How diappointed should I be with this auction chuck, and what should I do about it?

[gellfex]

I won this auction http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...EOIBSA:US:1123

The text was "Up for auction is one South Bend Lathe 4 Jaw Chuck, this is a 6'' chuck for 9'' South Bend Lathes (1-1/2 8TPI)
Item is in Great Condition!!!!"

The chuck is pretty worn out as far as I can tell. The jaws are so loose that when I put a DTI on the flat face of a jaw and rattle it along the spindle axis, I get .002 of movement. What this means is anything chucked will tilt out the jaws so the work be gripped only by the very back of the jaws. When I chuck a rod I see light at the front of the jaws. Is there any fix for this like chucking something at the back, cutting the front of the jaws true, the cutting away the lip at the back? Or are the jaws too hard for that?

I think new Chicom for not much more would have been a better bet than this old USA iron. Caveat Emptor. Should I give negative feedback to warn off other unsuspecting buyers that the seller either doesn't know or care about the condition of the tooling he says is " is in Great Condition!!!!"? I doubt a refund would be an option.

[wierdscience]

Well "great" leaves a field full of wiggle room,you know great as compared to what?

Honestly I never understood why old chucks fetch what they do.A good TOS or Bison chuck isn't that horribly bad in price and the Chinese have gotten better.

[beckley23]

Have you contacted the seller?
Harry

[Mcgyver]

that sucks.....I've always felt ebay buying should be deeply discounted to compensate for the risks of buying sight unseen.....if you can clearly document/articulate the specific performance issue, pictures and what not, i would ask for your money back. I confess i didn't entirely get what/how you were indicating though

If they guy had said i know nothing about these, well you're scuppered, but he didn't say that. He proclaimed its in great condition. In a commercial transaction, that places a burden of care on him - he can't say things like that if he hasn't any idea what great condition means for a chuck. or he just lied in which case its fraud. either way, i wouldn't crumble too quickly, if it its in terrible condition and that can be quantified/described it should be his problem. Tell him its junk, and why and that you want your money back

[tony ennis]

I've always felt ebay buying should be deeply discounted

The beauty of auctions is that the item is worth what it sells for. If people got burned 75% of the time, their bidding would reflect it.

The OP should contact the seller and see what happens.

[gellfex]

that sucks.....I've always felt ebay buying should be deeply discounted to compensate for the risks of buying sight unseen.....if you can clearly document/articulate the specific performance issue, pictures and what not, i would ask for your money back. I confess i didn't entirely get what/how you were indicating though

If they guy had said i know nothing about these, well you're scuppered, but he didn't say that. He proclaimed its in great condition. In a commercial transaction, that places a burden of care on him - he can't say things like that if he hasn't any idea what great condition means for a chuck. or he just lied in which case its fraud. either way, i wouldn't crumble too quickly, if it its in terrible condition and that can be quantified/described it should be his problem. Tell him its junk, and why and that you want your money back

Picture grabbing a jaw of a chuck while its on the lathe with nothing in the jaws and pushing and pulling along the direction of the spindle axis. That's where it's 2 thou loose. It's loose every other way, but that one's critical.

I'll email him, but I do have a hard time being civil in that kind of message. I don't have much hope of a refund, used stuff is usually "as is", even if it's not explicitly said. At least with the ebay elimination of seller feedback I won't get a negative as blackmail, that's happened to me before. The seller actually offered to withdraw his if I did. I told him to blow himself.

[rode2rouen]

I won this auction http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...EOIBSA:US:1123

The text was "Up for auction is one South Bend Lathe 4 Jaw Chuck, this is a 6'' chuck for 9'' South Bend Lathes (1-1/2 8TPI)
Item is in Great Condition!!!!"

The chuck is pretty worn out as far as I can tell. The jaws are so loose that when I put a DTI on the flat face of a jaw and rattle it along the spindle axis, I get .002 of movement. What this means is anything chucked will tilt out the jaws so the work be gripped only by the very back of the jaws. When I chuck a rod I see light at the front of the jaws. Is there any fix for this like chucking something at the back, cutting the front of the jaws true, the cutting away the lip at the back? Or are the jaws too hard for that?

