best place for your lathe chuck key

The old timer that taught me how to run a lathe taught me many things, and one of them had to do with chuck clearance. Ensuring chuck, jaw, and part clearance also ensures that the chuck key is removed.

Here is what I do on my Logan: Every time I shut it off, I lift the belt cover once it has stopped. This releases tension on the belt, which also ensures that if I accidentally turn on the lathe, the belt will slip, hopefully preventing any injury. The primary reason for releasing the belt tension, however, is so that I can rotate the chuck by hand to bring the key socket to the top, do what I need to do, then rotate the chuck by hand one full turn to ensure proper clearance. This also ensures that the chuck key has been removed. Once clearance has been proven, the belt cover is lowered which tensions the drive belt, and power is then turned on and work progresses.

Since learning that simple trick, I have never crashed anything into the chuck or jaws, nor have I launched a chuck key!
 
I've yet to turn on a machine with a chuck key of any kind of it. I use a method like Terry's and like Codered's. It just becomes a matter of practice to do this without even thinking about it. I use the key, and I put it back. I don't have a special spot for it, other than someplace that I use over and over. Different places for different machines. I have used lathes where someone had bored out a small sleeve that the key fit into and this sleeve was captured under one of the headstock cover bolts. Was too much trouble to stab it back in there when the headstock was flat, and served perfectly to just lay the key on.

I will say though, that for those not yet practiced enough, or perhaps ritualized would be a more proper word, a socket to slip it into, or a plate with a hole.....good thoughts. It's not worth the risk. It would be a very simple project to make up a "enable" switch in a few different ways to disallow the machine start unless something was in the place designated for the key.
 
Codered741 said:
I am very wary of chuck keys, had one fly out of a 15" lathe, across the room, bounce off the mill that I was working on, and into my face while I was in school. The safety glasses I was wearing are the only reason I still have both eyes. :whistle: It embedded itself into a 1/2" piece of plywood after bouncing off my face. It is still there as a reminder to everyone who walks into the room.

-Cody
Click to expand...

WHOH.

Bernie
 
I bought a compression spring that just fits onto my chuck key. I cut one end about 3/8" long, and fit it onto the key, to just allow the key to be pushed into the chuck key slot (?) and when I release the pressure on it after making the adjustment the spring pushes it just far enough out of the slot that it falls unless I keep hold of it. Works great and only cost me 25 cents.
NodakGary
 
I also make it a practice to hit the safety switch before I put the key into the lathe chuck. Took a while to develop the habit but I finally got the hang of it. It also helps to have a son who is very safety minded and keeps me doing it right. The only problem is that I some times forget to turn the safety switch back on and I get reminded when the lathe won't go when I put the go lever in GO.

Bob
 
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