# Help with chuck key - logan 200



## notqwik (Aug 19, 2013)

My chuck key has decided to go (edges rounded over) ..... need to find a solution, either find another or a new chuck.  Anybody have an extra key or a suggestion on what I should do?  

Thanks


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## Codered741 (Aug 19, 2013)

Was that a Hex or Square?  In either case, you can buy ready made chuck keys, or make one yourself fairly easily.  Of course going to town with a file works well, though slow, or find a piece of square or hex stock, drill a hole in a piece of round stock, and weld/braze it in.  Hex is especially easy, just get an allen key that fits

Certainly no reason to buy a new chuck!  (Unless it needs to be....:ideas:    :holdphone

-Cody


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## Redlineman (Aug 19, 2013)

Hey;

Both of my solutions involve welding. TIG it up and grind/file to shape if it was square. Cut it short, get a hex key and weld a piece on back to original length if the end was an Allen tip. Either way it is always more fun to make or fix something than buy a new one. Anyone can do that.


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## Dave Smith (Aug 19, 2013)

Cody is right--very easy to make one--if it is square just take a 3/8" drive extension approx 4 or 5" long and slowly grind or file it till it fits snug--then just weld a !/2" round T handle on the grip end.---I had to make a couple of them for my Logan--Dave


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## notqwik (Aug 19, 2013)

It is hex.  I don't have access to a welder.  
I can't cut the end off and move the hex up further because it needs to be the current length to reach to the bottom.

I guess I could take it somewhere and have somebody put some material back on it and grind it back to hex, but that means taking vacation from work, finding somebody in Northern VA (land of techies with very few people in the trades) and paying them to weld on some material, and then grinding it ..... seems like if you could just buy one for $25 bucks somewhere and have it delivered would be way less trouble.  Plus I could get back to work on my current project


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## Codered741 (Aug 19, 2013)

T-Handle hex key?

Seems the quickest bought solution I can think of.  McMaster has them starting around $5.  

-Cody


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## Terrywerm (Aug 19, 2013)

I think you are going to want a material that is hardened somewhat, and a t-handle hex key would work perfect.

Sometime back I made a new key for my three jaw chuck (1/4" square) and I made it from a piece of key stock, welded into an upper shank, then pressed in a cross T handle. It worked great for a couple of months until the mild steel key material started to round over at the corners. My final solution was to use a chunk of 3/4" drill rod. I milled the business end to the correct 1/4" square size, then hardened and tempered it to a straw yellow color, about the same as you would for a screwdriver or similar tool. Thus far it has been working quite well, and the wear to the corners is significantly less that it had been with the key stock.  This may not be an adequate fix for the OP, but it may be useful for anyone else that finds themselves in the same situation that I was.


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## Bill C. (Aug 20, 2013)

notqwik said:


> It is hex.  I don't have access to a welder.
> I can't cut the end off and move the hex up further because it needs to be the current length to reach to the bottom.
> 
> I guess I could take it somewhere and have somebody put some material back on it and grind it back to hex, but that means taking vacation from work, finding somebody in Northern VA (land of techies with very few people in the trades) and paying them to weld on some material, and then grinding it ..... seems like if you could just buy one for $25 bucks somewhere and have it delivered would be way less trouble.  Plus I could get back to work on my current project



Could use an Allen wrench and a short cheater pipe until you get a new chuck key.


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## Redlineman (Aug 20, 2013)

Hmmm....

You need to find other like minded machine geeks in your area for such tasks, especially those with welders. Most of us would jump at the chance to "pointlessly" fix something so insignificant rather than see you spend money on a new one. Those that like the feel of something homey made will understand completely. By all means, get a replacement from wherever works, but if the key were original to the lathe/chuck, I'd make the effort to repair it. Anybody like me - and I bet most of the guys reading this are the same - would do it for the fun of it, no charge!

Many of our more ancient machines have lots of personality gained from the many home-made fixes that have kept them running over the centuries. Hand made tools are then only fitting and in keeping!


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## Chucketn (Aug 20, 2013)

notqwik said:


> My chuck key has decided to go (edges rounded over) ..... need to find a solution, either find another or a new chuck.  Anybody have an extra key or a suggestion on what I should do?
> 
> Thanks



If no one closer to you pipes up, PM me the size hex you need and I'll check my biscuit tin of spare Allen keys. I could even be talked into drilling a piece of 5/8 rod and pressing it in.

Chuck


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## Coomba (Aug 20, 2013)

My four jaw chuck didn't come with a key. It has a 7/16 hex so I bought a socket hex from Sears.


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## notqwik (Aug 20, 2013)

Thank you all for so many suggestions.  Can't use a standard hex key (of course).  The diameter is .280  .... the closest over size standard hex key is 5/16 (.3125).  I think a 7mm would work ok, but my crapsman is .270, according to the charts should be .27559, so it is alittle loose.  Will stop at Sears tomorrow see what they have.  If the 7mm is undersize, I may buy a 5/16 and grind it down.


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## notqwik (Aug 24, 2013)

Here is what I came up with .... not pretty, but it works.  Ground off the hex to the correct size w/ a 4" grinder, made a handle out of some round that was laying around.  Pressed the hex into the handle.  Made a couple of them while I was at it.


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## Chucketn (Aug 24, 2013)

Good job. Don't have to be pretty, just has to *work*!

Chuck


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## Terrywerm (Aug 24, 2013)

Nice job!  Form, fit, and function are the key elements here. Fashion doesn't fit, which is why we leave that to the ladies!


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## Redlineman (Aug 25, 2013)

chucketn said:


> Good job. Don't have to be pretty, just has to *work*!


Indeed;

However, there is no reason to avoid the aesthetic realm, especially now that you have some that do the job. If it were me, I'd take that old one, cut it off back into the taper to about the area where I could then bore an interference hole to press in a piece of that Allen key shank. Or, drill it out and braze/TIG in that key stock, then shape the fillet back to original.

All for no other reason than that I can, and that it's fun. For me, there is more satisfaction to be found in making or fixing than buying. Fun 
& cheap too! :biggrin:

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Not to jack the thread, but solely as inspiration; my mill vice handle.

Didn't have the right size for my then new (old) Palmgren 6" mill vice. Two pieces of angle iron cut down & welded together to make a snug square drive, then nested/welded inside a piece of round tube that fit. The handle is made from McPherson strut rod from an old Boge (Porsche) front strut. I probably should finish blending in the rest of the weld fillets to give it that smooth look. All utterly unnecessary, but a lot of fun.

Incidentally, that lovely blue gray thing to the left should be recognizable here as my freshly painted headstock for my '42 Logan 200!


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