Thread: Beall internal expanding collet

Fellow brush makers, a great friend of mine gifted me this collet I was talking to him about. It's a 1 inch collet that will go in the knot end of your brush handle for end finish work. They run approximately $27 US. It's anodized aluminum and seems well built. Going to give this a go later and will share results. It's not a news item but sure seems handy.
These are available in many sizes. I'm in no way attached to this company just sharing an idea.

Here it is installed. Now I can part the end and finish.

looks interesting though it looks like it still needs to be held in a chuck(which i don't have a good one of yet) let us know how it holds.

Yes tintin it goes in a Chuck, or the same company makes collets that will hold it. The end in the Chuck is 1/2 in.

what are the min and max diameters it will work on?

Yes, they must be darn close to fitting on the collet. If you crank down too much to make it fit something too large they WILL break!
Ask me how I know?

Seems there are some with a fairly wide range. Harrywally would know!

Just got to wait for linseed to dry on the end wax and send.
I'm not sure on min and max range tintin. Tom is right to big and snap something. I spun this up to about 2800 and it never moved.

Yes, they do come in many different sizes. I still use some of mine on smaller sized brushes that I use smaller sized knots in. Usually they're the 7/8 and 3/4 inch sizes. Like Tome said, be careful not to crank them too tight when turning wood, or you will most definitely crack the piece. Typically you push the piece tight against the face flange, which will set the piece somewhat square on the lathe. This makes it hard to do any work on the top of the brush so usually I shape that are before I flip it and put it onto the collet. Once I have everything shaped, I pull it away from the flange, Like Eric has shown in his above pictures, and now you can sand the entire piece including the top which would typically be pressed up against that flange.

One trick I have learned when using these collets, is that a few wraps of electrical tape around the collet can help fit a slightly oversized hole. I have found that these will not snug up on any hole that's oversized by a minimum of a 1/16. Not a huge amount of room for error.

Beall I-X (Internal Expanding) Collet Set - Lee Valley Tools