# best place for your lathe chuck key



## TOOLMASTER (Jun 16, 2013)

NEARBY)


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## macrnr (Jun 16, 2013)

I bought a Rockwell 10" for parts where the key was left in the chuck and started. Instantly turned a nice machine into a wreck....


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## Rbeckett (Jun 16, 2013)

I drilled a hole in mine and have it hanging off of the front of the machine.  I left just enough cable to reach the chuck. I also added a spring to the end of the key so it will pop out of the chuck if not being actively held in place.  Nothing could be worse than getting injured by a flying chuck key and you  had the opportunity to prevent it from happening in the first and last place...Hopefully everyone will take note and do something to insure a key never gets left in a chuck.  Just remember safety first, last, and always.  The fingers you save may be your own, and imagine how hard it will be to pick yer nose with a differebt finger or hand.  

Bob


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## British Steel (Jun 16, 2013)

I was in the pound shop yesterday and spotted some pen keepers, keyrings with a spring-loaded reel of cord attached to a cheap ballpoint - lose the pen, attach key, could work? Got one to try on the drill press, I'm ALWAYS losing the key in the benchtop kipple


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## samthedog (Jun 16, 2013)

It looks to me like someone has an Emco Maximat V10...

And it has been refurbished by the looks of the non-standard green paint. So come on, show us the lathe! I used to have one myself.

Paul.


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## TOOLMASTER (Jun 17, 2013)

IT'S A JET818P. bought it a couple weeks ago for 300..
I made all new handles for it and had to made some parts for the


feed but all working good now.


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samthedog said:


> It looks to me like someone has an Emco Maximat V10...
> 
> And it has been refurbished by the looks of the non-standard green paint. So come on, show us the lathe! I used to have one myself.
> 
> Paul.


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## mrbreezeet1 (Jun 17, 2013)

British Steel said:


> I was in the pound shop yesterday and spotted some pen keepers, keyrings with a spring-loaded reel of cord attached to a cheap ballpoint - lose the pen, attach key, could work? Got one to try on the drill press, I'm ALWAYS losing the key in the bench top kipple



My drill press key is tethered to the drill press. 
Has worked out well.


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## pebbleworm (Jun 17, 2013)

The lath chuck keys are hanging on a board behind the lathe withe the chucks, faceplate and collet closer- an easy reach.  The drill chucks are stuck onto old hard drive magnets on the cabinet that holds the chucks or the drill press base and more often than not get put back there since they are clinging in plain sight.


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## toolman49 (Jun 18, 2013)

G'Day Fellas,
My chuck keys,tailstock chucks and commonly used hand tools live in a rack made from the collet rack that came with my DRO, keeps everything together but hurts like hell when I walk into it.
Regards,
Martin


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## samthedog (Jun 18, 2013)

TOOLMASTER said:


> IT'S A JET818P. bought it a couple weeks ago for 300..
> I made all new handles for it and had to made some parts for the
> 
> 
> feed but all working good now.



That is extremely similar to the Emco, even down to the "casette deck" electrical control. 

As for where I keep my chuck key... I keep it on the wall directly behind the lathe. If I don't see it hanging on the wall, I don't start the lathe.

Paul.


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## road (Jun 18, 2013)

simple but effective. 

it is a learned behavior to replace the chuck key
the more you do it the easier it is to remember, so practice practice .....  :lmao:


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## TOOLMASTER (Jun 18, 2013)

Yea they are all made by same peeps



samthedog said:


> That is extremely similar to the Emco, even down to the "casette deck" electrical control.
> 
> As for where I keep my chuck key... I keep it on the wall directly behind the lathe. If I don't see it hanging on the wall, I don't start the lathe.
> 
> Paul.


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## pineyfolks (Jun 21, 2013)

My chuck key is hanging behind the lathe. For my smaller lathe and drill chuck keys and small wrenches I use those a magnetic bowl. I don't care for a key hanging from a cord on a drillpress, to much swarf


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## Analias (Jun 21, 2013)

I started keeping it on the magnetic strip on this shelf.  I like the idea of having a spring loaded sleeve that makes it impossible to leave in the chuck.  That's one of my future projects.


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## samthedog (Jun 23, 2013)

TOOLMASTER said:


> Yea they are all made by same peeps


Enco maybe, but not Emco. Emco are Austrian and they stopped making the Maximat V10 quite a few years ago.


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## Codered741 (Jun 23, 2013)

The best place for a lathe chuck key, is its home, which should be the same place every time, unless it is in your hand. Make it a little ritual to check, or even touch the chuck key in its holder, before starting the spindle. When you take it out of its home, it should not leave your hand until it goes back into its home. 

I have a hole in the bench, next to the power switch for my mini lathe, which I check every time I start it. I know a guy that actually wired a switch to sense the key being in its place, which would stop the lathe from starting if it wasn't there.  

I am very wary of chuck keys, had one fly out of a 15" lathe, across the room, bounce off the mill that I was working on, and into my face while I was in school.  The safety glasses I was wearing are the only reason I still have both eyes. :whistle:  It embedded itself into a 1/2" piece of plywood after bouncing off my face. It is still there as a reminder to everyone who walks into the room. 

