chuck key

[irontoart]

I have a 10" atlas lathe. Today I needed to chuck up a bolt in my 4 jaw chuck and part the end off. The jaws were in the wrong way so insted of twisting my wrist off I used a 3/8 air ratchet with an adapter to 1/4 and a 3" extension. It worked great and made the whole job much easier. Just thought I'd check with you guys and see if doing this is a bad idea or not. Can't see what it would hurt but it never hurts to ask.

[The Doctor]

Air ratchet no problem, air impact bad news.

Ed

[IOWOLF]

I guess it's a little late asking after the fact,I hope you didn't mess it up.



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The tame Wolf !

[Millman]

Damn, is your 4 jaw that dirty inside??

[rsr911]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Millman:
Damn, is your 4 jaw that dirty inside??</font>

Yeah, mine are all relatively free spinning, even the new one. On my 18" I just hold the T-handle and spin it. Sounds like your backing plate isn't flat, had that problem with the first Bison I mounted. Once on the backing plate it was way to tight, I took it off and remachined the face of the backing plate using the carriage feed and a carbide tool, now the chuck spins easily.


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-Christian D. Sokolowski

[mochinist]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Millman:
Damn, is your 4 jaw that dirty inside??</font>

A few months ago we got a cal from a shop that makes rims, they had a 24" four jaw scroll chuck that was jammed and they wanted us to repair it. The operator had been using a air ratchet to open and close it, and had not been cleaning out the chips in between jobs. He had it jammed so good, we ended up having to put it up on the radial arm drill and drill and tap four holes on the front so that we could jack the the scroll off. We called them up and asked if they wanted to come see it so that maybe they would take some more care next time and not let it get so dirty, they weren't interested. Oh well I guess we won't mind fixing it again for them.

[gwinn]

Try using your cordless drill and a 1/4 - 20 bolt with a squared-off head. I have used this a couple of times to hone off a high spot on my three-jaw.

[IOWOLF]

Or use a air ratchet, if that dont work use an Impact, If that dont work use a 18" breaker bar,then a cheater on the bar, then get a new lathe 'couse you messed up the headstock.

But really, use the T wrench ,if that dont work well enough,FIND OUT WHY.

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The tame Wolf !

[irontoart]

I have taken all the jaws out cleaned and reoiled it already but its still pretty tight. I can be turned with the T-handle but to run the jaws all the way out gets tiring. I'll have to see why its binding. Thanks for the constructive suggestions.

[Dawai]

Mine is actually "too loose".

It has what they call tool holder jaws too?

they are rounded and serrated and black. What the heck?