Toolholders
The Toolholder is the essential connection between the machining center and the cutting tool. The toolholder fits into and is secured by the machining center’s spindle, and in turn, secures the cutting tool such as a drill or end mill by clamping onto its shank. The taper of the toolholder matches the toolholder interface of the particular spindle. Toolholder tapers are often conical, including CAT and BT taper specifications. A different kind of taper, HSK, is not tapered at all, but instead includes a variety of flanges for securely locking the toolholder in place. Toolholders use different mechanisms for clamping the tool including set screw, collet, hydraulic compression and shrink-fit.
ESSENTIAL READING
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How to Manage Cutting Tool Inventory in a Small Job Shop — The One-Person Shop #4
Working in short lead times means maintaining a large range of tools to be ready. What is the right way to stock and organize this investment?
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Cutting Tool Technology Aids Lights-Out Machining Applications
These features can help improve cutting tool stability, standardize cutting performance and extend tool life, enabling shops to confidently run unattended shifts.
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What To Consider When Adding Angle Heads
Angle heads can enable a three-axis machine tool to be more versatile. That said, this shop explains that there’s more to getting started using them than simply loading them into a machine’s spindle.
Read MoreVideo Shows How to Check Toolholder Runout
Here’s a video that explains how to check the runout on a collet chuck toolholder.
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A Machinist’s Guide to Toolholder Maintenance
Techniks’ “Machinist’s Guide to Toolholder Maintenance” can be a handy reference for inexperienced machinists and shop veterans alike.
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Why the Y?
See how Y-axis toolholders enable Swiss-type lathes to realize better chip control.
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Latest Toolholders News And Updates
iSwiss Collet Protects Sensitive Parts During Machining
PMTS 2025: The Gold Wave Collet product line is designed to prevent scratching and help preserve the finish of sensitive parts.
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Platinum Toolholding System Enables Quick Changeovers
The U-Tec changing system enables a standard ER output live tool to accept various adapters for different applications, enabling quick changeover of tools on almost any lathe or mill using a single tool.
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Haimer Tooling Solutions Provide Repeatable Turning Performance
PMTS 2025: Haimer’s shrink-fit toolholders and presetting machines are designed to optimize turning tool productivity.
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Sandvik Coromant ATC System Boosts Machine Utilization
Sandvik’s automatic tool change system for its machine-adapted clamping units enables full automation in turning centers.
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Forkardt Hardinge Swiss Workholding Provides Reliable, Consistent Performance
The company’s Swiss collets are designed to securely hold parts without marring surfaces, minimizing vibration to ensure smoother machining, enhanced accuracy and extended tool life.
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Sandvik Coromant Toolholding System Provides Rapid Tool Changes
QS Micro features quick and easy tool changes with a high degree of modularity and is well suited for small-part machining operations.
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Featured Posts
PowRgrip Responds to Three Tooling Trends
Rego-Fix’s PowRgrip tooling system has expanded over the past 20 years to incorporate a wider range of tool sizes, as well as automation.
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Rego-Fix’s Center for Machining Excellence Promotes Collaboration
The new space includes a showroom, office spaces and an auditorium that will enhance its work with its technical partners.
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Through-Coolant System Cuts Nickel-Alloy Cycle Times by 70%
Decker Machine Works recently adopted Rego-Fix’s reCool through-coolant system for ER collets, reducing the cycle times on a nickel alloy job by 70%.
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Making the Most of Mixed Toolholder Assemblies
While nearly all ER systems will have cross compatibility, they’ll have small differences across manufacturers that make their implementation at the shop level not as standard.
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Five Common Mistakes Shops Make with ER Collets (And How to Prevent Them)
Collets play a crucial role in the machining process, so proper tool assembly and maintenance is important. Here are five potential pitfalls to avoid when using ER collets.
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How to Troubleshoot Issues With Tool Life
Diagnosing when a tool is failing is important because it sets an expectation and a benchmark for improvements. Finding out why gives us a clue for how to fix it.
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FAQ: Toolholders
What is a HSK toolholder?
HSK, meanwhile, works by elastically deforming the toolholder. Fingers inside the hollow shank of the toolholder clamp the holder by pushing out. High spindle speed helps this interface, because the centrifugal force strengthens this clamping.
Source: Testing Measures Impact of Toolholder Interface Rigidity
How does a hydraulic toolholder work?
The hydraulic toolholder works by using fluid to compress an internal membrane within the holder body. The hydraulic fluid delivers uniform pressure around the membrane allowing it to compress equally around the periphery of the cutting tool. Basically, that’s how the hydraulic toolholder delivers its high concentricity specs.
Source: Why Use Hydraulic Toolholders
What is a toolholder?
The toolholder is the connection between the machining center and the cutting tool, employing clamping mechanisms such as set screws, collets, and shrink-fit.
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