Lifting heavy chucks is beyond me

[malmac]

I had a small job to do today which required me to change over to the four jaw chuck.
It is beyond me to lift either of the chucks.
Some time back I constructed a small lifting mechanism.
It has made changing the chucks quite reasonable.

What was the small job.
I had a custom tray built for my ute/truck and it has a rack for the tyres to be fitted at the back.
The method they use to retain the alloy wheels was not to my taste.
So i sourced some suitable black plastic material and turned up custom spacers which aligns the
the under sized steel retainer within the cast alloy rim.

Now what is on my to do list for tomorrow?

I must have a look.

Mal

 

[wrmiller]

Yea, been thinking about this. It seems like my 8" PBA gets heavier every time I change it out. It's getting hard for me to lift and hold with one hand while I'm trying to crank on the cams. I guess I'm going to have to look into making a cradle for this thing.

Nice work!

 

[benmychree]

Two cures for heavy chucks; first, the Sky Hook, fits onto the tool post, rated 500 Lbs, I think. Second, I had a barn door track (the U shaped kind) with the rollers, hung it up to the ceiling joists, fastened a HF electric winch to it, stretched a heavy wire alongside to suspend the cord with key rings. I keep the chucks in a cradle on the floor at the headstock end of the lathe, also made cradles for them to make changing chucks easier with the screw on spindle, and have drilled and tapped chucks at their balance points to use eye bolts for lifting

 

[middle.road]

There are 'To-Do' projects, then there's 'Gotta-Do' projects. This one is falling into the latter category.

 

[benmychree]

I did the same thing over my milling machine for such as vises and dividing head, and I made dovetail blocks for the Sky Hook for other machine tables.

 

[NCjeeper]

Gantry crane is on the list of to do projects for me.

 

[benmychree]

I wish my building would accomodate a gantry crane, but it is too full of machinery, I had one in my shop downtown, and a 360 degree jib hoist that was quite handy, and all built from materials that were given to me.

 

[Tim9]

Best and smartest thing I did was run a low cost Unistrut trolley in my shop. The struts and trolleys are cheap. Just a couple of days work to hang the struts. Sorry for the so-so pics

 

[benmychree]

Nice job!

 

[NC Rick]

Best and smartest thing I did was run a low cost Unistrut trolley in my shop. The struts and trolleys are cheap. Just a couple of days work to hang the struts. Sorry for the so-so pics

+1 on the Uni-strut trolly system. I had a single one for the last 8 years but added a secondary one for my 12" 4 jaw which weighs more than I can lift without getting hurt these days. The twin track only needs a little deflection to pass the other chuck and the slight off centerline isn't a problem with the D1-6 type mount. I doubt it would be an issue this threaded mounts either. For the second chuck 'hook" I added a sliding bushing for easy turning without loosening. I was worried about it being time consuming to re-grab the hook with the 4 jaw but it has been great! I can store both chucks at the back of the lathe hanging while using the collet. The chucks line up directly with no lifting. The double roller unistrut trolleys are rated to 500 lbs each.

im not sure why my photos keep turning sideways. Sorry about that!