So, I Have This Rather Large Chuck......

Olddaddy

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When I bought my Craftsman 12" lathe it came with some boxes of bits and pieces. Among them are drills, morse taper parts, and this great big chuck. It looks too big to ever fit my lathe, it's about 8" in diameter and quite heavy. Anybody know? I'd like to see it go to someone who can use it if I can't. Over time I'd like to trade off all the stuff that seems like I can't use for stuff I can use.

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You got some nice tooling there. As for the chuck, I have been running an 8" chuck like that on my craftsman 12x36 for about 10 years now. Some times I wish I would of got the 6" But then I need the 8" and all is good. I would hang on to it. But that is just me.
 
No harm in your opinion or advice! I figured it was too big and heavy for the lather to turn it, but if you use one it must be ok. I wish I knew more about the tooling. Some I can figure out and have used. Some of it baffles me.
 
I have a 9" chuck on my 13" lathe. It's a nice size, although if it were any heavier I'd really want a crane or some way to get it onto the spindle nose with some care.
 
Just curious what you guys turn that you need a chuck that large? Does the rotating mass help with the turning somehow? All that weight spinning against the tooling?
 
Try the chuck on the lathe and see how it works. See how far the jaws can open without hitting the ways and how big and small work you could hold with them. Turn the jaws around and see what that offers you. Those jaws are two piece as well, and you can remove the top jaws and make custom soft jaws to fit on them for special projects. Test it for runout. It might turn into your go-to chuck.

I find that disassembling, cleaning up, lubricating, and reassembling tools is usually a bonding process. You become part of it, and it becomes part of you...
 
Just curious what you guys turn that you need a chuck that large? Does the rotating mass help with the turning somehow? All that weight spinning against the tooling?
It is a 12" lathe. You can turn things up to 12" diameter with your lathe. It might only be a 1/2" aluminum plate you need to turn, but 12" in diameter. You have a machine that can do that! Make sure you have a chuck that can hold it.
 
Hang on to that stuff. Over time you will collect all sorts of items that are useful / interesting. Occasionally I (and nearly everyoneelse here) end up getting miscellaneous boxes of stuff that are thrown in with a machine, come up at auction, yard sales - you may find a use in the future, you may be able to gift it to someone getting started, you may be able to trade it for something that works for you - but don't be in a hurry to get rid of things.

How large a chuck is useful? That totally depends on the tasks at hand. I have a 15" lathe. I picked up a large ugly 14" 4 jaw - cleaned it all up, made new jaw screws (it is probably 100 years old). I don't use it very often, but it is great for those certain jobs. Granted, the "proper sizes" are the 10" 4 jaw and 8" 3 jaw, and the get used more often.

I also have a smaller lathe (11"), which has the same spindle mount (D1-4). This machine came to me needing quite a bit of tender love and care - took a couple years to get running. However the chucks were quick to clean up - so I adjusted the cam pins and for a while would mount them to the 15" lathe as needed: an 8" 4 jaw, which is a nice little half height chuck with narrow jaws that will close down small and let me hold in small bores and a 6" 3 jaw that will also close down pretty small (and get into small bores).

The point being, it is helpful to have lots of work holding options. You can definately use that drive plate as a face place (or even a drive plate).

The big drill bits? They would clean up very nicely. They cost a fortune, and you never know when you'll be able to make something of them. I had a very nasty 1-1/4" drill bit - someone had turned down the shank and welded a MT4 sleeve on, not real straight as the outer end had 0.16" runout when the drill part was held in the chuck (then it was left to rust for many years). I had it kicking around for about 30 years and finally decided to fix it (it took me that long to get a machine that could crank it!). Anyway, I straightened the shank, and recut the taper (with such a shallow taper, when you take off just a little you lose a lot of length) - it cleaned up very nicely. The runout is bang on, the taper nice and sticky. Sure it is a bit short, but for occasional use it should be fine.

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It might turn into your go-to chuck.

I find that disassembling, cleaning up, lubricating, and reassembling tools is usually a bonding process. You become part of it, and it becomes part of you...

True! ^^ Bob is right.
The only reason to get rid of it is if it interferes. Even then, it might fit on your *next* lathe <LOL>


"I've just got TOO MUCH tooling!" said no machinist, ever.

Wrat
 
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