Drill chuck advise

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Dale Allen

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2012
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1,384
Location
Massillon, OH
Hello all. I want to buy a new 'good' drill chuck for drilling on the lathe.
I currently have one that is a 13mm capacity and it is OK but is not as accurate as I would like. The tooling is MT2.
Does anyone use the one that JohnnyCNC sells for $59. That is a 5/8" and if good quality it would be a step up from what I have.
I also see many keyless chucks but I don't have much experience with them.
Also, it seems to me that the 'jacobs' name may not be the quality it used to be. Prices on the jacobs are on par with the imports.
Any advice is much appreciated.
 
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Dale Allen said:
Hello all. I want to buy a new 'good' drill chuck for drilling on the lathe.
I currently have one that is a 13mm capacity and it is OK but is not as accurate as I would like. The tooling is MT2.
Does anyone use the one that JohnnyCNC sells for $59. That is a 5/8" and if good quality it would be a step up from what I have.
I also see many keyless chucks but I don't have much experience with them.
Also, it seems to me that the 'jacobs' name may not be the quality it used to be. Prices on the jacobs are on par with the imports.
Any advice is much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Dale do you have ,or have you considered, a 4 jaw chuck for your lathe? The advantage of this style chuck is that it holds everything. Round, square, any odd shape in between. Also if you have a grain or pattern that is off center, you can adjust the chuck to take advantage of that feature. Another feature is the fact that you can reverse the jaws to hold outside or inside the object you are turning up to 4 inches on some brands. This fo course would be used on the power end of the lathe. A 3 jaw chuck will also work for drilling on the tail stock end of your lathe. Once you true the points, this will drill dead center every time. This will also give you a very large capacity holder. Just another idea to think of. Jim S
 
Jim, I do have a 4 jaw chuck that I use to hold the blanks. It is not a top-of-the line but it has served me well, especially the pin jaws. The drill chuck I use to hold the drill bits when drilling. It was $30 about 2 years ago and is the same price now from that vendor. It is useful for most applications but when I try to zero it in on a test bar it gives me a different reading depending on if the bar goes all the way to the back of the jaws. This tells me that the jaws were not ground correctly. I have tried to true them up some with a round file but that is a hit-or-miss operation.
Maybe I'm expecting too much from a drill chuck but it seems to me that one used in a good metal lathe setup would need to be very accurate.
 
Dale Allen said:
Jim, I do have a 4 jaw chuck that I use to hold the blanks. It is not a top-of-the line but it has served me well, especially the pin jaws. The drill chuck I use to hold the drill bits when drilling. It was $30 about 2 years ago and is the same price now from that vendor. It is useful for most applications but when I try to zero it in on a test bar it gives me a different reading depending on if the bar goes all the way to the back of the jaws. This tells me that the jaws were not ground correctly. I have tried to true them up some with a round file but that is a hit-or-miss operation.
Maybe I'm expecting too much from a drill chuck but it seems to me that one used in a good metal lathe setup would need to be very accurate.
Click to expand...
And costly!!! Jim S
 
Bought a ½" drill chuck from Packard Woodworks almost twenty years ago and starting to get hard to tighten because chuck key holes worn. Since still works have not replaced it but almost ready.

Do not care where or how much you pay, getting a good one is 50-50 all made in China today. Accuracy of consumer grade drill chucks always questionable! Majority of them do an acceptable job.
 
i would definitely get "keyless". they are much easier to use and i think more accurate in the same quality range. that is about all i use on my metal as well as wood lathe. i have not converted my drill press yet but am in the near future.
 
The keyless is a good choise, only problem is the old hands tring to tighten and loosen them. If you don't get them tight enough they will spin on you, or loosen if you are putting it in reverse. If you do get them tight, you might want to ware gloves so as not to take that old thin skin off your hands. You young fellows won't have any problems with them. Jim S
 
Wildman said:
This drill chuck often mentioned as one of Harbor Freights better buys. You can read the reviews posted but many good reviews on various message boards too! If have a store in your area can exchange or get money back if get a bad one.

1/2" MT2 Mini-Lathe Drill Chuck
Click to expand...


I do all my drilling with this, no problem at all. For $15, buy it and spend your money on other tools.
 
At one time Jacobs was THE chuck. They moved from Bridgeport CT to Anderson SC and began to farm out parts, then to China for parts and finally off shore all together.
There should be some good U.S. Jacobs chucks on E-Bay.

Ben
 
Briskar said:
Wildman said:
This drill chuck often mentioned as one of Harbor Freights better buys. You can read the reviews posted but many good reviews on various message boards too! If have a store in your area can exchange or get money back if get a bad one.

1/2" MT2 Mini-Lathe Drill Chuck
Click to expand...


I do all my drilling with this, no problem at all. For $15, buy it and spend your money on other tools.
Click to expand...


Really? Sorry, but this is not what I would call a quality product.
Image below is from HF site as directed.
 

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