WARNING re Expanding Collet Chuck

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William Young

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Wynndel, British Columbia, Canada.
If anybody orders this chuck with a morse taper,
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=49410&category=1,330,49238&abspage=1&ccurrency=1&SID=
the instructions say to put a threaded rod into the base of the chuck and put it through the hole in the headstock and put a nut and washer on the other end to pull it into the taper.
DO NOT DO THAT
I did and when I tried to get it out to it wouldn't come . So instead of using force , I used a bigger hammer :([8)][:I] . That just mushroomed the end of my knockout tool. So I took the whole lathe to town to a machine shop and he used a bigger hammer yet and tried driving it out with a long bolt. Still no luck. He said to take it apart and bring the shaft only in to press it out. Back home, pulled it apart, back to town and onto the giant press it went and he finally got it dislodged..
Now , after all the driving on it in the first place , my bearings are very noisy. AaRrGgg ! ! . Still nice and tight but very noisy so I will eventually replace them but it is not a warranty job. Fortunately I can do that myself and bearings are quite reasonable at Kaman Bearing in Cranbrook.

This is just a heads up for anyone that has to use the # 1 or # 2 morse taper version of this chuck. The screw on one with the 3/4 x 16 TPI will not be a problem. Wish they had a 1" x 8 TPI that would have fit my lathe.
W.Y.
 
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Thanks for the warning. I would have never thought of trying to draw in the taper with, basically, a come along. Still I had been reading the directions lately so could easily have been caught by this.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with this type of chuck? I know a lot of them are in use.
 
I don't understand Bill, I just bought one and took it out to the shop yesterday. Haven't tried installing it yet tho. (Thankful for that)Are you daying don't use it or is there some other way to install it? I'll do nothing until someone tells me what to do with it. Thanks for the warning.
 
Hi Bev
The machinist that pressed it out for me said he had only seen one jammed that tight before. He said dont draw it in with the threaded rod and washer and nut like the instructions recommend. He feels that there is plenty of friction in the taper to hold it and that it should bump out easily from the other end . He warned also against tightening the tailstock centre in to the wood too tight. Rather than push the point into the wood by turning the handle to sink it into the wood , it is best to drill a small hole for the live centre to go into and only "snug" it up so that the morse taper on the chuck will not be forced into the headstock too tight.

If you havn't used yours at all yet, I personally would advise against it if you can get a refund. If it dosn't fit tight enough, there is the possibility that it could spin off while turning the inside of a bowl, etc when doing an operation without the tailstock centre in place. On the other hand , If it accidentally gets pushed in too far , you will have a hell of a time getting it out.
I am not going to use mine anymore at all. I have found a source for the same chuck but this time with a 1 x 8 thread that will fit my lathe. It costs about twice as much but it is still cheaper than machine shops and ruined bearings to say nothing of the agravation. I am going to place a phone call order for it on Monday.

With all of the above said, The front end of that chuck that grabs the wood works like a charm and after using it a few times with both the screw centre and the expanding jaws, I just would not like to be without one. Therefore I will get the one that I feel will be troublefree because it will just screw onto my threaded lathe shaft. I think morse taper attachments should be limited to turning of a much lighter nature such as pens .

One good thing came out of it though . . . ., I now know how to pull the top shaft out of the bearings and top pully which is required if I ever have to put a new belt on the lathe..
W.Y.
 
Thanks Mike but that would cost me $22.00 Cdn and then I would have to buy the $18.00 one from LV to fit it and I would have shipping and handling charges from both of them making it it cost more than the $40.00 replacement I am going to order that will fit my lathe properly.

Your idea is a great one for anyone that wants to use various size chucks but I dont expect I will be using any different ones on this small lathe. 1x8 threaded shafts are very common with most lathe accessories. I am surprised that LV didn't have that option because
that is what I would have got first and saved a lot of money.
W.Y.
 
According to the instructions that I have, the threaded rod is only a safeguard that will keep the chuck from flying off the lathe should it come loose. You should not tighten down the nut. I use two nuts tighten against each other with a washer between them and the lathe loosely. Your idea of drilling a small hole is good, another way is just use an awl to make a small indentation for the live center to fit into. That said, I don't use a morse taper very much as I use a collet chuck to hold the mandrel rods to do all my pen turning. Ever sense I went to that setup it has eleminated most all of my problems. I found, the hard way of course, that all it takes is a small speck of dirt or dust to make the morse taper off center.

Wayne
 
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