Lathe Chuck removal

[Chuck Forman]

Total novice here. Just bought a mid-1940's 10 X 36 Sheldon ( L not XL series, unfortunately) with the complicated U Drive (unfortunately) (hereafter Sheldon). First lathe.

What is the best way to remove the darned 4 jaw chuck? Been on there forever.

What's best way to hold the spindle? Engage back gear and direct drive same time(sounds a bit risky)? Put a big 5 MT Bit (I have a big one) in the spindle and put a pipe wrench on it (Afraid of scoring the spindle bore)?

How do I get some purchase on the chuck? No place on chuck for wrench that I can see. How about backing out the jaws and fashioning a "Wrench" that fits into the jaw slot or slots. Tighten square stock carefully but firmly in the chuck and wrench on it? Assuming I get some decent purchase, ok to whack the "wrench" with a hammer?? If not cooperative, what about carefully heating the thread area of the chuck???

I have not even tried to remove yet, so maybe it will come off easily. Regardless, want to use best approach. Any advice much appreciated.

If this should have been posted to the more general area, please let me know. I am a total novice at forums in addition to machining and metal machines.

Regards, cf

 

[havnfun]

Welcome! I am a newby also to this forum and also own a Sheldon lathe. Upon acquiring my Sheldon, one of the first things that I did was to join the Sheldon lathe group on Yahoo. Just run a search and you will find it. It probably will take a week or so to get approved, but the technical information that you will get from this group on your Sheldon will be well worth it. The leader of this group is a former Sheldon employee and is very helpful in providing information on Sheldon machines and diagnosing problems. The topic of freeing a stuck chuck comes up frequently. The Hobby Machinist forum is a great source of information on machining, but it certainly helps to also have access to a person who assisted in building Sheldons.

 

[8ntsane]

Hello Chuck

Removing a stuck chuck can be a bit of hassle. I usually try to avoid putting the machine in gear. More gears have had teeth broken by this.
Being a 4-jaw , you can find some sqaure stock to chuck up, and use a large ajust able, and a dead blow hammer to give it a few wacks. I wouldn't use a wrench on only one jaw . That would most likely damage your chuck. Atleast if you chuck up some stock, your putting the forces on all 4 jaws.

When your doing any of this work, I would advise you to use some wood to cover the ways for protection. Another way I have removed stuck chucks is with welding a old socket to the square stock, and with the use of a impact gun, it proves quite effective. Some times penetrating oil will help, if it can find its way in there. The main thing to avoid id breaking teeth off gears in the removale process.

Good Luck

 

[rogerrabbit]

Welcome.. I have a clausing which I bought a while back which had the same problem, the 3 jaw on mine looked like it was on the spindle for year and nothing i could do to remove it.

First, make sure to put some penetrating oil on the mount and let it sit for a few days, I used kroil,that stuff is amazing.

on mine the back gear already had a few teeth missing, so I didn't think i would lose much if another broke, but I would NOT recommend it.

my solution (out of desperation) was to use a 2x4 stuck between the jaws (figured it would give before the jaw teeth) and a large slip joint to hold the spindle right behind the front bearing, still took 2 of us to get it off..

Good Luck!

--Roger

 

[Chuck Forman]

Thanks gents for advice. Will update with progress (or regress!!!).

Roger, I'm a Kroil fan also. Treating parts of Sheldon with Kroil now. 8ntsane: SO wish previous owner had protected the ways. Will do as you suggest (so simple/obvious, but only after someone points it out!!!). havnfun: Sheldonlathes yahoo group looks like a great resource, thanks. Some good advice there on chuck removal.

Cheers, cf

 

[Chuck Forman]

Chuck removal went fine. Turns out it was not stuck at all. After a fair number of hours of cleaning, The 10 inch circa 1943 Sheldon is looking like a great old lathe. Gears and ways are in great shape. Spindle has essentially zero run out with no load (measured with a Dial indicator, turning the spindle by hand). When I put a 4 MT bit in the spindle (this guy has the smaller 4 MT spindle, not the larger 5 MT on the Sheldon XL model and larger Sheldons) and pull hard horizontal and vertical I get just under +/- .001 on the dial indicator. I am a Very Happy Camper with this amount of spindle wear on this old boy!

Tomorrow I will be starting on a test of bed way / carriage wear. Already shopping for a Quick Change Tool Post and thinking about collets!!!

Thanks all for the replies.