Guys I know this would be a great project but don’t have mill.I need a 7/16 chuck wrench but are they all the same?Looking on eBay they range 20,00-35.00 but they all look same.Are these wrenches heat theated at the working end or just soft steel?Can the tips be home heat treated if I should go with a 20.00 wrench?
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Chuck Wrench?
- Thread starter Kroll
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2012
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If I had the option I wouldn't heat treat.
While I would always attempt to be careful not to over tighten I would want it softer than the chuck.
You could likely rough one out with a bench grinder and a square it with a file.
Be sure to cool it frequently so as to not overheat the metal.
Daryl
MN
While I would always attempt to be careful not to over tighten I would want it softer than the chuck.
You could likely rough one out with a bench grinder and a square it with a file.
Be sure to cool it frequently so as to not overheat the metal.
Daryl
MN
4
4GSR
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Kroll,
I've bought a couple of those $20 chuck wrenches in the 1/2" size. Not bad, actually pretty nice. I don't care for the self ejection (idiot) device installed on them. For a small chuck 8" and smaller they will last a life time as long as you don't put a cheater pipe on it to tighten the jaws. (I hope nobody out there does this with their lathe chucks.)
In industry, I've seen guys get aggressive with chuck wrenches and snap off the squares off of the wrench! This was on big 3/4" square chuck wrenches, too.
I do agree that the squares or hexes are not heat treated beyond 36 HRC on any grade of allow steel used. For most of us, a piece of 1018-1026, 1144, 1213-1215 is fine and acceptable to use if you decide to make one. And the same for the handle, too.
Ken
EDIT:
There is a manufacture just north of you between Conroe and Willis that makes chuck wrenches and all sorts of jaws and other components for chucks. Their name is H & R Manufacturing. You generally have to buy their products thru a distributer like C W Rod or Rex Supply. Hang onto your seat, a 1/2 square chuck wrench will cost you around $75! But are made for larger chucks. I've bought a few from them too, thru a supplier there in Houston I deal with when I need stuff I don't get off of the internet.
I've bought a couple of those $20 chuck wrenches in the 1/2" size. Not bad, actually pretty nice. I don't care for the self ejection (idiot) device installed on them. For a small chuck 8" and smaller they will last a life time as long as you don't put a cheater pipe on it to tighten the jaws. (I hope nobody out there does this with their lathe chucks.)
In industry, I've seen guys get aggressive with chuck wrenches and snap off the squares off of the wrench! This was on big 3/4" square chuck wrenches, too.
I do agree that the squares or hexes are not heat treated beyond 36 HRC on any grade of allow steel used. For most of us, a piece of 1018-1026, 1144, 1213-1215 is fine and acceptable to use if you decide to make one. And the same for the handle, too.
Ken
EDIT:
There is a manufacture just north of you between Conroe and Willis that makes chuck wrenches and all sorts of jaws and other components for chucks. Their name is H & R Manufacturing. You generally have to buy their products thru a distributer like C W Rod or Rex Supply. Hang onto your seat, a 1/2 square chuck wrench will cost you around $75! But are made for larger chucks. I've bought a few from them too, thru a supplier there in Houston I deal with when I need stuff I don't get off of the internet.
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- Joined
- Apr 14, 2014
- Messages
- 3,132
I would recommend looking at a place like Shars for an inexpensive chuck wrench that will last. They have quite a number of different sizes and configurations, and they seem to work well.
http://www.shars.com/catalogsearch/...huck_category=Lathe+Chuck+Keys&q=Chucks+4+jaw
I have purchased several 1/4 thru 3/8 square drive ones to replace worn. lost, and damaged ones. These wrenches are "hardened and tempered" according to their website. I have made a few and bought a few that weren't tempered and hardened. In every case they either wore the corners off the square or twisted in a very short time.
To answer the question before it's asked, NO I do not over tighten or use cheater bars on chuck keys. I have about a dozen different chucks for multiple machines. Some were bought by my wife's grandfather in the 1930's and still have the original keys. Others came with a chuck new in the 1960's and 70's. They are also still in fine shape. All of those that came with the original equipment were tempered and hardened. They are the only ones that have stood the test of time.
As for the self ejection feature on the Shars wrenches, it's only a spring and a sleeve held in place by a roll pin. I had to remove that feature on a couple of the wrenches to get the square to extend far enough into the jaw screw. It might be a "safety feature" required these days, but it certainly makes using them more difficult. It takes a lot longer to open or close a 4 jaw chuck when you have to push the key into the screw and hold it in place rather than just twirl it with a couple fingers.
http://www.shars.com/catalogsearch/...huck_category=Lathe+Chuck+Keys&q=Chucks+4+jaw
I have purchased several 1/4 thru 3/8 square drive ones to replace worn. lost, and damaged ones. These wrenches are "hardened and tempered" according to their website. I have made a few and bought a few that weren't tempered and hardened. In every case they either wore the corners off the square or twisted in a very short time.
To answer the question before it's asked, NO I do not over tighten or use cheater bars on chuck keys. I have about a dozen different chucks for multiple machines. Some were bought by my wife's grandfather in the 1930's and still have the original keys. Others came with a chuck new in the 1960's and 70's. They are also still in fine shape. All of those that came with the original equipment were tempered and hardened. They are the only ones that have stood the test of time.
As for the self ejection feature on the Shars wrenches, it's only a spring and a sleeve held in place by a roll pin. I had to remove that feature on a couple of the wrenches to get the square to extend far enough into the jaw screw. It might be a "safety feature" required these days, but it certainly makes using them more difficult. It takes a lot longer to open or close a 4 jaw chuck when you have to push the key into the screw and hold it in place rather than just twirl it with a couple fingers.
Last edited:
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- Jul 14, 2017
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- 2,445
I've made couple of chuck wrenches and i don't own a mill, on the lathe i turn down to the out side size of the square, then grounded 4 flats on my bench grinder study by hand and slowly comes to size, as for the material i've used c45 and 4140, the c45 home heat treated seems to last better.
I made two chuck wrenches out of junk bolts that I found in the street. The flats were put on using blacksmith hammer and anvil techniques. Alec Steele on Youtube made some beautiful wrenches, but I was disappointed to see that he did not forge them. Instead, he used standard machining techniques. Blacksmiths did a lot of work with hammer and anvil followed by files or an old shaky lathe with carbon steel tools (slow, but not much material to remove).
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
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I have made several chuck wrenches over the years, and use 4140 heat treated stock, and they hold up fine. I would argue that there are times that the use of a cheater is necessary, such as when taper threading iron pipe with a die, and sometimes when using a die head in the lathe and the material tends to slip in smooth jawed chucks.