Patent ID: 7331585

Claim:
An adapter for holding an elongate workpiece to be machined in an accurately located axial position comprising: a main sleeve having an interior wall defining a passage extending therethrough with at least one inner surface angled inwardly toward a centerline of the passage; an axially and radially moveable collet interposed between the main sleeve and a workpiece to be processed; a workpiece locator engageable within the passage and supporting a stationary, positive axial location, workpiece stop, the workpiece locator including an elongate body supporting the positive axial location, workpiece stop adjacent one longitudinal end and a plurality of axially extending slots spaced angularly from one another around a periphery of the elongate body allowing radially inwardly extending passage of the axially and radially moveable collet; a rotatable sleeve engageable with the collet for accurately locating the workpiece to be processed with respect to the main sleeve by radially grasping the workpiece to be processed and axially moving the workpiece into engagement with the stationary, positive axial location, workpiece stop; and at least one tooling access port defined by each of the main sleeve, collet and workpiece locator, wherein the at least one tooling access ports are all aligned with one another to allow machining tools to access a sheathed portion of a workpiece to be machined.