I think new Chicom for not much more would have been a better bet than this old USA iron. Caveat Emptor. Should I give negative feedback to warn off other unsuspecting buyers that the seller either doesn't know or care about the condition of the tooling he says is " is in Great Condition!!!!"? I doubt a refund would be an option.

I'd like to see a pic of your indicator set up mentioned above. I can't get a visual in my head of what you're describing.

As to Neg Feedback, try contacting the seller before you do that. Make your concerns known to him (her) and try to reach some sort of understanding.

I just won this chuck that's going to end up on a welding positioner:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=170295708680

Rex

[v860rich]

The 1st thing I see is his feedback is below 99%, for most things in life 99% is pretty good but to me as feedback it ain't good. I'd try and get my money back but if it looked like it would drag out I'd just give neg feedback. A lot of times neg feedback will get some action because the seller will be willing to cut a refund in order to get the buyer to withdraw the negative.
THANX RICH
People say I'm getting crankier as I get older. That's not it. I just find I enjoy annoying people a lot more now. Especially younger people

[agrip]

gell

All chuck jaws get bellmouthed over the years.

One way to easily handle that is:
Find a stout rubber block with parallel molded flat faces.
Saw out as many blocks (ratio 1x1x2) with the flat faces being one of the 1x dimensions, as you have jaws.

Sandwich the first block on/ between the angle flanks of two jaws about 2/3 to 7/8 out towards the jaw tips, and run the jaws together to lightly grip block on the flat faces. The 2x dimension is axial oriented along the jaw.

Repeat to fill the remaining jaws.

Now tighten the jaws using an indicator to set the outside of the jaws on the same turning radius, and tight enough so you cannot easily move the blocks, or somewhat tighter, your choice.

This loads the jaws as they would be in service

Now bore or grind (grind preferred) your jaws true.
Always leave the tips about one thou radially proud for 1/8 to 1/4 inch back from tip.
This retards the time till you repeat the process.

Hth Ag

[DR]

My question is how loose are the jaws when the chuck is brand new? As chucks go, Skinner is not exactly world class.

Viewing the pictures, for what they're worth, the chuck does seem to be in good condition. If the chuck had been abused or well used you'd think it would show signs of that.

I would expect the face of the chuck to show dings or small dents.

Have you actually put a piece in the chuck and tightened the jaws to verify the tilt?

[Ed Tipton]

I don't think the guy was deliberately mis-leading you. It's a used chuck. He may have used it for years without any problem depending on how he was using it, or he could have acquired it in some other manner and never used it at all...and it appeared good...so it was good as far as he was concerned. I wouldnt expect a used chuck to hold up to that kind of scrutiny. If it does that's great, you're ahead of the game, but I wouldn't expect it.

[Your Old Dog]

I'll email him, but I do have a hard time being civil in that kind of message. I don't have much hope of a refund, used stuff is usually "as is", even if it's not explicitly said. At least with the ebay elimination of seller feedback I won't get a negative as blackmail, that's happened to me before. The seller actually offered to withdraw his if I did. I told him to blow himself.

If I were the guy and you came off hot and heavy with me I'd tell you what you could do with the chuck. I had that problem once with a guy and that's what I told him. A lot of people "respond in kind". Be civil about it, tell him you'd like a refund and why. Be pissed off in a letter when it serves a purpose other then venting. Looks to me like you got nothing to gain and everything to loose by starting with the vinegar instead of the sugar.

[oldtiffie]

Move on

If its not worth all the "aggro" why not just bite the bullet, shrug your shoulders, put it down to experience and move on?

Is a loss of ~USD130 all that bad? eBay is a gamble after all and "playing" with money you can't afford to lose is a "no-no" most times.

I can't see the point of getting concerned about something like this that you can do nothing about.

Yes - I know the moral and ethical issues but I deal in pragmatism, realism and practicality mainly. I just put these sorts of things in the "Stiff $h*t" folder.

You win some, you lose some - that's life.

[kvom]

My 4-jaw chuck also has play in the jaws with nothing chucked, but holds tight when material is chucked. I asked a question about this some time ago and was told that it is normal for these chucks.

[JCHannum]

It is a four jaw chuck after all, and from the photos, does not look to be in bad shape. Chuck a good, straight piece of 1" or larger shafting in it, dial it in and then check it for runout 6" or more from the jaws. Let us know what you find.