A hand held drill chuck that doesn't s*%k

WobblyHand

WobblyHand

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While making some holes in the bottom of my base of my mill stand, I had the drill bit slip in the chuck of my trusty old Craftsman battery powered drill. This is the second time this has happened, and it's kind of irritating. Hold that, more like infuriating. The chuck tore a gouge in the shank of the bit. The keyless chuck is a little too small for me to grab and tighten well. Not only is there a gouge, but some of the metal is more like a burr that is at a diameter greater than the shank.

Are there replacement chucks that don't slip as much, or at least don't tear up a drill shank? Or should I just go looking for a replacement hand held drill? I'd be irritated to buy a new drill, as this year I bought a nice Lithium 5AH battery pack for it. I've used the drill a lot, and amazingly I'm still on the first charge. Just recently went from 4 leds on to 3.5 leds on.

Is this really a chuck problem, or a drill bit problem?

Can one save the drill bits? Put them in a 4J on a lathe and turn down the burr? Something else?
 
Rohm replacement drill chucks are usually good for hand held drills. Not too long ago I finally replaced the chuck on my Milwaukee drill. But my model was known to have issues with the chuck. Mine would only act up sometimes unlike others but I finally got fed up with it. I just went with a newer MW chuck cause I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money. Feels like a completely different drill now.

I've had cordless drills of various brands chew up drill bits. For me it tend to only happen with larger drill bits, like 3/8" to 1/2" & depends on what I'm drilling. No need to use a lathe to turn down the burrs. I just stone or file down the burrs. These days I have a dedicated drill bit set (beater set) for use with my cordless drills for that very reason. And the set I use now has 3 flat shanks on them so no more worrying about chewing up the shanks.
 
Both my 25/64 and 1/2 drill bits have shank scars now. It happens when the bit grabs, at breakthrough on "thin" metal. (1/8")

I have a Rohm keyless on my lathe, due to @mikey 's advice. It's pretty nice, but a little long.

This drill being a Craftsman, is pretty old, but it keeps on going. No lights, just a couple of bubble levels. The after market lithium battery pack, has proven to be quite nice. I'll have to try to look up what kind of taper it has.

Well - the chuck is non-standard. The part is NLA from searspartsdirect. The chuck appears to be screwed into the shaft. Drat. Guess this abomination of mine is getting retired to wood and hex shank bits. What a disappointment, especially after sinking money into a new battery and charger.

Anyone know of a good quality li-on drill?
 
Rohm chucks for machine tools & hand held drills are completely different. Keyless chucks for handheld drills (these days) have a ratcheting lock mechanism built into them.

Just because Craftsman no longer offers a replacement chuck doesn't mean much. Hand held drill chucks are almost always threaded mount. The chuck itself is usually 1/2"-20 RH thread & there is usually a locking screw that is a LH thread. Open the jaws & peak down inside. Newer Milwaukee drills have 9/16" threaded chucks now, not sure if other brands will follow.

A Rohm keyless chuck for hand held drills is like $40 but there are other cheaper alternatives. If you want to replace your chuck, it's not hard. Remove the LH locking screw. Then chuck up a big hex key to unscrew the chuck from the spindle (RH). Verify thread size before ordering.
 
Saw the screw in the chuck. Need to put the chuck in a vise to get the screw out. Otherwise, the chuck twists in my hand while trying to unscrew the screw. The chuck ergonomics are such that I can't grab the smooth metal part firmly enough. Even tried some work gloves to help with grip - no go. I'll try putting it in a vise (with some rubber pads) tomorrow. It would be good to save this.
 
My Milwaukee keyless, cordless locks on the bit all the time now. I think it is happening from the bit getting caught on the break through. You didn't hear it from me, but a pipe wrench on the chuck is how a friend get's it unstuck....
 
Also, keep in mind that a brand new cordless drill may not guarantee not boogering up drill bit shanks. May be better but they'll most likely also have a lot more power than your Craftsman. Even my old Dewalt Nicad drill could "snap your wrist" so to speak if it grabbed & don't have a good grip. My current MW is way more powerful.

Really you should be using step drills/uni bits for drilling sheet/thin metal. Will leave a much cleaner hole & less likely to grab.

IMO your Craftsman is worth saving, especially since you just bought a new battery for it. Me, if it had already gave me money's worth I'd get a new one. Models these days from any of the common name brands will be much better. Even the less expensive brands like Ryobi or Ridgid.

I suspect if you do get a new one you may never use your old one anymore. I still have my old Dewalt XRP. I bought a battery adapter so I could use my MW batteries in it. But still it never gets used cause I'd rather use my MW.
 
darkzero said:
Rohm chucks for machine tools & hand held drills are completely different. Keyless chucks for handheld drills (these days) have a ratcheting lock mechanism built into them.

Just because Craftsman no longer offers a replacement chuck doesn't mean much. Hand held drill chucks are almost always threaded mount. The chuck itself is usually 1/2"-20 RH thread & there is usually a locking screw that is a LH thread. Open the jaws & peak down inside. Newer Milwaukee drills have 9/16" threaded chucks now, not sure if other brands will follow.

A Rohm keyless chuck for hand held drills is like $40 but there are other cheaper alternatives. If you want to replace your chuck, it's not hard. Remove the LH locking screw. Then chuck up a big hex key to unscrew the chuck from the spindle (RH). Verify thread size before ordering.
Click to expand...
Went to the Rohm website and saw what they had. Didn't see much in the way of $40 chucks. Most seemed more than $80.
 
WobblyHand said:
Went to the Rohm website and saw what they had. Didn't see much in the way of $40 chucks. Most seemed more than $80.
Click to expand...

Check Amazon or Ebay. Last I saw 1/2"-20 Rohm was $44 shipped.
 
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