Blocks for removing&installing Lathe Chucks

[Tundra Twin Track]

These are blocks I made for installing and removing from D1-8 mount on my lathe.

[LKeithR]

Kind of a neat idea. More work than I'd want to do but if it works for you good on ya. My problem is not getting the chuck on the spindle but getting the chuck to the lathe. So far a piece of wood about the right thickness is all I need for mounting and dismounting. My biggest chuck is a 10" 4-jaw with a D1-6 mount so I can still manage to lift it off the bench and onto the bed of the lathe but the time is coming--faster than I like to admit--when I'll have to have a way of lifting the chuck. Once that happens then a direct lift from the bench to the spindle will be easy...

[BCRider]

I've got the same sort of block for my 4 jaw that has a retention strap and lift handles to let me move it up onto the bed. Once there I undo the retention strap and slide chuck and block back to the spindle nose and start screwing the chuck in place.

This sort of block is a real handy item for any chuck we can't hold up with one hand while working the attachment method with the other. Or hold in alignment well enough to get a good start on a threaded nose.

[CalM]

An 19 inch length of 1 inch black pipe or EMT chucked up about centered on the jaws goes a long way towards efficient loading and unloading heavy chucks. Works as both handle and pry bar.

[quasi]

D1-8 spindle nose, what kind of lathe is it Tundra?

[Forrest Addy]

A real men closes the jaws on his right thumb and lifts the chuck onto the spindle.

Caution! Un-chuck thumb before starting spindle. Slipping belts damage pulleys

[mattthemuppet]

you must have the arms of popeye to carry those around. I'm quite happy that I can hang my chucks from hangers on my peg board Still hurts plenty when I drop it off the spindle onto my fingers on the ways though.

[pinstripe]

A real men closes the jaws on his right thumb and lifts the chuck onto the spindle.

Forrest, do you watch AvE? He uses a different body part


Nice blocks, BTW. A fancier example, similar to what BCRider is talking about is on this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ve7t90ZaUc&t=2m03s

[lakeside53]

I too have several of those to build. My 16 inch 4 jaw is pretty much unusable unless I have a way of "gently" placing it on the spindle. I decided to put in a XY unistrut rail system on the ceiling with a 500lb chain hoist (small). It will let me have a rack of chucks a few feet behind, and also to lift heavy work onto the lathe.

[Tundra Twin Track]

[QUOTE=LKeithR;1079312]Kind of a neat idea. More work than I'd want to do but if it works for you good on ya. My problem is not getting the chuck on the spindle but getting the chuck to the lathe. So far a piece of wood about the right thickness is all I need for mounting and dismounting.
I did the wood board thing on smaller machine,did not care for that so just wanted a better mouse trap for this job.If you have access to a vertical bandsaw they are easy to build from some scrap blocking.

D1-8 spindle nose, what kind of lathe is it Tundra?

This lathe is a 1988 JFMT made in China (Clone of Made in Japan Mazak) if I got story correct the last manual Mazaks were made in this factory as all their Japan plants had switch over to building strictly CNC machines.

[sasquatch]

Nice work TTT!

[Hal]

you must have the arms of popeye to carry those around. I'm quite happy that I can hang my chucks from hangers on my peg board Still hurts plenty when I drop it off the spindle onto my fingers on the ways though.

That's why you use a pipe thru the chuck. to save your fingers. Run a pipe thru the chuck and clamp the jaws onto the pipe. slide your block of wood between the chuck and the lathe bed. Release the chuck from the spindle and use the pipe for the handle to wiggle the chuck until it drops onto the block of wood. Now the pipe works as a nice handle. No smashed fingers, no cussing. .

Hal

[David Powell]

To make things easier for my old hands---

That's why you use a pipe thru the chuck. to save your fingers. Run a pipe thru the chuck and clamp the jaws onto the pipe. slide your block of wood between the chuck and the lathe bed. Release the chuck from the spindle and use the pipe for the handle to wiggle the chuck until it drops onto the block of wood. Now the pipe works as a nice handle. No smashed fingers, no cussing. .

Hal

I too chuck up a piece of bar to help with chuck fitting and removal. However, most of my work is small stuff nowadays so I changed my 6" 3 jaw for a new 5" 3 jaw. It is much lighter and easier to manage, for anything larger I have a 6" 4 jaw. Hope this hint encourages other arthritis victims. Regards David Powell.

[old mart]

One of the chucks I got cheap for the Smart & Brown model A is a 6 3/4" Pratt with serrated jaws. It's a lot lighter than the chuck's in the pictures, but I still have a struggle to line it up to screw on. The proper size for the lathe is 5", half the weight. I will look for a nice block of wood to carve into a fitting jig.

[Tundra Twin Track]

The blocks have about 50 thou clearance under chucks so once on blocks just slide in with one hand,the removal is just as easy even with the 120lb Bison.