Clarkson Autolock & Dedlock 35 

Superb video well presented, excellent educational content. Yea iv a 1968 Adcock shipley bridge port mill that came with clarkson tooling which I like very much , machinist at work dissed it said it was a bad holder without explaining why iv always enjoyed using it without issue and found it intuitive to use. I now know a lot more about them after watching your video thanks very much for taking the time to show and explain this excellent peace of British engineering. God save the king 👍🏻

Great overview thank you. I just bought a chuck and all the imperial and metric chucks on a local trading site. Its a brilliant system for sure. Mine is American I suspect because it has a 3/8 NC drawbar thread but its got no manufacturer on it so its a good thing I don't need any more collets.

Excellent, thank you! I've just bought a beautiful old Centec 2A mill and it came with what I now know, thanks to you, to be a Clarkson 'S' type chuck and a couple of collets. And yes, you are right, the ring IS jammed on! 😁

Thank you for an excellent tutorial..! I’m about to pull the trigger and buy a small Beaver model-A vertical mill which comes with some Clarkson Auto-lock tooling on a 30 INT taper. Despite a mechanical engineering apprenticeship back in the mid 1970s I never got to operate a vertical mill, and… if I was ever taught about the Auto-lock system, then it’s long since gone from my memory. I very much enjoyed your relaxed and informative delivery, peppered with useful tips on using the chucks and buying kit. Your video has very nicely backfilled some of my missing education and has re-assured me about the mill and tooling. I’ve subscribed and will check out your other videos. Thanks again..!

Outstandingly useful. Thank you very much for taking the time to make this informative video. 👏👏👍😀 The Clarkson tool engineering is fabulous.

I have a Vertex Posilock (R8 shank) that works in a similar way to the Autolock system. I have an ER16 collet holder on a Ø16mm parallel shank that I have shortened, internally tapped and plugged the end with a short piece of M12 stud, drilled with a small centre drill and then threaded the shank to fit a Ø16mm collet. I use this for unthreaded tooling with diameters up to Ø10mm including drills. I think I may do a couple more for the purposes of quick changing between a few sizes and types of drill. I have also put a thread on insert milling cutters and edge finders to use them in the collets. I find these self locking systems are far more stable than ER collet holders for milling and have the advantage that if you want to you can use them as a basic CNC tool table system since they always go back in at the same position so have a repeatable tool length.

I would like to make a threaded end on a 6mm rod to insert into a Clarkson collet with a needle point at the other end to use as centre location device. Do you know what is the thread pitch and is a die readily available?

I've used Autoclock tool holders all my working life....60+ years....... for milling but they are too limited for general use like holding drills and odd size HSS round stock etc that have more diams than fleas on a dog's back..........give me the ER 32 system and it fulfills all the needs......if the ER system fails to hold your tools you're doing something wrong. BTW.....anyone with an Autolock and a Morse taper shank will be well advised NOT to tighten the drawbar with a spanner as the taper being so slow will freeze in the spindle and as in a case I know had to have the spindle of the mill removed and sent away for removal of the taper.......a serrated turn knob on the drawbar is all it takes to secure the tool. All in all the best spindle taper for tool retention is the R8 system.

I have recently acquired a Clarkson S type on an R8 shank. The center point is damaged. Any suggestions where I could find a replacement center?

Did they have laser engravers back when those parts were made?