- Joined
- Mar 2, 2018
- Messages
- 232
The stock 3-jaw chuck on my Grizzly g0602 started to feel like maybe I had over-torqued something on a recent job. I didn't add any force multipliers to the supplied factory chuck key, but I was really cranking down on it. I decided to take the chuck off, take it apart, and have a look. Maybe I got some chips in there that were jamming things up. Maybe I had bent something. Maybe something had worn out.
I took the chuck apart, swished the parts in mineral spirits, and blew everything off. I didn't really find the telltale chip. I found a tiny burr on the scroll that was probably there from the factory, and I stoned it off with a 1000 grit stone. Really, what I did in the way of cleaning and deburring was trivial, and it seemed to be in fine shape. There was no smoking gun.
Upon reassembly, using a liberal amount of the Grizzly-recommended ISO 32 lubricant, I found that the mechanical action of the moving parts just felt really, really dry. After scratching my head a minute, I reflected on the fact that the bevel gear side of the mechanism didn't have any traces of contamination when I disassembled it, and it seemed to be reasonably well sealed against chip infiltration. With that being the case, why not use grease?
So use grease I did. I put a good dollop of synthetic NLGI #2 on all three bevel gears, and ran it around a few times before installing the cover. I reinstalled the jaws, put the chuck back on the lathe, and the action of the mechanism is buttery smooth and feels 100% better. Maybe even 100.0015% better.
Now I'm sitting here wondering how badly I screwed the pooch on this one. I messed up, didn't I? Grease will trap and hold gritty crapola that makes its way past what amounts to a dust cover. It's not really sealed at all. There are no O-rings or bearings. It's a snug-fitting dust cover, but it's just a dust cover. My chuck is slowly going to wear away to oblivion, because I broke a cardinal rule and used grease on a scroll chuck.
Or maybe not? Maybe it's no big deal? Maybe the grease will make the chuck wear out in 10 years instead of 20?
I decided to do a little digging, and I found such a mixed bag of inconsistent and conflicting information that I thought it might be worth opening a new discussion. Sure, it's been discussed before, but everything has been discussed before. We like to talk, right? I sure do. Just look at me ramble here. So let's yap a bit!
Tell me I'm an idiot. Tell me I have to sacrifice my first born child's toenail trimmings to the Machine Gods to serve my penance. Or tell me it will probably be fine. I really don't know. I'm a truck driver with a liberal arts degree who only ended up with a hobby machine shop through a random series of drunken credit card purchases.
PS - I think the real problem is questionable machining on the cheap Chinese chuck. I've been on a campaign lately of just enduring the pain to buy the real stuff, and I have an Alloris AXA tool post and a Kurt DX4 mill vise now. The tool post isn't really any better than the Chinese one, but the mechanism for holding it in place is a gargantuan improvement. The mill vise is 753 quadrillion times better, and if I wake up in my next life as a woman, I vow to have Kurt's baby. Maybe I should buy a real 3-jaw chuck? A Bison? What will that set me back? $210,000? Can I borrow $210,000 from you? I'll pay you back tomorrow, I promise!
I took the chuck apart, swished the parts in mineral spirits, and blew everything off. I didn't really find the telltale chip. I found a tiny burr on the scroll that was probably there from the factory, and I stoned it off with a 1000 grit stone. Really, what I did in the way of cleaning and deburring was trivial, and it seemed to be in fine shape. There was no smoking gun.
Upon reassembly, using a liberal amount of the Grizzly-recommended ISO 32 lubricant, I found that the mechanical action of the moving parts just felt really, really dry. After scratching my head a minute, I reflected on the fact that the bevel gear side of the mechanism didn't have any traces of contamination when I disassembled it, and it seemed to be reasonably well sealed against chip infiltration. With that being the case, why not use grease?
So use grease I did. I put a good dollop of synthetic NLGI #2 on all three bevel gears, and ran it around a few times before installing the cover. I reinstalled the jaws, put the chuck back on the lathe, and the action of the mechanism is buttery smooth and feels 100% better. Maybe even 100.0015% better.
Now I'm sitting here wondering how badly I screwed the pooch on this one. I messed up, didn't I? Grease will trap and hold gritty crapola that makes its way past what amounts to a dust cover. It's not really sealed at all. There are no O-rings or bearings. It's a snug-fitting dust cover, but it's just a dust cover. My chuck is slowly going to wear away to oblivion, because I broke a cardinal rule and used grease on a scroll chuck.
Or maybe not? Maybe it's no big deal? Maybe the grease will make the chuck wear out in 10 years instead of 20?
I decided to do a little digging, and I found such a mixed bag of inconsistent and conflicting information that I thought it might be worth opening a new discussion. Sure, it's been discussed before, but everything has been discussed before. We like to talk, right? I sure do. Just look at me ramble here. So let's yap a bit!
Tell me I'm an idiot. Tell me I have to sacrifice my first born child's toenail trimmings to the Machine Gods to serve my penance. Or tell me it will probably be fine. I really don't know. I'm a truck driver with a liberal arts degree who only ended up with a hobby machine shop through a random series of drunken credit card purchases.
PS - I think the real problem is questionable machining on the cheap Chinese chuck. I've been on a campaign lately of just enduring the pain to buy the real stuff, and I have an Alloris AXA tool post and a Kurt DX4 mill vise now. The tool post isn't really any better than the Chinese one, but the mechanism for holding it in place is a gargantuan improvement. The mill vise is 753 quadrillion times better, and if I wake up in my next life as a woman, I vow to have Kurt's baby. Maybe I should buy a real 3-jaw chuck? A Bison? What will that set me back? $210,000? Can I borrow $210,000 from you? I'll pay you back tomorrow, I promise!
