Jacobs Drill Chuck Repair Info

[4GSR]

One thing I do before pressing the sleeve on. I rotate the nut enough to make sure the jaws move freely and align up to tell me that they are in the right sequence. I usually take a sleeve bored out to the right ID slip over and take my dead blow hammer and give it a couple of small whacks to make sure it is aligned right. Then drive the sleeve home. It doesn't take much force to get the sleeve to go on. Even on the 20N chuck!

 

[EmilioG]

Here's an interesting find I recently purchased.
A Jacobs USA No.3 HD plain bearing drill chuck.
It's very old but in remarkably great shape. Even the key is new, vintage, before Jacobs started oxiding them.

It's unusual to find United States of America instead of just
USA. also there are numbers for the jaw holes instead of Roman numerals. It is very well made.
Possibly in the earlier days. I have a Jacobs No.3 but not as in good shape so I bought an NOS rebuild kit for it.
You can see the old jaws and nut halves, they were badly worn. One of the two is a little beat up but the internals and sleeve are excellent.
This time I took great care in pressing off the sleeves, using a 17/64" drill bit to bring the jaws to half capacity. The chucks are 0-17/32" Cap.

We have a nice 3 ton arbor press where I work so I was able to do it without any problems. Now I just have to finish degreasing and lubricating.

 

[randyc]

18N's are some great chucks ! I have an old one that has seen lots of use but still worked well. This is somewhat off-topic but may be of interest:

About a year ago, I scored three Albrecht chucks from craigs list and I already had two so the Jacobs became superfluous to the 1/2 inch chuck collection. I made a live tailstock chuck from it, shown below.

Unhappily, the lathe it was intended for has a small MT-2 tailstock taper so there wasn't much material to work with when making an MT-2 shank with bearings. I ended up using a three inch long oilite sleeve bearing plus a 1/2 inch hardened ball for thrust. (Live chucks experience little, if any thrust, so nothing more sophisticated is required.)

These types of tailstock chucks are rarely used but when they are needed, they are usually REALLY needed, LOL . A typical example would be taking a clean-up cut on worn commutators for a motor or generator armature. Many of these have hardened shafts and no center drill

 

[EmilioG]

Do all lathes require a Morse taper or can straight shanks be used? What about R8 collets?
I understand that all lathes are different and use different size tooling. Where can I find more information
on lathe tooling? Thanks. I would like to buy a Hardinge HLVH lathe in the next few years. If I find the
"right" one in good shape that doesn't need a lot of restoration. I plan on spending my retirement years
in a home hobby shop tool room.

 

[randyc]

Do all lathes require a Morse taper or can straight shanks be used? What about R8 collets?
I understand that all lathes are different and use different size tooling. Where can I find more information
on lathe tooling? Thanks. I would like to buy a Hardinge HLVH lathe in the next few years. If I find the
"right" one in good shape that doesn't need a lot of restoration. I plan on spending my retirement years
in a home hobby shop tool room.

HLVH ? Wow, I wish that I had one !

To the best of my knowledge, U.S. made engine lathes universally use Morse taper tailstocks. U.S. made turret lathes use 5/8 straight shank tool holders. I've never heard of any kind of lathe that uses R-8 collets.

Not sure where you'd find the kind of information on lathe tooling that you need but I think I'd start at "lathes.co", a British site that is probably the most comprehensive machine tool site in the world !

 

[EmilioG]

Nice MT2. Why the bearings ?
Also, Lathes.co no longer exists Btw.

 

[randyc]

Nice MT2. Why the bearings ?
Also, Lathes.co no longer exists Btw.

Hi Emilio,

Bearings are required for a "live" tailstock chuck so that it is free to rotate. The chuck is not used to hold tooling, like drills or reamers. It serves the same purpose as a tailstock center or a steady rest.

The workpiece is held in the headstock at one end and the tailstock is located at the end of the work. The live chuck is tightened over the end of the work and rotates along with it. The work is therefore supported at both ends, reducing flex just as a center or steady rest would.

I should have explained all of this in my first post, sorry -

Tony's site: http://www.lathes.co.uk/

 

[darkzero]

18N's are some great chucks !

These types of tailstock chucks are rarely used but when they are needed, they are usually REALLY needed, LOL . A typical example would be taking a clean-up cut on worn commutators for a motor or generator armature. Many of these have hardened shafts and no center drill

I scored a nice used 18N a few months ago. I haven't got around to reconditioning as I have a 5/8" keyless Bison chuck that I use on the lathe & a 1/2" keyless Glacern chuck I use on the mill. But I do have 3 very nice 14Ns that I reconditioned for use on both the lathe & mill (R8, MT3, & straight shank).

That live drill chuck is pretty cool. A while back I needed to work on something that needed tailstock support but with no center drill. I had a couple of micro chucks laying around so I got a live center for one of them. Haven't used it a second time but at least it's there if I ever need it.

 

[EmilioG]

Nice. I can't wait to get started on my own lathe. I'm moving to LA so I will wait
to make any major purchases. Lot's of folks really like Glacern tooling. Must look into it. Thanks

 

[randyc]

....A while back I needed to work on something that needed tailstock support but with no center drill. I had a couple of micro chucks laying around so I got a live center for one of them. Haven't used it a second time but at least it's there if I ever need it.

Your usual flawless workmanship - why would anyone expect less ?