Discolored Lathe Chuck

T

tkollen

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Recently when I was out of regular cutting fluid for my lathe I used sulphur rich tapping fluid when turning A-2 steel. After a few hours I noticed that the chuck and some other parts of the lathe were discolored and had a yellowish tint. Someone suggested to me that this was caused by the sulphur fumes.

Does anyone know how to easily remove this without resorting to sanding or grinding?
 
Yes, I've seen this too and do believe it's from the sulfur oil. If your chuck is made of semi-steel (which is a form of low-grade cast iron) I don't think much can be done. That material is very porous. View it as battle scars to be worn with pride.


Ray

tkollen said:
Recently when I was out of regular cutting fluid for my lathe I used sulphur rich tapping fluid when turning A-2 steel. After a few hours I noticed that the chuck and some other parts of the lathe were discolored and had a yellowish tint. Someone suggested to me that this was caused by the sulphur fumes.

Does anyone know how to easily remove this without resorting to sanding or grinding?
Click to expand...
 
tkollen said:
Recently when I was out of regular cutting fluid for my lathe I used sulphur rich tapping fluid when turning A-2 steel. After a few hours I noticed that the chuck and some other parts of the lathe were discolored and had a yellowish tint. Someone suggested to me that this was caused by the sulphur fumes.

Does anyone know how to easily remove this without resorting to sanding or grinding?
Click to expand...
Try soaking it in ultra low sulphur diesel for some time. Sulphur likes diesel.
 
I've had some luck removing those stains with acetone. For some reason it doesn't always work but it's worth a shot.
 
Why can't you remove the jaws and sand the chuck with a sanding block with wet or dry paper? You must carefully clean the interior of the chuck afterwards.
 
Occasionally, I spin mine at a high speed without the jaws in with a 6 X 9" red ScotchBrite pad to take off the stains from cutting oil. Not that they hurt anything, but it does look kind of bad.

Now don't do this!!! It's not safe for your hands and fingers!!
 
You guys got it all wrong... Take some cutting oil and a fine paint brush and mark-up your chucks with Frankenstein scars and stitches. It'll look cool :rofl:
 
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