# 3 jaw



## rambin (Apr 4, 2019)

seen this on sale and was wondering what you knowledgable people think about it for use on my wards 700.... I been wanting a 3 jaw forever. sometimes not in the mood to mess with indicating the 4jaw for a quick part

https://www.shars.com/6-3-jaw-self-...th-1-1-2-8-fully-machined-threaded-back-plate


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## pontiac428 (Apr 4, 2019)

I like Shars stuff.  This class of chuck will do a lot of work, and Shars' quality specs are better than most China distributors.  It would be a good, general-purpose chuck that will be a workhorse in your shop.

That said...  If you want to have a tasty-sweet chuck that can have the eccentricity dialed out of it and moves smooth as silk, you can get a Bison, Burnerd, or Buck (good chucks start with the letter B) and never want for another chuck again.  You'll need one of these to chase tenths (or even half thous) in your work.  They cost a ton, but aren't so bad used.  But I warn you, if you go this route, you'll never be able to appreciate, let alone use, a sub-standard chuck ever again.  

Still not an easy decision.


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## mikey (Apr 4, 2019)

pontiac428 said:


> That said...  If you want to have a tasty-sweet chuck that can have the eccentricity dialed out of it and moves smooth as silk, you can get a Bison, Burnerd, or Buck (good chucks start with the letter B) and never want for another chuck again.  You'll need one of these to chase tenths (or even half thous) in your work.  They cost a ton, but aren't so bad used.  But I warn you, if you go this route, you'll never be able to appreciate, let alone use, a sub-standard chuck ever again.



Enjoyed this, @pontiac428 ! Chuckled several times (... good chucks start with the letter B) and ... chasing tenths (like a good hobby guy should). Good advice with tongue firmly in cheek!


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## wa5cab (Apr 5, 2019)

Hee hee - to add further confusion, my Bernerd 6" actually says Pratt-Bernerd on it.  If my wife had known what I paid for it, I might be single today.  Fortunately, the statute of limitations ran out several decades ago.  

However, I agree in general with the Shars comments given above.  I don't think that you will regret buying it.


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## darkzero (Apr 5, 2019)

The early ones only said Burnerd on them, before Pratt aquired Burnerd. The PB chucks these days say PBA on them. Not sure if PBA stands for Pratt Burnerd America or Pratt Burnerd Atlas.


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## mmcmdl (Apr 5, 2019)

I'm going to check what's down the basement , but I think a Bison and maybe a Tesa are left . Waiting on later this month to see what's up the other plant . Hopefully the lathes up there have their own chucks with them and I can move the extras .


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## rambin (Apr 5, 2019)

well I pulled the pin its on order. first time ive ever ordered from shars, Ive had stuff in my cart a few times and looked at the shipping and said screw that....   even this item is 20.oo delivery I know its a heavier item but seriously 20 bucks??? I tried adding a few other ounce items on the order and that 20 bucks just jumped up even higher so I deleted them.  you would think mailmen were all millionares with what shipping costs these days


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## darkzero (Apr 5, 2019)

rambin said:


> well I pulled the pin its on order. first time ive ever ordered from shars, Ive had stuff in my cart a few times and looked at the shipping and said screw that....   even this item is 20.oo delivery I know its a heavier item but seriously 20 bucks??? I tried adding a few other ounce items on the order and that 20 bucks just jumped up even higher so I deleted them.  you would think mailmen were all millionares with what shipping costs these days



$20 shipping for a chuck is not bad at all. Shipping is getting expensive & it will just keep getting expensive. Seems like not that long ago USPS flat rate small box was $4.80. Now it's up to just under $8!

For Shars, check their ebay store to see if the have the item listed. Many times it's cheaper on their ebay store with shipping than on their website, well for small items, I've never ordered anything heavy from them. I never purchase through their website because of their high shipping costs for small items.


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## wa5cab (Apr 6, 2019)

darkzero said:


> The early ones only said Burnerd on them, before Pratt aquired Burnerd. The PB chucks these days say PBA on them. Not sure if PBA stands for Pratt Burnerd America or Pratt Burnerd Atlas.


I don't know just when Pratt bought Burnerd but mine was bought in late 1981 and says:

Pratt
Burnerd
.


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## rambin (Apr 12, 2019)

well its here...  now I just gotta clean it up and fit the mounting plate...  quite large looking compared to the old 4jaw... remember in the  pic the  mounting plate isnt on the 3jaw yet and it still dwarfs the 4jaw.. could use some wisdom on what all I have to do to machine it down... looks like I could take a 1/2 " off that snout too as you see in the pic the theres quite a bit of thread not being used.


