Patent ID: 7338420

Claim:
A versatile toolholder system for a numerically controlled machine tool, comprising a toolholder body having an attachment portion that has a shape that allows said attachment portion to be attached to an attachment mechanism of a numerically controlled machine tool, and a tool holding portion having an inner space for storing a collet therein; a plurality of collets with different shapes and sizes for clamping corresponding tools for a non-numerically controlled machine tool; a plurality of collet adaptors for the collets with different shapes and sizes, each having an inner opening with a tapered portion that snugly fits to a tapered portion of the collet, and an outer surface that snugly fits into a circumferential opening at an end of the toolholding portion of said toolholder body; and a pull-up means to pull the collet toward the inside of said toolholder body to fasten said collet by said collet adaptor, thereby attaching said collet to said toolholder body; wherein sizes and shapes of said inner openings of said collet adaptors are different from one another while sizes and shapes of said outer surfaces of said collet adaptors are identical to one another, and wherein said collet tightly clamps the tool when said collet is pulled toward the inside of the toolholder body.