Chuck spider (pic)

[mklotz]

Chuck spiders can take many forms. This one consists of a 1/4" aluminum plate that slips over the jaws of the chuck. Spacers of different heights (two sets are shown in the photo) hold the plate away from the chuck front surface at the desired distance.



The advantage of this type of spider is that thin workpieces are fully supported and less likely to deflect away from the cutting tool's pressure.

Lest the safety Nazis get upset, the spacers have tenons that fit into holes in the spider plate, thus making it impossible for them to come free when the chuck is rotating.

[BadDog]

Tell me that's not all brass? I can't imagine making stuff like that out of brass with current prices. I any case, nice work. I may have to make something like that from aluminum. But being me, it won't be till I need it. Still, better than face cutting my soft jaws, and not having pie jaws, still leaving most of the plate unsupported.

[mklotz]

No, it's aluminum. The warm color is an artifact of the incandescent lighting used to take the picture.

[pcarpenter]

Marv-- thats simple but ingenious and I am grateful for the tip. I have that on a long list of tooling to make. I was going to make about 3-4 traditional looking chuck spacers but this could cut the work immensely and make it easy to make a custom thickness as needed by merely making another set of spacer buttons.

I have seen an idea for a sort of spindle plug with an adjustable center rod shown here before. What other means do you guys use for say facing off cut washers? It would be neat to see some of the variety of ways of hanging on to and holding parallel various thin objects. I've seen round magnetic chucks....are these really a viable option for holding something you want to face off like that? A lathe makes a lot of force compared to say a grinder.

Paul

[mklotz]

Marv-- thats simple but ingenious and I am grateful for the tip. I have that on a long list of tooling to make. I was going to make about 3-4 traditional looking chuck spacers but this could cut the work immensely and make it easy to make a custom thickness as needed by merely making another set of spacer buttons.

I have seen an idea for a sort of spindle plug with an adjustable center rod shown here before. What other means do you guys use for say facing off cut washers? It would be neat to see some of the variety of ways of hanging on to and holding parallel various thin objects. I've seen round magnetic chucks....are these really a viable option for holding something you want to face off like that? A lathe makes a lot of force compared to say a grinder.

Paul

Before I made a collet chuck and gained the ability to use pot chucks, I made my own pot chucks from aluminum rod stock. These had an unslotted section that was held in the chuck and a hose clamp was used to force the three slotted jaws together to grasp the workpiece. I still use that technique for certain oddly shaped parts.

Supergluing or soldering washer shapes to a backplate works fairly well. Keep in mind that superglue has little shear strength so initially rough workpiece surfaces will require very fine cuts.

[Mcgyver]

i've made them from solid but like your idea of adjustable depth, good one

[RPease]

Marv..........Help me out.........I'm having a "brain freeze"......

How does the "thin workpiece" mount to the "spider"??

Can you show an example......like maybe mounted to a chuck? I'm have difficulty "picturing" it in operation.

Thanks and best regards.........Rodg

[mklotz]

Marv..........Help me out.........I'm having a "brain freeze"......

How does the "thin workpiece" mount to the "spider"??

Can you show an example......like maybe mounted to a chuck? I'm have difficulty "picturing" it in operation.

Thanks and best regards.........Rodg

When the spider is mounted on the chuck, the spacers hold the surface of the spider close to the outer edges of the jaws. It's analogous to moving the face of the chuck forward (or alternatively, grinding most of the jaw away). The work is pressed against the spider plate and the jaws are clamped down on the work in the ordinary fashion.

[RPease]

Thanks Marv...........I understand now..........The actual
facts just seemed to evade me for a while...........It's HELL to get old............I'm lucky I can find the floor when I get up in the morning..........If it wasn't "hard", I probably wouldn't recognize it.............LOL

Regards...........Rodg

[cybor462]

I too am a bit slow these days. I was hoping for a pic in action as well but the details I hope I have grasped. Basically the spider is a work stop? Allows for a flush backstop to hold the work squarely.

Am I on target or off the map?