Threaded or not threaded

[John Rudd]

I have a set of milling cutters all of which have a threaded shank ( we are talking end/slot mills here btw...) and I use a Clarkson style holder with collets...

What difference is there between the ones I use and the plain shank (the ones with a flat machined on the shank, as used with a plain shank type holder) type in terms of cutter security?

I guess my question is which one is better or is it a case of 'horses for courses'?

[Bogstandard]

John,

The Clarkson threaded system really do take the strain when doing heavy duty cutting, they really are almost bombproof.
The main problem with the Clarkson system, is you can only use threaded cutters, usually a lot more expensive than Weldon or plain shank.

Weldon shank (they have a flat on the side of them) are for mounting into a holder that has some way of clamping onto the flat, usually a grub screw.

For model engineering purposes, an ER collet chuck, or dedicated spindle collets will hold all types quite sufficiently.


Bogs

[John Rudd]

Thanks for that John  , I thought that the Clarkson setup would be best.

Think I'll just stick with the threaded cutters.