-Cody


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## furpo (Jun 23, 2013)

Why hasn’t someone built a holder with a proximity switch built into it so the lathe will not operate without the key in the proper holder?
Would be easy to do!

After thinking about this I think I will implement this at work tomorrow. I know exactly which guy is going to get the assignment!
The only one that has ever left it in the chuck!  To my knowledge!


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## donthack (Oct 1, 2013)

has anyone figured out how to power up thier machine through a treadmill switch, should be a few left over from drill press conversions.  Then all you would have to do is attach the chuck key to the treadmill key.


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## jbrubaker911 (Oct 15, 2013)

Like a few other people on this post have experienced, I had a chuck key make a very hurried departure.  Happily only a sore finger and a bruised ego.  My solution isn't pretty but it works.  I fabricated an arm projecting out from the wall behind the lathe, two small pulleys, some parachute cord, and a counter weight.  Reach up, grab it, pull it down, tighten or loosen the chuck, release it, and it parks itself up out of the way.  Works for me.


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## pestilence (Oct 15, 2013)

The best idea I've seen here is the spring collar.  I'm doing that to mine.  I am trying to make a habit of always lifting the cover on my Logan to release the belt tension and spin the chuck by hand to ensure I have clearance before starting it.  I've been pretty good so far but that didn't stop me from starting it with the spindle locked the other day.  If the belt hadn't slipped, I'd have had to replace some gears, I'm sure.  I assume some day I will eventually launch a chuck key without something to ensure I don't.


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## TOOLMASTER (Oct 15, 2013)

samthedog said:


> Enco maybe, but not Emco. Emco are Austrian and they stopped making the Maximat V10 quite a few years ago.




THE JET IS FROM THE 80'S..


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## Terrywerm (Oct 15, 2013)

The old timer that taught me how to run a lathe taught me many things, and one of them had to do with chuck clearance. Ensuring chuck, jaw, and part clearance also ensures that the chuck key is removed. 

Here is what I do on my Logan: Every time I shut it off, I lift the belt cover once it has stopped. This releases tension on the belt, which also ensures that if I accidentally turn on the lathe, the belt will slip, hopefully preventing any injury.  The primary reason for releasing the belt tension, however, is so that I can rotate the chuck by hand to bring the key socket to the top, do what I need to do, then rotate the chuck by hand one full turn to ensure proper clearance. This also ensures that the chuck key has been removed. Once clearance has been proven, the belt cover is lowered which tensions the drive belt, and power is then turned on and work progresses.

Since learning that simple trick, I have never crashed anything into the chuck or jaws, nor have I launched a chuck key!


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## Rockytime (Oct 15, 2013)

Sure looks like a MaxiMat, flat ways and all. I have the MaxiMat 7. Wonderful little machine.
Les



TOOLMASTER said:


> IT'S A JET818P. bought it a couple weeks ago for 300..
> I made all new handles for it and had to made some parts for the
> 
> 
> ...


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## Tony Wells (Oct 15, 2013)

I've yet to turn on a machine with a chuck key of any kind of it. I use a method like Terry's and like Codered's. It just becomes a matter of practice to do this without even thinking about it. I use the key, and I put it back. I don't have a special spot for it, other than someplace that I use over and over. Different places for different machines. I have used lathes where someone had bored out a small sleeve that the key fit into and this sleeve was captured under one of the headstock cover bolts. Was too much trouble to stab it back in there when the headstock was flat, and served perfectly to just lay the key on. 

I will say though, that for those not yet practiced enough, or perhaps ritualized would be a more proper word, a socket to slip it into, or a plate with a hole.....good thoughts. It's not worth the risk. It would be a very simple project to make up a "enable" switch in a few different ways to disallow the machine start unless _something_ was in the place designated for the key.


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## itsme_Bernie (Oct 15, 2013)

Codered741 said:


> I am very wary of chuck keys, had one fly out of a 15" lathe, across the room, bounce off the mill that I was working on, and into my face while I was in school.  The safety glasses I was wearing are the only reason I still have both eyes. :whistle:  It embedded itself into a 1/2" piece of plywood after bouncing off my face. It is still there as a reminder to everyone who walks into the room.
> 
> -Cody



WHOH.

Bernie


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## NodakGary (Nov 19, 2013)

I bought a compression spring that just fits onto my chuck key.  I cut one end about 3/8" long, and fit it onto the key, to just allow the key to be pushed into the chuck key slot (?) and when I release the pressure on it after making the adjustment the spring pushes it just far enough out of the slot that it falls unless I keep hold of it. Works great and only cost me 25 cents.
NodakGary


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## rdfoster (Nov 19, 2013)

I also make it a practice to hit the safety switch before I put the key into the lathe chuck. Took a while to develop the habit but I finally got the hang of it. It also helps to have a son who is very safety minded and keeps me doing it right. The only problem is that I some times forget to turn the safety switch back on and I get reminded when the lathe won't go when I put the go lever in GO.

Bob


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## ARM (Dec 27, 2013)

> TOOLMASTER said:
> 
> 
> > NEARBY)
> ...


  Nice  idea  TOOLMASTER, and  takes  up  less  space
Thanks  for  posting.
aRM


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