Drill press chuck broke

[BobRad]

I was drilling my first plastic blank on my drill press, going slow an pulling up often to clear the chips, but it seized up, grabbed the pen vice and swung it around till it flew off (missing me).

The problem is that the tip of one of the three chuck jaws has broken off, and I cant figure out how to get the chuck off so I can replace it. The drill press is 30 year old Rockwell still running fine with a Jacobs chuck.

I clamped up the top pulley to hold it, and put a chuck key in and hammered to loosen assuming it was just a thread on chuck, but so far that's not working.I dont think its a Morse taper chuck and I see no easy way to disassemble the quill.

 

[gawdelpus]

Have you tried putting a length a length of steel rod down the quill from the top and giving a few taps with a hammer just in case its a blind taper, eg no side slot for a drift to remove , if its a taper fitting on the chuck end you may need to tap gently on the chuck body in a downwards direction to loosen it ,failing those methods you may need to apply heat on the chuck body to get things unfrozen ,good luck with it though ,cheers ~ John

 

[jskeen]

Most drill presses have a jacobs chuck, which is held on the end of the quill with, of all things, a Jacobs taper! It is a short sharply angled taper, and can be quite difficult to remove. Instructions can be found here.

http://www.jacobschuck.com/drill-chuck-install.asp

Good luck with it

James

 

[BobRad]

OK thanks I'll try that tomorrow

There is no hole from the top of the quill,unless its hidden under the step pulley,but I have not got a clue how to take that off. The middle of the pulley has a sliding shaft with keyway.

 

[DurocShark]

I've always just stuck a big wrench between the chuck and the quill and popped the chuck off. Unless it's rusted bad, it should work. I've owned 3 DPs over the years and each had enough room to do that.

 

[BobRad]

I stuck a big screwdriver between the quill and the chuck and it came down about 3/4", no sign of rust, but so far I cannot get it lower. Its move lower enouoh to expose a horizontal hole above the chuck, if I can find a pin to go through that I maybe can lever it more

 

[BobRad]

Not looking too good, I talked to Jacobs and I have a way they suggest to try getting it off and a part number for a replacement. Just called the local supplier and they want $311 for a new chuck- that's insane.

 

[DurocShark]

The reason I used the wrench is the larger surface area the force is applied to.

As for yours hanging up, I would bet there's a chunk of something jammed in there. Pressing the chuck on again (pushing it down against some wood) might loosen it up.

 

[snyiper]

Look for a screw in the center of the chuck holding it to the quill I have seen this on occasion in drill presses.

 

[fernhills]

Hi, in my drill press there is a slot in the Quill. Lower the Quill as if you were going to drill, see if you can see the tang of the Jacob's mandrel. If you don`t you can rotate the quill by hand till you can see the window to insert a triangle tool. if you don`t have one, a piece of wood will do.Give it a couple of soft raps. Be ready to catch the chuck, it should fall out easy. I hope this helps. Carl

 

[bradh]

Not looking too good, I talked to Jacobs and I have a way they suggest to try getting it off and a part number for a replacement. Just called the local supplier and they want $311 for a new chuck- that's insane.

Most of these chucks use a standard taper, often a JT3, JT6 or similar. You should be able to buy a replacement chuck at a more reasonable price than that:
http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/product10?&NMCLASS=00126&NSBCLASS=00166&NETID=1207230617103215146

 

[BobRad]

Jacobs sugested I pull out the entire shaft and chuck (possible I think, but not easy), reverse it with the chuck up, and use a punch through the hole in the chuck to knock the shaft loose, The taper is on the shaft.

 

[hilltopper46]

Jacobs sugested I pull out the entire shaft and chuck (possible I think, but not easy), reverse it with the chuck up, and use a punch through the hole in the chuck to knock the shaft loose, The taper is on the shaft.

Swing the table out of the way, lower the chuck a bit and put a block between the top of the chuck and the drill press body. Open up the chuck and put the punch up into the center of the chuck and hammer away.

 

[jskeen]

Swing the table out of the way, lower the chuck a bit and put a block between the top of the chuck and the drill press body. Open up the chuck and put the punch up into the center of the chuck and hammer away.

That will work, IF the chuck in question is actually open to the jacobs taper from the bottom. That is NOT always the case. Some have a closed cavity for the jaws and would require drilling a hole through the top of it (and probably to some degree into the end of the ram) in order for this approach to work. Unfortunately, it's difficult to tell by eyeball if you are looking up at the top of the cavity or the bottom face of the ram. DAHMIKT.

