tube pushes on to close the B&S "dead length" collets my particular machine uses.

I have no idea why somebody might have wanted to make their own, as a factory one came with the machine. The homebrew one is dimensionally identical, and offers no apparent feature that the factory piece doesn't.

It does have one feature which applies to your situation, too- it's not hardened, and shows both notable wear and damage from embedded chips. If I were going to make one of my own, either my pusher or your master collet, I'd rough it close to shape, have it hardened and tempered, and then find a good grinding shop that could finish it for you.

Probably wouldn't be cheap, but considering the collet is pretty much the key to the accuracy of the machine, it might be worth it depending on what your intended use is.

Doc.

Chuck,Sir
That should be a fairly common master collet as it is for a 1320 #4.. You should be able to source it from anyone who sells collets. Good thing is it uses the w&s 1129- collet jaws and they are almost a drug on the market ( well for a company that has been out of business for 30 years or so). Heck I may even have one in my stash-0-stuff.. I'll keep an eye out for one and if one pops up I'll let ya know.
Stay safe
Calvin B

Gahr/Small Tools has always been helpful for me-A number of years ago, I bought a #3 With the awesome lead on threading attachment-if you do any amount of threading its the way to go-we use it a lot-threading with a die head is faster than my CNC-Single Point and although adjusting the die-head takes more time than just putting in offsets. My understanding... is that the folks at Gahr got lots of stuff from W/S when they closed and still have a lot-prices-I though, have always been reasonable-considering that they may have stored an item for decades. And yes, they can make things or have it made-there is a bunch of the old W/S guys that still make parts-I know Gahr uses them-but I cannot remember the name-Fast '....something like that-in any case when I need something-typically-Gahr/Small tools is my 1st call...

DocsMachine said:

-

I've bought a few tools from them- hard to find bits specific to the smaller No.1 and No.2 machines- but I have no idea how extensive their stores and supplies are.

Click to expand...

STI's inventory is HUGE. If you visit, figure on spending most of a day there wandering the aisles.