Anyone using these China off brand TTS holders?

[Bill_Barschdorf]

Curious to see if anyone is using these? Are they cheap and good or just plain cheap and no good? Downside is they would not be compatible with ATC since they dont have the fork slot. ER-20 one is listed as Tomrach,

[Dr_Harold_Jones]

Nope. I break enough carbides without wondering if the tool holder is good.

[ANDREW_LITTLE]

Compared Runout of iCarbide TTS Holders to OEM

Had thought about saving money by going with iCarbide tool holders for a while. Finally caved and did so. Here is the runout analysis of 3 different options they sell compared to their OEM counterparts. [iCarbide vs Tormach TTS Holders- Runout Analysis] Hopefully this helps some other folks make their purchasing decisions.

[Bill_Barschdorf]

Hey Andrew,

Thanks for this, very helpful. I suppose they would be good for rouging tools, but I’ll check those off my list.

Your video made me realize I should get some measurements of my spindle as a baseline. Good info to have in the back of your mind. Ive never checked it.

[Patrick_Lorenz]

Vey helpful. Thank you for taking the time to present some facts

[William_Radigan]

One of the things that I like about the iCarbide holders is the 1/8in and 3/16in set-screw holders. In my experience, the reduced bulk at the nose improves coolant flow, but I concur with the above posts that the runout isn’t nearly as good.

Does anyone have a source for high-quality set-screw holders in smaller sizes? (1/8in, 3/16, 2mm, 3mm, 4mm) ???

[Bill_Barschdorf]

Interesting, they have 1/8 & 3/16, I always figured Tormach did not make these because they would be prone to breaking the tools or something because of the set screws on the smaller tools?

Its a shame cuz I just looked these guys up and they are only miles from me, maybe Ill try them for some larger di tools at some point.

[William_Radigan]

I’ve also wondered if there was a reason Tormach didn’t didn’t make them in the smaller sizes??

I’ve had relatively good experiences with the 3/16in size, but of the 3 pieces of 1/8in “ATC Compatible” tool holders, all of them have had OD’s too large to fit the forks in the ATC. I informed the folks at iCarbide about this and waited a couple of months, bought another one and found the same thing.

ATC3/4 TTS SET SCREW HOLDER 1/8 END MILL TOOL HOLDERS FOR TTS Tormach - icarbide

[Dr_Harold_Jones]

I use really small tools and very small tolerances most of the time so I have to stick with brand name quality. But I wouldn’t say they are unusable. Also I’m not organized enough to use some holders only for roughing and brand name for precision. I would get everything mixed up and have to test each one every time.

[Roy]

I don’t think I have any <1/4” shank HSS endmills with Weldon flats on them for a screw toolholder and I have a small pile of random old bits. Carbide would probably be prone to breaking, so when tools get that small, a small-nose collet system or the current heat-shrink hotness is probably more useful overall.

Nearly all the high-speed spindles I have for small tools use collets of some sort, so there could be balance issues as well.