new chuck

[bronson]

Hi i read this site quite a bit and have posted a few times, i have a question about a new chuck. My lathe is a craftex 7x10 i have a 4" chuck on it and it runs at.0006 is that pretty true for a cheap lathe? One more question my arbors for my taig mill always start to rust sometimes i use blueing to stop them from rusting what do you guys use?

[SGW]

Runout under a thou is excellent, I'd say.

As for rusting....I just keep things lightly oiled. I don't recall ever having much of a rusting problem on arbors, collets, etc. Are you in a particularly rust-prone environment?

[Your Old Dog]

In the northeast it's time to keep garage and barn doors closed as the frozen cast iron will suck the moisture right out of the warm moist winds up from the south this time of year.

As for keeping rust off my tooling I just don't leave my shop door open and don't really have a trouble. The shop is air tight enough that it moderates the temperature/dew changes. But, it never hurts to use a good machine oil, if you're a newbie, avoid using engine oils as the additives become sticky and can screw up machine workings. I used motor oil at first and everything gummed up. I had to buy a 5 FREAKING GALLON (yea I'm yelling) CAN of way oil because that was the smallest size they had at the industril lubrication place I went!

[cybor462]

Heah YOD you could always have done like I did. Ordered 4 gal. jugs from Enco and paid 30.00 shipping! It would have been cheaper for me to go to Grainger and get a 5 gal pail.

Don't you feel better now?

[Buckshot]

If you have less then a thousandth runout in a scroll chuck consider yourself lucky. It can happen though. When I bought my first machine I bought a combo unit from Harbor Frieght. Their cheapest machine, with power nothing. It came with a plain back 3 jaw chuck. Being real new at the time I paid no real attention to it.

A few years later I had learned a lot and traded up to a very nice 1981 built 11x36 Logan/Powermatic lathe. I wanted to use that little 4" 3 jaw chuck so bought a 1"x4" 5C collet pad and used it for a backer plate. Before mounting the chuck I took it apart to clean out the accumilated crap, crud and corruption.

The little chuck had set forgotten in a box of junk for some time. Looking at it afresh I was really surprized at the very fine ground finish. Upon taking it apart it was apparent that this chuck had been exceedingly well made. It had no identification on it so it's identity was unknown but if the same factory that made the lathe made it, those guys in the chuck shop were easily several magnitudes beyond the gomers producing the machine.

It was almost impossible to find any machining marks on it and the jaws had no tip or wobble in their slots. The scroll was very smooth as were the teeth of the jaws that rode on it. All the edges and corners were finished. The jaws nor body were numbered and when I went to stamp them the stamps left no discernable impression. I used a carbide dental burr in the Dremel to number the body and each jaw. I don't know if it was hardened cast iron or steel but whatever it was it was HARD!

While not as accurate as yours, this one was just a fraction over a thousandth run out. It's quite a little jem.

To handle rusting I wipe off tooling with an oiled rag when putting it up. I'm not a super neatnik but my shop is small. I have learned through a lot of wasted time spent hunting up something I'd laid down, that it is a lot easier to just put it back where it belongs. That is, if I know I won't be needing it again immediately. I make my own oiled flannel wiping rags. I bought a yard of cotton diaper flannel and cut it into 1' squares. One piece gets oiled, wrung out and then placed between 2 un-oiled pieces and rolled very tightly. Each is then placed together in a ziploc plastic bag.

The oil (I just use spindle oil) migrates from the oiled piece into the others wrapped around it. I toss them when they get dirty enough. One hangs through a handle on my rollaway toolbox by the lathe where I keep my tooling. Nice tools cost a lot and the 5 seconds it takes to wipe one off before putting it up sure seems worthwhile to me.

Rick

[ammcoman2]

Re your question about the Taig arbors - I think they are made from 12L14 steel. This stuff rusts like crazy but, I have found a way to beat it. Take some 400 grit wet or dry (or cloth backed ), put some oil on it, and polish the metal.

None of the arbors that I have made for the Taig mill (and the lathe) have rusted after doing this, yet the blank ones in the drawer are coated with rust.

Geoff

[bronson]

thanks for the replys. I think i just got lucky with the chuck. I got it from busy bee on sale and it was cheap but for now it suits me just fine. I am just about done my third little steam engine. Thanks for the tip about sanding with alittle oil for the taig arbors i will try that today. Thanks again.