Bison Quality - Despite the jokes the Poles rule!

[MickeyD]

I posted a message about needing a D1-3 back plate so that I could mount an old Bison 6" 3 jaw chuck on my Monarch lathe. A couple of people suggested the one from CDCO, but Lazlo suggested waiting for one of the sales from MSC (discount and free shipping), so I waited. Last week MSC had a good one so I bit the bullet. Came to about $110 delivered which hurts once but at least not every time I use it. The backplate was very nicely made, some kind of cast iron with ground pins and predrilled for their chuck bolt pattern. I did have to face it off and cut the boss in the middle (it was a nice .09 oversized to give you something to work with), but it cut and finished very nicely. I have never been a big fan of 3 jaw chucks but they are handy for rough and quick jobs, but when I chucked a ground .5" pin in it I was very impressed. Runout is less than .0005" right at the jaws and just barely over that 2" out. This is better than my speed collet chuck on it (granted, it is not 63 years old). I need to find my 2" ground test bar somewhere and try it and if it comes up nice, I may start using a 3 jaw more often. Hats off to Polish quality!

[Walter]

I had a similar experience with a small 4 inch 3 jaw bison I picked up used at an auction. it was well made and was always a solid repeatable chuck. Runout was minimal at .0005-.0006 within an inch of the chuck. I have an 8 inch Bison 3 jaw and am still impressed with the overall quality.

[Glenn Wegman]

I use forged steel Bison Adjust-Tru chucks and am very impressed with them.

[wierdscience]

Bison is worth every penny IMHO.Damn good runout,good fit and finish and they stock parts for everything.Got a 12 and 16" steel bodies at work and a 8" semisteel three jaw at the house.

Saving my pennies for one of these next-

http://www.lathe-chucks.com/BISON/BISON-4-JAW-COMBINATION-CHUCKS.htm

[TexasTurnado]

I use forged steel Bison Adjust-Tru chucks and am very impressed with them.

I also have several Adj-Tru chucks from Bison. And apparently a lot of other folks do too, as they have been able to raise their prices a good deal since I bought mine - much more than just inflation rates.

[Glenn Wegman]

Yea, I got mine earlier too, as I was warned of the increase.

[BadDog]

I got a new in the box 8" with D1-6 a few months back. Not an adjust-true, but I couldn't be more happy. Run-out is VERY low, and what there run-out there is was very repeatable. Best chuck I have...

[CCWKen]

My Bison chuck is so old it doesn't say "Bison". It says "Polland" and has the bisson image on the badge. Still holds dead on.

[neonman]

Ditto on the above, I have only good things to say about all of my several Bison chucks.

Neonman

[Greg Menke]

Its not directly on topic, but I've been very happy with Bison keyless drill chucks & arbors (MT,NMTB, R8). Have bought several since my budget doesn't go all the way to Albrechts, etc- they're consistently nice, runout meets or is less than whats advertised.

Greg

[Circlip]

Hmm, looking at the one in the photo, the jaws are removable/rotatable for external gripping by removing the cap screws.

A. How are the jaws re-located to ensure concentricity on their "Carriers"
and
B. Are a set of soft jaw blanks supplied with the chuck??

Being "European",the Polish chucks were sold over here for a long time and accepted although not quite the same standard as the Pratt-Burnerd ones but darned good value.

Regards Ian.

[wierdscience]

Hmm, looking at the one in the photo, the jaws are removable/rotatable for external gripping by removing the cap screws.

A. How are the jaws re-located to ensure concentricity on their "Carriers"
and
B. Are a set of soft jaw blanks supplied with the chuck??

Being "European",the Polish chucks were sold over here for a long time and accepted although not quite the same standard as the Pratt-Burnerd ones but darned good value.

Regards Ian.

The jaws are located with two crossed keys.Both the bottom and top jaw have one male projection and one corresponding female keyslot at 90* to each other made to very tight tolerances.

No soft jaws are supplied,but they can be bought or made.Here is a set of aluminum jaws I made recently-

[Circlip]

Cheers, you can just make it out in the first picture posting when you know what you are looking for. Thanks W/S

Regards Ian.

[A.K. Boomer]

Iv heard nothing but good about them ( I think most of that is from this site )

They had a little trouble with their one jaw self adjusting though when they first came out so they had to discontinue that model ( kidding --- just kidding )

Why did the polish people get such a bad rap? their obviously just as smart as everybody else.

[Circlip]

My own experiance of the Poles was in having a mate in the Air Cadets who was Polish. Whenever we called, food was put on the table, chairs drawn round and then you were taught to nibble a bit, talk a bit and have a drink, nibble, talk and drink and so on into oblivion.

The drink bit was Polish Spirit, hell's teeth, if you've seen the Independance day "brew" in the film "The Great Escape", our reactions were similar. The other thing they were noted for was watch repairs. Although me Dad repaired watches for beer money, in the event of the balance needing repair in a Ring" watch he bought for my Mother, the local Polish General was the guy who repaired it.

Regards Ian.