REGO-FIX celebrates 50th anniversary of the original ER collet

This year, REGO-FIX Tool Corp. is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its ER collet.

Before this collet, the E collet was the technical standard. After machining, the collets typically were anchored so firmly in their holders that it was difficult to remove them. Shops often used wooden bars and rods to knock collets out through the lower part of the holder with a hammer. This required a lot of force, damaged the rear sides of the collets, and shortened their service lives considerably.

In 1972, Fritz Weber and REGO-FIX solved these problems with the creation of the ER collet. Weber added a groove to the outer side of the collet, which was then inserted into the eccentric ring of a newly created clamping nut. With his design, users could pull the collet directly out of the holder quickly and easily after unscrewing the nut. Additionally, Weber’s ER collet design incorporates more slits, facilitating a wider clamping range of 0.5 to 1 mm for increased versatility.

“Our father’s vision that the industry would use millions of ER collets was met with skepticism and disbelief by many,” said Stefan Weber, vice-president of REGO-FIX. “But today, they are in use in thousands of machining centres worldwide.”