Heat Treating Jaws for Chuck

K

Kroll

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Guys I finally found me a set of jaws for my 8" Bison chuck.But they are not harden,just plain steel.I been watching Forge in Fire on TV so I see they get the steel red hot then dunk their knifes in oil so I am guessing that I can also do a set of cheap steel jaws.Yes I can find harden jaws but 2-400.00 is a lot of money for this old boy.Do ya'll think that this will work?
 
It would depend on what kind of steel the jaws are made out of.
 
If they are o-1 tool steel it will work, but you have to draw them back other wise they will be brittle. You can draw them back in your gas or electric range oven . About 500 deg. for 2 hrs. the only other thing you have to worry about is them warping from heat treating. Which is a real good chance.
 
Kernbigo said:
If they are o-1 tool steel it will work, but you have to draw them back other wise they will be brittle. You can draw them back in your gas or electric range oven . About 500 deg. for 2 hrs. the only other thing you have to worry about is them warping from heat treating. Which is a real good chance.
Click to expand...

I believe Kernbigo is referring to tempering the steel after it has been heat treated.

http://www.brighthubengineering.com...74097-heat-treatment-annealing-and-tempering/
 
Will that happens also on Forge in Fire but did not think about the warping
Here's what the jaws are made of Steel CF-1018 ASTM A108 (Material Produced in USA - Mill ISO 9001:2008 certified)
 
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Kroll said:
Will that happens also on Forge in Fire but did not think about the warping
Here's what the jaws are made of Steel CF-1018 ASTM A108 (Material Produced in USA - Mill ISO 9001:2008 certified)
Click to expand...

That steel is common 1018. For all practical purposes, you cannot harden it. Not enough carbon. It can be case hardened but that won't help you. Those jaws were probably meant to be "soft jaws" that intentionally deform instead of damaging the part.

Do not heat it an dunk it. You'll just oxidize and warp it.

Ray
 
Pay the price and get the jaws that you need; having said that, if your chuck has two piece jaws, you should be able to find a cheaper set of hard jaws for the same size chuck, they are made to a standard and should be interchangeable.
Do not be deceived by what you see on "Forged in Fire" most of the folks you see on that program do not know their a-- from a bucket of hot rocks.
 
A chuck with whatever jaws, from the factory is your best bet for chuck accuracy. Buying just the jaws and trying to marriage them onto an existing chuck and hoping for good accuracy is going to be a crap shoot. I would not spend any money on just jaws. I would much rather buy the complete chuck in original condition and not have a hodgepodge. I consider the chuck the heart of the lathe. I would get the best chuck you can. It makes life soooooo much easier when your work chucks up true!…Dave
 
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Thanks guys for all reply’s,point taken.
 
They are likely soft jaws.
They are turned in place and used soft, when they show signs of wear simply skim cut them, they last for years. They were never intended to be hardened. You can mill, drill & tap and weld extensions to them.
Holding a 12" diameter part in an 8" chuck.

Hardening them defeats their intended purpose.

These have been turned for many different jobs, I was facing and boring 6" diameter X 3/8" wall steel tubing today held in the pocket in the jaws.
They cost very little money so buy many sets.
softjawsindrawer.jpg

softjawsonchuck.jpg
 
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