How to grease a Beall chuck?

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angboy

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I have a Beall collet chuck that I use to turn my pens and I keep having problems with it getting "stuck", to the point that I have to find a man to get it unstuck, and even then they have trouble. I know I'm just not very strong, but it just seems like it should be easier than it is to loosen it so I can get a rod out when I need to change lengths for different pens. So is there any kind of grease or lube that I can put on the threads that will make it easier to loosen?
 
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Grease? well you will get it on your pens and blanks and it will ruin your project. It may be that your Morse taper(inside the head stuck spindle) is not clean and you have debries in it) which will cause it to get stuck.
I hope some of the more experts answer this for you.
 
Trace the outline of the headstock end of the Beal onto a plastic milk jug. Then carefully cut out the "doughnut" from the milk carton.

Use the plastic doughnut as a washer between the headstock and the Beal chuck. This will keep the chuck from getting stick.
 
I didn't do a very good job explaining- it's not at the headstock end that the whole thing gets stuck on the lathe. It's on the turney part that the metal rod goes into that you tighten to hold the rod that the blank is on in place. The piece that actually holds the thingy that looks kind of like a pie from the top? I can take the whole thing off the lathe without any trouble, but I can't get the rod out from that large collar shape thing that unscrews. If that still doesn't make sense let me know and I'll try to take a picture of what I mean, since I know I'm not good at the technical terms.
 
The thingy that looks like pie from the top is the collet. First, are you seating the collet in the "ring" BEFORE you screw the ring on the body? That's a common mistake, DON'T put the collet in the body and then screw the ring on, it's not designed that way.

If that's not the problem then try using a chainsaw file and with the lathe running at about 500rpm file the inside of the collet to remove any burrs it might have. After that spray it with come WD40 and dry it with a rag, that's a good idea to do every so often even if it's not sticking!
 
Rick, I had to read your post twice. It was clearly written but it's early morning and did not sink in.
The first time I read it I was wondering just how the heck you were supposed to get the collet into the chuck if you put the ring on first. LOL

I never knew that you were supposed to put the collet in the ring, first. When I try that the collet wiggles and I do not understand why it makes a difference. Seems to me that the collet has to be in the chuck first.

Maybe she is using the Tommy bars to tighten the chuck TOO much when she starts. Personally, hand tight has always worked for me. (I don't recall Beall ever using the Tommy bars to tighten his chuck.) I also often find that when drilling a non-wood blank that the blank gets loose in the collet when drilling (because there is less material and the blank "shrinks" or allows for contraction).

Methinks the problem may be that she is initially tightening the chuck too much with the Tommy bars and the heat created while turning or drilling is causing the metal to expand ever so slightly and thus tightening. I've found the same thing with router collets.

Now you (or some engineer) is going to come on and enlighten all of us.
 
Lee. It really does make a difference. If the collet is placed in the chuck body it will wobble, because it is impossible to center the collet in the chuck.

By placing the collet into the front retaining ring until it seats perfectly "flat", it forces the collet to sit squarely in the chuck body.

It seems like either way SHOULD work, but in reality, the method Rick described is the only way to "square up" the collet.
 
OK, I think maybe I can now explain even better. I don't use the tommy bar to tighten it ever (assuming that's the thingy with the two ends on it that fit in the hole on the outside of the ring and the chuck)- I use that when it gets stuck, to try to unstick it. I always do put the collet in the ring first and then screw it together and then hand tighten it. I just played around with it some more and was reminded that it's actually not sticking right when I try to unscrew the ring to loosen the collet to release the rod. It's actually about a turn and a half after I start unscrewing the ring that it gets stuck there and then won't move any further. I guess I just always assumed that since it seemed odd to me that you could just hand tighten it and it'd work, that that place where it seems tougher to unscrew, was some sort of planned tightening area to keep things secure once you twisted it all the way (please don't laugh at me guys!). So does that make more sense? I did take it apart the other day after Tom had to get it unstck for me and wiped out the ring, which had a lot of black grime in it and cleaned up the chuck and the collet really well, but then it stuck again last night when I was done turning something.
 
Ive found that regularly using a dental pick to remove all of the black debris from the threads inside the retaining ring and on the exterior threads of the chucks body make the chuck move more smoothly.
 
angboy said:
OK, I think maybe I can now explain even better. I don't use the tommy bar to tighten it ever (assuming that's the thingy with the two ends on it that fit in the hole on the outside of the ring and the chuck)- I use that when it gets stuck, to try to unstick it. I always do put the collet in the ring first and then screw it together and then hand tighten it. I just played around with it some more and was reminded that it's actually not sticking right when I try to unscrew the ring to loosen the collet to release the rod. It's actually about a turn and a half after I start unscrewing the ring that it gets stuck there and then won't move any further. I guess I just always assumed that since it seemed odd to me that you could just hand tighten it and it'd work, that that place where it seems tougher to unscrew, was some sort of planned tightening area to keep things secure once you twisted it all the way (please don't laugh at me guys!). So does that make more sense? I did take it apart the other day after Tom had to get it unstck for me and wiped out the ring, which had a lot of black grime in it and cleaned up the chuck and the collet really well, but then it stuck again last night when I was done turning something.
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It sounds like it is getting stuck in the spot that actually releases the collet from the holder. I would try cleaning the collets themselves as well as the collet chuck. You may be using a size too small on the collet, if possible try using the next size up.
 
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I find there's always a "hard" spot when you unscrew the ring. I get the ring loose with the spanner wrench to start, then when I turn it by hand it goes a few turns and stops, then I have to use the wrench again to loosen it and then remove it by hand. I'm pretty sure that's normal, at least I HOPE it is.:biggrin: If not then Houston...we have a problem!
 
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