# Dead Simple, but Satisfying



## PHPaul (Jul 23, 2021)

As posted in the Can You Make Something For Me forum, I finally, after several years of watching Craigslist and EBay, found a 4 jaw chuck that would work with my Seneca Falls Star 30.

It's not a direct fit - those are apparently kept with the hen's teeth and unicorn sweat, but it could be made to work relatively easily and was only 175 miles away vs. halfway across the country.

Initially, I asked for someone to make a backing plate for it to fit the spindle on my lathe.  Then the other hamster jumped on the wheel and I realized I had a 4" face plate that could be modified to fit the chuck and save me the trouble of making one from scratch or from a casting.  I have roughly zero experience cutting threads (on my to-do list) and didn't feel at all confident that I could do it successfully.




So, I spun it onto the spindle and turned the major diameter down to a light press fit in the pocket of the chuck.






I ordered a set of appropriately sized transfer screws from McMaster-Carr and used them to locate the centers on the backing plate.  You can see the punch marks in the first picture if you look closely.  It's a VERY good thing I did it this way, because the holes are not symmetrical.  At first I thought I'd screwed up, but rotating the backing plate through the various possibilities eventually lined things up.




I set it up on my benchtop mill to drill a pilot hole and then drill out to final size.




I had to turn down the radius between the shank and the face to provide clearance for the cap screws.




And here it is complete and mounted on the lathe.  I disassembled the chuck and cleaned it all up good.  The #1 jaw was very tight so I put a dab of valve lapping compound in the appropriate spots and worked it back and forth until it freed up.

Now to find a project to use it on!


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## MrWhoopee (Aug 11, 2021)

Nicely done! Gives you that warm fuzzy, doesn't it?


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## PHPaul (Aug 11, 2021)

MrWhoopee said:


> Nicely done! Gives you that warm fuzzy, doesn't it?


Thank you, and yes, it does!


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## Shotgun (Aug 12, 2021)

The first project should be to make a bolt so that your comfortable cutting threads.  .  You can thank me later.


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## ericc (Aug 12, 2021)

Nice job.  Now, as mentioned previously, get busy on the single point threading.  There is no excuse, except missing threading gears.  Even that won't fly for long.  There are ways around this.


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## PHPaul (Aug 13, 2021)

Well, I DID use it to make a spacer for the gauge wheel on my rear finish mower yesterday.  Sure is nice not to spend half an hour getting the stock to run true...


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