Colleted bushing and method of use

A colleted bushing for drilling a hole in a workpiece, comprising:

• a collet having a collet proximal end and a collet bore having a collet axis and collet threads formed along a section of the collet bore, and a collet bore taper located adjacent the collet proximal end, the collet including a plurality of collet fingers located adjacent the collet proximal end and configured to be inserted into a workpiece hole of a workpiece, the collet having a collet flange of a larger width than a collet diameter collectively defined by the collet fingers, the collet flange having an underside defining a planar annular surface configured to be placed in contact against a surface of the workpiece when the collet is installed in the workpiece hole and thereby preventing pivoting of the collet within the workpiece hole and maintaining perpendicularity of the collet axis relative to the surface of the workpiece;
• a bushing having a bushing proximal end, a bushing distal end, a bushing bore, a bushing outer surface, and bushing threads formed along a section of the bushing outer surface;
• a bushing adapter configured to be removably coupled to the bushing distal end;
• and
• the bushing threads configured to engage the collet threads via the bushing adapter in a manner resulting in simultaneous rotational and axial movement of the bushing relative to the collet until the bushing proximal end contacts the collet bore taper causing the collet fingers to be urged radially outwardly and removably locking the collet within the workpiece hole, the bushing bore configured to receive and guide a rotary cutting tool.

A method of performing an operation on one or more workpieces, comprising:

• inserting collet fingers of a collet into a workpiece hole of a first workpiece until a planar annular surface of an underside of a collet flange is in contact against a surface of the first workpiece to thereby prevent pivoting of the collet within the workpiece hole and maintaining perpendicularity of a collet axis relative to the surface of the workpiece;
• inserting a bushing into a collet bore of the collet;
• engaging external bushing threads of the bushing with internal collet threads of the collet bore and rotating the bushing relative to the collet causing axial translation of a bushing proximal end toward a collet proximal end;
• urging, in response to rotation of the bushing relative to the collet, the bushing proximal end against a collet bore taper located on a radially inner side of the collet fingers and causing the collet fingers to be pressured uniformly radially outwardly against an inner circumferential surface of the workpiece hole for rotationally and axially locking the collet and bushing concentrically within the workpiece hole;
• and
• inserting a tool into the bushing bore and performing an operation on a second workpiece located adjacent to the first workpiece.