How Do I Choose a Shank?

You can drive Titespot® heads on a live tool lathe with one of our live tool modules or you can use a coolant driven tool. On a live tool lathe you have to have a module that will fit your specific lathe. They can be found on the Live Lathe Tools Size & Dimensions page.

For coolant driven shanks there are really only two choices. An integral shank tool holder that fits your machine. Or a straight shank. There are some factors that might influence why we would pick one over the other.

An integral shank mounted angle head, e.g. a Cat40 for a Cat40 machine, would be your first choice if you know for a fact that the tool would only be used on Cat40 machines. It would be compact, simple, and light. It would not, however, be versatile. It will not fit a machine with a different spindle, e.g. a Cat50, HSK or lathe turret.

A straight shank tool can be inserted into an endmill or collet holder. It becomes longer than an integral shank tool. Longer can be a good thing, sometimes it is not. This is however a much more versatile tool. The endmill holder can be Cat40, Cat50, HSK or whatever you need. The straight shank can even be put in a boring bar sleeve and used on a lathe as a live tool.

The Cat40, Cat50 and Straight shanks all cost the same. BT, HSK, Capto and other shanks are more expensive. In some cases a lot more expensive. Often a straight shank mounted in your existing tool holder will lower the cost of your Titespot® head.

The additional cost of optional Din B flange coolant can also be eliminated by a straight shank mounted in a Din B endmill holder.

For machines without though the spindle coolant a straight shank a Titespot® head can be fed by a coolant induced end mill holder.

Next Subject: How Do I Choose an Angle Head Size?