If you see something like the first pic, that is a threaded locking collar to hold the chuck in place on the jacobs taper. forget to back that off, and it's not coming off no matter what. if it looks like the second, then the jacobs taper is just machined onto the end of the quill, and should be removed with wedges. If you are seeing a slot cut in the quill and can see the end of a taper of some sort through it, then it is made to be removed with a metal wedge (but wood may work) if the slot is just empty and solid at the bottom, then somebody went to a bunch of trouble putting it there for no reason. YMMV

 

[BobRad]

I tried putting some wood above the chuck and hitting into the center of the chuck from below with a pin punch - no luck. I ended up taking out the entire centre spindle by putting wood above the chuck and hitting it down until it came out. Its a 5/8" x 14" rod, with a keyway at the top for the pulley. I did as Jacobs suggested (mount chuck up in a vice and hit with a pin punch through the chuck) but I had to hit really hard about 20 time before it came out. No signs of rust or corrosion, just stuck. I think I purchased this drill press in 1975 one of my first power tool purchases.

Show the broken jaw, a hole through the spindle for some unknown purpose, a washer set into a groove to stop the spindle going up to far in the quill

keyway end

separated

taper end of spindle showing small existing recess where the pin punch was hitting


****************************************************

I'm going to Busy Bee tomorrow they have a $100 equivalent, but not in stock and a $10 chuck which is good enough to keep me happy for now- my pen budget is getting too low

 

[jskeen]

That clears it right up. That hole through the spindle is there so that you can slide a metal pin through it, so that the wedges have something to push up against while you drive them together, pushing the chuck down off the taper. I bet were you to have to do it again with that pin and the correct set of wedges you would be shocked at how little force would be required tapping on one wedge then the other to pop that chuck off. Of course smacking it 20 times with a big hammer works too, and you don't have to buy anything extra that way

 

[papNal]

I tried putting some wood above the chuck and hitting into the center of the chuck from below with a pin punch - no luck. I ended up taking out the entire centre spindle by putting wood above the chuck and hitting it down until it came out. Its a 5/8" x 14" rod, with a keyway at the top for the pulley. I did as Jacobs suggested (mount chuck up in a vice and hit with a pin punch through the chuck) but I had to hit really hard about 20 time before it came out. No signs of rust or corrosion, just stuck. I think I purchased this drill press in 1975 one of my first power tool purchases.

Show the broken jaw, a hole through the spindle for some unknown purpose, a washer set into a groove to stop the spindle going up to far in the quill

keyway end

separated

taper end of spindle showing small existing recess where the pin punch was hitting


****************************************************

I'm going to Busy Bee tomorrow they have a $100 equivalent, but not in stock and a $10 chuck which is good enough to keep me happy for now- my pen budget is getting too low

I have an old model Rockwell DP and also had the chuck go bad,the chuck had MT33 taper on it ,the cheapest replacement I could find was about $100.I had picked up a couple of HF drill chucks with the MT2 shaft to use on my Jet lathe,they cost about $8 each,looked at one of them and WONDER OF WONDERS when I took the chuck off the taper shaft the chuck had t33 taper and fit my DP perfect. That might be an option. Good luck. John

 

[BobRad]

The actual Jacobs replacement, was $320, a "no name" replacement from a local supplier that is trusted was $90, but out of stock, but then I found he has cheaper ones that he said would be fine, since I'm not running the drill in an industrial use. I picked one up Friday afternoon $9 - wow

I put it on the shaft gently to test the taper and it fits so well it wont come off.

Now I have to put everything back together and get back to pens

 

[DB]

The actual Jacobs replacement, was $320, a "no name" replacement from a local supplier that is trusted was $90, but out of stock, but then I found he has cheaper ones that he said would be fine, since I'm not running the drill in an industrial use. I picked one up Friday afternoon $9 - wow

I went through a similar problem with my Delta, except one of the three jaws on my chuck actually slipped down a thread. Don't ask me how a captive jaw can skip a thread. I even kept it just so I could show my fellow engineer buddies.

At any rate, after dumpster diving for info via Google I bought a set removal wedges and a Rohm replacement chuck from Enco for ~$60 total. Used the wedges to pop the old chuck off, cleaned the tapers, and tapped the new chuck on. I couldn't believe the difference between the old Made in China chuck and the Rohm (German). The action on the Rhom is smooth like butter.