got stuck chuck unstuck

P

porthos

H-M Supporter - Gold Member
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2013
Messages
218
finally got it off. wish i could post pictures; bun not able to do that yet. so, here's what worked. made a wooden clamp out of oak, drilled a 1.750 hole with a holesaw (the o.d. of the spindle at the rear) also made from round cherrywood a "spud" 1.405, the i.d. of the spindle the spud extended appx .625 at the back of the spindle hole. the spud was coated with rosen and driven in the spindle. it is tight. the clamp wood is 1.250 thick 3.5 wide and 11 in long. split it down the middle with the band saw. 4 bolts 1/4-20, top to bottom. (drill for bolts before splitting). a piece of whatever you have for the handle. i had a piece of oak 2.750 x .750 x 3 ft long. this is your breaker bar to hold the spindle from moving. a note on the spud. i got lucky and everything was to size. you want it to be driven tight , and, i used rosen on all surfaces. now for the chuck end. i bought a rigid strap wrench, but, may not have neded it. wrapped it around the chuck and a friend worked to steady the wooden clamp and i worked the chuck with the strap wrench. no luck. so another trick that i read about was Chuck Key. i made another out of .500 sq. stock. used the belt sander to make a very snug fit. the length is 3 in. . a couple wacks with a heavy hammer and OFF!! i think that a very imporntant thing is locking the spindle from moving. thanks for all of the advise and ideas. in hindsight, if this happens again; i'll lock the spindle with the strap wrench over one of the pulleys, and wack the longer chuck key that i made. the most time consumeing part of this was fabricating the wooden clamp. but its offfff
 
Excellent! both the operation, and its' description.
 
Great idea using the wooden spud to lock the spindle.
 
i should also ad , that i used a crescent wrench closed over one of the jaws. pulling with force as i wacked the "key" with a hammer.
 
When you install the chuck brush off the threads with a brush or hit it with air just to get any no - see - them partials out of the chuck then slowly tighten it up until it seats.

Now back it off about 1/2 a turn and spin it as fast as you can to seat it.
 
I don't agree with beating it off using the chuck key hole. I think a large chunk of hex stock tightened in the chuck yes. You risk busting the scroll and or the pinions that turn the scroll. But I'm glad it's off , now when you mount your chucks ,clean the threads on both and even lightly oil the threads.
 
Glad you got the chuck loose! I am a bit lost, I get the clamping that you did, but did you hold the spud somehow and I missed it in the description? Sounds like you had a fine furniture grade setup.

I also agree with silverbullet about not striking the chuck key; the PO of my lathe used the same method to free an otherwise very nive 4-jay and split the head of the screw. I now have a 25% wonky 4 jaw.
 
holding the spud: the i.d. of the spindle is 1.405, the o.d is 1.750. the spud is appx 3.625 . 3 in. is turned down to 1.410 ( i got lucky stopping at this size; because it is a tight drive in fit) the o.d. is 1.750 and extends appx. .625 past the end of the spindle. there is only .625 in. of "purchase" at the back of the spindle that measures 1.750. so, i extended this another .625 so that my 1.250 thick oak will have more to grab on to with the very tight (rosin coated) spud the split collar didn't turn after tightened. i hope that this helps.

on another note: there were many descriptions as to how to remove the chuck. i tried MANY. the extended key/hammer/ crescent wrench was all that worked. and, it took a lot less force with the hammer than i thought it would. unless you were here, you have no idea how jammed it was. the threads were clean and oiled; and this was a mystery that will go unsolved, but, it is off
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top