Opinions Please - Royal Products Lathe Chuck Stops?

[coolidge]

Does anyone have experience with these Royal Products chuck stops? With the 25% off Enco sale going on I can get the set of 5 for $277 which is still pretty expensive but I could choke that down.

Machining soft jaws makes no sense as an alternative, not to machine 1 or 2 parts. I'm looking for something quick and easy for my PBA 8" chuck.

 

[TommyD]

I guess they'd be fine as long as your chuck doesn't run out.

Were I apprenticed at we bored soft jaws for our work. It was surprising how many times there was a bored dia. from a previous job that would hold another part of a similar dia. Our jaws were bored almost to the bottom and out to the ends so we always had a lot of different bored dias, almost like a staircase

We also always used the same chuck key hole, the one above the makers badge.

 

[Tony Wells]

My only question would be "For one or two parts, why do you need the stop anyway?" It's a nice item to have for repetitive work, or work that you have to remove and replace multiple times, but I myself don't see the need for a couple of parts. Or maybe I could just think of better uses for the money.

 

[joshua43214]

Dunno...
4" round aluminum is something like $7.00/inch.
Three holes, some band saw work, mill to height...
Tom over at Ox Tools uses some shop made ones in his videos that I think are twice the tool for no other reason than that his have adjustable feet.

 

[hman]

You might well get by with using rare earth magnets for spacers, as shown in the photos. They're not all exactly the same height [Royal are good to .001 or better, IIRC], but they're usually sold in large lots and you can measure them to find a set or two that match. And of course, you should be careful running at high speeds!

 

[oldboy1950]

could someone explain why and how these are used as for the life of me i can't figure out myself what this is for.
Dan

 

[TommyD]

From what I see....

The mags hold it to the chuckface only.
The thickness of the stop allows mat'l to rest on it for depth repeatability while
The 3 jaws clamp on the dia if the mat'l being machined.

 

[RJSakowski]

Tom Lipton of OxTool videos did on on his version the stop. His was adjustable in height so you could work on different thickness.

I made a similar version for my 5" chuck. Mine fits the jaws fairly closely so I didn't need the magnets.The threaded holes permit the height to be adjusted in the event you are working on a thin piece and need to get close. Mine is 1/4" thick and doing it over, I would make it 3/8" or 1/2" to increase the travel of the adjustment screws. I have a set of standoff screws made for different applications.

Bob

 

[TommyD]

Nice idea

 

[coolidge]

My only question would be "For one or two parts, why do you need the stop anyway?" It's a nice item to have for repetitive work, or work that you have to remove and replace multiple times, but I myself don't see the need for a couple of parts. Or maybe I could just think of better uses for the money.

Tony money is a non-issue for me its time that's in short supply due to my job. Then there's the damn bad hip which further limits my time at the machines. So I typically will buy vs build to save time. Its 2nd ops when I flip a part around to turn the other end after parting off where these would come in handy. I frequently make 2 to 4 of something I want to be the exact same length which I can hit with my DRO if I can consistently chuck them depth wise. But for 2 to 4 parts its not worth my time machining soft jaws, swapping jaws and doing the setup. If that makes sense.