drilling pens with lathe drill chuch

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schellfarms

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I recently bought a #2 morse taper drill chuck for my jet mini. I am able to drill my blanks much better--sometimes. The chuck was a cheapie from harbor freight and is prone to coming out of the lathe while i'm using it. Needless to say, I'm not happy about this. I figure that I got what I paid for. I put it into the tailstock tight enough that I can't pull it out, but it comes out anyway when spinning. I don't want to have this cause an accident. Can someone recommend a good one at a reasonable price?[:0]
 
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I have what is probably the same chuck and have only rarely had this problem. Is the MT in your tailstock clean? Run your finger around on the inside and if it comes out black, you probably need to clean it. I clean the headstock and tailstock tapers periodically with a paper towel and DNA. If that doesn't do it, you might want to get a "Green Weenie", a rubbery thing for cleaning the taper. It is also possible that you got a defective drill chuck. Lots of people here use that same one and I haven't seen any complaints about it before yours.
 
I cleaned both the taper and the tailstock with DNA and a paper towel. Same thing. I'll try to exchange it for another. Probably wouldn't have to be off by much to cause that to happen, since it's just metal to metal. Thanks for the info.
 
Try running your finger inside the tailstock to see if there's any damage to the inside of the taper. I'm not saying the chuck isn't defective, but if the taper is damaged, you're likely experience the drill chuck starting to wander.
 
Also, I began to have similar issues with the drive end of my Jet mini. The inside appeared to be clean, and I used DAN, een acetone to clean any possible gunk that was inside. No resutls. Then I bought a "Green Weenie". It is a #2 taper squeege. There was a thin layer of gunk that was removed. Now my taper is solid as a rock. They are only aroun 10 dollars.

Fangar
 
I stuck my finger in there and feel lots of tiny machined circles. Looking at it with a flashlight, there are several very tiny scratches going parallel to the lathe bed. The longes are about 5 mm long, but most are less. Please tell me this is not a bad thing....
 
I am not familiar with this chuck. If it has threads in the morse taper end insert a threaded rod long enough to extend through your headstock with a washer and nut or knob at the left side of the headstock. This will draw the chuck securely into the headstock.
 
If you are using the chuck in the tailstock, just hold it with your hand. It shouldn't be turning anyway. What is loosening it is vibration. You can't secure it with a threaded rod in the tailstock, because the quill moves forward without the wheel moving forward. With the Jet, If you back the quill all the way into the tailstock, you should push the MT2 out.

Make sure your wood is centered and secured in the chuck, and then slowly advance the drill into it. If necessary, pull back on the chuck with your hand as you back off the tailstock wheel.

JimQ
 
I just bought this same chuck for drilling out box blanks. I haven't used it yet but I have one of Barry Gross's books and he says as JimQ says, hold the chuck in one hand and turn the tail stock handle with the other to advance the bit. It sounds to me like it is quite typical for it to turn if you don't hold on to it.

Corey
 
It is not so much that it will turn, as the pressure of feeding it into the wood will hold the MT in the socket, the problem is that the vibration will keep it from seating very firmly, and it may not withdraw from the wood. Then you may have an unguided missile if it gets all the way out of the tailstock! DAMHIK [:I]

I have heard of people "seating" the MT with a hammer, but that can damage the quill feed, or pop out the retaining ring that holds the assembly in the tailstock.

JimQ
 
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