I'd buy them in a New York minute. I think they'd work well if you made a threaded 5/8" sleeve and fit them into something like one of these:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Tailstock-Turret-MT2/G9318
I have one and also a flat, capstan I guess, version. A smaller drill chuck would work better than a larger one in these. True it would lack rigidity but it would probably work OK for center drills, pilot holes, etc.
I thought about getting one of those before, but put it off. I think it could be handy and will have to look into it again.
I think I'm going to go back up there tomorrow and get at least one of the chucks. Probably the two keyed chucks. I don't think the keyless chuck is of the quality of the more "industrial" type ones for lathe work, but I'll check it out again. It actually looks pretty similar to the one I have on my Milwaukee cordless drill that is about 20 years old. For $11.00, though, I can stash the other two if they don't work out for lathe work. You can't find $11.00 USA made chucks around anymore. Even the China ones are more than that.