- Joined
- Dec 8, 2015
- Messages
- 32
Greetings!
I recently picked up a two jaw chuck for my 13" Sheldon and I have a bit of an issue with it. I bought the chuck because I make tobacco pipes and I wanted something self centering to grip square blocks and lone behold, the chuck is 80 lbs. Holy christ. I didn't think it would weigh this much and briarwood turns best at high speeds. I mounted the chuck to my lathe (L-00) spindle and ran the machine at roughly 1500 rpm. It was immediately apparent that the chuck is out balance and will need work. I took the shop made jaws off and I'm still getting some noticeable vibrations. I've turned parts in excess of 50 lbs and never had this issue. In an effort to balance the chuck, Id like to kill two birds with one stone here. Id like to drill out a lot of the dead space (its 5" deep by 9" wide) because it's completely solid. This seems absolutely absurd given the mounting plate that came on it. And I know it's a stock back because the Cushman marks and serial numbers match. Has anyone ever drilled out a chuck to make it lighter and can someone chime in on this? Is this a bad idea? Im only going to use it to turn wood. Thanks!!
Drew
I recently picked up a two jaw chuck for my 13" Sheldon and I have a bit of an issue with it. I bought the chuck because I make tobacco pipes and I wanted something self centering to grip square blocks and lone behold, the chuck is 80 lbs. Holy christ. I didn't think it would weigh this much and briarwood turns best at high speeds. I mounted the chuck to my lathe (L-00) spindle and ran the machine at roughly 1500 rpm. It was immediately apparent that the chuck is out balance and will need work. I took the shop made jaws off and I'm still getting some noticeable vibrations. I've turned parts in excess of 50 lbs and never had this issue. In an effort to balance the chuck, Id like to kill two birds with one stone here. Id like to drill out a lot of the dead space (its 5" deep by 9" wide) because it's completely solid. This seems absolutely absurd given the mounting plate that came on it. And I know it's a stock back because the Cushman marks and serial numbers match. Has anyone ever drilled out a chuck to make it lighter and can someone chime in on this? Is this a bad idea? Im only going to use it to turn wood. Thanks!!
Drew