# Enco 4 jaw chuck



## mickri (Nov 8, 2019)

There is an enco 10" 4 jaw chuck for sale for $50 not far from me.  Virtually no info in the listing.  The only identifying mark is A014 stamped on the face of the chuck.  I have searched online and did not find anything about this chuck.  Before I call the seller I would like to learn as much as I can about this chuck   Anybody know anything about this chuck?
I don't really need this and it might not fit on my craftsman 12x36 lathe.  This is the only picture


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## mmcmdl (Nov 8, 2019)

That's a bit of a large chuck for a 12" lathe . Not a bad price though .


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## mikey (Nov 8, 2019)

I was thinking the same thing - kinda' big and heavy. Are your spindle and bearings up to it?


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## Asm109 (Nov 8, 2019)

I think I would pass and get one no larger than 8 inches.  
As soon as the jaws stick  out of the chuck 1 inch they will crash the bed or carriage.


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## FOMOGO (Nov 8, 2019)

For $50, or possibly less on an offer, I would grab it as trade material/clean up and resell at a profit, or use on a welding positioner, or if your a tool junkie like me, a great excuse to buy a bigger lathe.  Mike


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## mickri (Nov 8, 2019)

Those were my thoughts too about being too big and too heavy for my lathe.  I have an 8" 4 jaw chuck and a 6" 4 jaw chuck.  So its not like I need another 4 jaw chuck for the lathe.  Where I thought it might live is on my mill/drill.  I took the swivel base for my vise and modified a backing plate to fit the base so I could use my lathe chucks on the mill/drill.  Kind of a crude rotary table that I can set to .1 degrees using a vernier scale. 




Without a chuck on the swivel base the top is lower than the bottom of the vise.   So I shouldn't have any clearance issues when using the vise and with a chuck on the base the top of the chuck is higher than the top of the vise.  Again no clearance issues.  I am working on dialing it in and writing down the X and Y coordinates so it is repeatable.  That way I won't have to dial it in each time I want to use.  I can just move the table to the X and Y coordinates.

That's what I am thinking.


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## T Bredehoft (Nov 8, 2019)

That's the best/only use I've ever seen for the rotary base that comes with a mill vice.


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## pacifica (Nov 8, 2019)

mickri said:


> Those were my thoughts too about being too big and too heavy for my lathe.  I have an 8" 4 jaw chuck and a 6" 4 jaw chuck.  So its not like I need another 4 jaw chuck for the lathe.  Where I thought it might live is on my mill/drill.  I took the swivel base for my vise and modified a backing plate to fit the base so I could use my lathe chucks on the mill/drill.  Kind of a crude rotary table that I can set to .1 degrees using a vernier scale.
> 
> View attachment 305425
> 
> ...


Good idea, but it will be heavy so once in place you may not move it  too often.


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## Cadillac (Nov 8, 2019)

The only chuck I can see being useful is a 3jaw unless forced to use a 4j. Every time you move the jaws on a 4j you will loose center and have to indicate the part. With a 3j at least you wouldn't have that problem as long as the chuck repeats.


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## cathead (Nov 8, 2019)

Cadillac said:


> The only chuck I can see being useful is a 3jaw unless forced to use a 4j. Every time you move the jaws on a 4j you will loose center and have to indicate the part. With a 3j at least you wouldn't have that problem as long as the chuck repeats.



That's great if you only machine cylindrical stuff.  I have several 3 jaw chucks and have not used them for years.  If you 
use a 4 jaw all the time, you get very adept at centering a part.  Not only that, it is easier to center a part with the 4 jaw
than swapping out two heavy chucks.  But then I machine on all kinds of shapes and I'm a 4 jaw kind of guy.


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## Cadillac (Nov 8, 2019)

cathead said:


> That's great if you only machine cylindrical stuff.  I have several 3 jaw chucks and have not used them for years.  If you
> use a 4 jaw all the time, you get very adept at centering a part.  Not only that, it is easier to center a part with the 4 jaw
> than swapping out two heavy chucks.  But then I machine on all kinds of shapes and I'm a 4 jaw kind of guy.




I was just referring to the OP stating he was writing coordinates down so it was repeatable. So not having to indicate all the parts. With a 4j you will be indicating every part either way.


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## mickri (Nov 8, 2019)

By being repeatable I was thinking of just the swivel base being easily centered on the spindle.  I realize that I would have to dial in the work if using a 4 jaw chuck.  With the swivel base centered I wouldn't have to dial in the swivel and then dial in work every time.

This may not be a good idea.  My plan is to have both the vice and swivel base mounted all of the time with the vice mounted just to the right of center on the table and the swivel base mounted just to the left of center.  Before I saw the enco chuck I was planning to use one of my lathe chucks or this face plate (wrong terminology??) depending on the project at hand.


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## mickri (Nov 9, 2019)

I have decided to bail on this chuck.  It is too big and heavy to be used on my lathe and probably won't do what I would like it to do on the mill/drill.  And I need an edge finder and would like a dial caliper.   Those items would be a better use of the $50.

Thanks for all the comments.


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