Sealed collet having improved radial flexibility for facilitating removal from a locknut

Abstract

A sealed collet having improved radial flexibility is provided for facilitating removal from a locknut of a chuck assembly. The sealed collet includes a collet body formed from a tubular configuration of elongated gripping fingers separated by elongated slots which render the body radially resilient in response to pressure applied by a locknut. The slots are filled with a bonding agent, which may be a silicon rubber compound, for preventing dirt and debris from entering the collet slots and for preventing pressurized coolant intended to flow through a bore in a tool shank from flowing through the walls of the collet body. To increase the radial compressibility of the collet, agent-free gaps are provided in the slots immediately behind a distal portion of the collet body. In the preferred embodiment, the length of the agent-free gap is between 20 % and 30 % of the overall length of its respective slot. The location of the gaps immediately behind the distal end of the collet body advantageously increases the radial compressibility of the collet while allowing the bonding agent in the slots to continue to prevent debris from entering the collet.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to sealed collets in which the slots between the fingers of the collet are filled with adhesive to maintain a flow of pressurized coolant through the interior of the collet. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved sealing collet having an adhesive-free gap in the collet slot to increase the radial flexibility of the collet body, which in turn facilitates sealing the collet Remove from locknut on chuck assembly. Background technique [0002] Collets for use in tool gripping chuck assemblies are well known in the art. Collets of this type generally comprise a tubular body formed of a plurality of elongated flexible steel fingers. The fingers are separated by longitudinal slits which impart a degree of radial flexibility to the collet so that it can selectively grip the shank of a rotating tool, such as a drill bit. Adjacent fingers are interconnected by an interlacing pattern of metal sheets to for...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, when a harder adhesive is used, such as a commercially available adhesive under the trademark SUPERFLEX 587 produced by Loctite Corporation of Rochy Hill, Connecticut, not only the radial direction of the collet body is made compressible Resilience is reduced to such an extent that manual compression around the shaft by the locknut becomes difficult and furthermore makes it extremely difficult for the system operator to manually separate the collet body from the locknut when the collet needs to be replaced

Images