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## Richard White (richardsrelics) (Apr 14, 2019)

I lucked into a Bison 3 jaw centering chuck.... Just playing with it I was not able to get much movement on a .0001 indicator...I do not use it..
My business I need to have reversing jaws as I hold the inside and outside of my parts, so it just sits there...It fits the 1 1/2-8 threaded spindles...


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## rambin (Apr 14, 2019)

wish I woulda known u had an extra a week ago!!   took this one down to size yesterday and douched it out in the parts washer...heading out shortly to put it back together, relube and maybe run a dial indicator on it if I get too it today.


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## rambin (Apr 14, 2019)

well somethings not right   im running like 33 thous out on a piece of rod... and ive tried a few different items now all about the same.   all jaws are in there proper spots according to the stamped #. im at a loss.. im going to try turning the mounting plate 1 set of holes but I cant see how that would matter since i machined the thing on my lathe... and my spindle nose is withing 1 thou so its not my old lathe


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## rambin (Apr 15, 2019)

well I tinkered around took another cut off the face and its down to about 6 thou... not sure what the standard is for these shars chucks?


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## darkzero (Apr 15, 2019)

Website says .003". Unless the one you got has manufacturing issues .006" is way too much for being brand new, something is not right.

Have you checked to see if the register on your spindle has a close fit with the register on the chuck backplate? It should not have any slop.


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## rambin (Apr 16, 2019)

as you can see in the pics above the backing plate was much thicker then the length of the threaded spindle so I took approx. .500 off of it and removed a few threads so It would go back over the shoulder you have circled.  im going to rotate it again on the plate and see if that gets me anywhere. thnks


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## wa5cab (Apr 17, 2019)

I hope that when you bored out the threads in the back plate that you knew that you were working on the chuck register.  The unthreaded portion in the open side of the back plate should be no more than 0.0005" larger than the diameter of the register.  The register and not the threads is what centers up the chuck.  You should still be able to just make out the thread in the bored-out region.


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## rambin (Apr 17, 2019)

im within 4thou.. its possible that ive took a bit much off the ring that fits into the inside of the chuck... I think im pretty close on the register.. if at some point when I have more knowledge and better tooling feel I can do better I will get another backplate and try again.  the instructions don't say anything about shortening the backplate but it seemed kinda stupid to be sticking out that far when I didn thave to be. I had posted on here for some wisdom but got impatient and wanted to play with my new chuck... anyhow 4 thou is what I got. Ill have to deal with it for now.


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## rambin (Apr 17, 2019)

within 4 thou on a piece of drill rod in the chuck that is.. but my indicator is only .001 readout. and im thinking I should have a last word type for these operations?


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## darkzero (Apr 17, 2019)

If you bored out the register too big on the backplate, no need to buy another. Bore it out bigger, sleeve it, then you can bore to size again.


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## rambin (Apr 18, 2019)

I was referring to the bore or ring that is sposed to fit tightly inside the chuck.  but your right I could prbly fix that with a little collar just pressed in at the end of the thread race.  anyhow i'm within 4 thou at the moment.   not a big fan of cutting cast iron what a mess


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## wa5cab (Apr 18, 2019)

For future reference, in the register area of the ID of a threaded back plate or chuck body, you should still see faint signs of the threads.  Or to put it another way, the major diameter of the female threads is just a few thousandths LARGER than the ID of the register area.


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## Janderso (Apr 18, 2019)

Rambin, if you do buy this chuck, check the grind on the jaws. I watched a video where someone had to grind the jaws right out of the gate. I don't think it was a Shars though.
Watch for even clamping and runout.
Please let us know.
I was very tempted by Shars before I bought my 10" Bison.

Don't I feel silly, I just read the entire thread-You answered my question, concerns.


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## rambin (Apr 18, 2019)

wa5cab said:


> For future reference, in the register area of the ID of a threaded back plate or chuck body, you should still see faint signs of the threads.  Or to put it another way, the major diameter of the female threads is just a few thousandths LARGER than the ID of the register area.




yes I can still see the line of the threads I don't think im big by much.. actually used it today for a few min was nice to not have to dial in!


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## rambin (Apr 18, 2019)

janderson… I wouldn't blame shars for anything ive seen so far its a low dollar chuck yes... but im in over my head trying to machine it onto my lathe as well.... I know when you close the jaws completely they don't all touch perfectly but I didn't pay 800 bucks for it either.


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## wa5cab (Apr 18, 2019)

Shars is generally speaking the high-dollar supplier among the Chinese brands (I'm not sure that one factory doesn't make most of the Chinese stuff).  The three jaws not touching when you run them all of the way in doesn't sound like what they normally supply.  You didn't pay what you would have paid for a Bison, Buck or Pratt-Bernerd but you certainly paid more than you would have paid at H-F.  It might be worth your while to make a phone call.  Did you buy it direct from Shars or from a Stateside dealer?


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