Drill Press Chuck questions...........

[Olddaddy]

I have an older Craftsman 17" drill press and the chuck is so hard to tighten or loosen that I don't know what to do except replace it. Any ideas on what made it tighten up? Have had any damage to it or struck it or anything, sprayed oil into the top thinking it would seep down, but no dice. I have two other chucks, but one has a Morse #3 and the press is Morse #2. Does that taper shaft press out or is it threaded? The last chuck has a 1 1/2"-8 thread which makes sense, it came with my lathe. Can I get that thread on a Morse #2 taper shaft? I'd like to end up with one of these chucks being on the press and usable since the original is too tight to use.

 

[middle.road]

One thing to try with the old one is to soak it in mineral spirits for a couple of days and see if it loosens up then.
When I use mineral spirits I usually follow it up with a soak in ATF after I get it moving.
Also a picture of the spindle on the drill press would be helpful.

I have an older Craftsman 17" drill press and the chuck is so hard to tighten or loosen that I don't know what to do except replace it. Any ideas on what made it tighten up? Have had any damage to it or struck it or anything, sprayed oil into the top thinking it would seep down, but no dice. I have two other chucks, but one has a Morse #3 and the press is Morse #2. Does that taper shaft press out or is it threaded? The last chuck has a 1 1/2"-8 thread which makes sense, it came with my lathe. Can I get that thread on a Morse #2 taper shaft? I'd like to end up with one of these chucks being on the press and usable since the original is too tight to use.

 

[Olddaddy]

Soaking is a great idea! Why didn't I think of that? I'll get a pic of the old one, but it's just a Craftsman with #2 Morse taper.

 

[benmychree]

I use liquid wrench to loosen up chucks.

 

[Olddaddy]

I used Kroil, "the oil that creeps", but no dice.....still very hard to move either way. I am going to try soaking and see what happens.

 

[Shootymacshootface]

Just press the outside part with the teeth on it down over the body where the jaws come out, then clean everything up lightly lube with some bearing grease and press back together. It will work like new. A very satisfying project to do. There are a handful of utube vids to show you how.

 

[Illinoyance]

Check to see if the jaws are bent. I bought a used drill and the chuck would not open fully. Apparently a previous owner had chucked something near the tip of the jaws, then over tightened the chuck. That bent one of the jaws.

The second chuck has an internal Jacobs taper. A JT to Morse shank is available. On a smaller lathes the chuck would fit the 1 1/2-8 spindle thread. Using the JT to MT shank it could be used in the tailstock. As I recall the tailstock quill had to be smaller than the minor diameter of 1 1/2-8 threads. because the threaded portion of the chuck had to slide over the tailstock quill. Ti makes a poor headstock chuck because Jacobs chucks were not desgned to handle side loading. It was not a great chuck for the tailstock because it could not grip smaller drills.

 

[Nogoingback]

[QUOTE="Illinoyance, post: 723632, member:

The second chuck has an internal Jacobs taper. A JT to Morse shank is available. On a smaller lathes the chuck would fit the 1 1/2-8 spindle thread. Using the JT to MT shank it could be used in the tailstock. As I recall the tailstock quill had to be smaller than the minor diameter of 1 1/2-8 threads. because the threaded portion of the chuck had to slide over the tailstock quill. Ti makes a poor headstock chuck because Jacobs chucks were not desgned to handle side loading. It was not a great chuck for the tailstock because it could not grip smaller drills.
[/QUOTE]

I have two of the threaded Jacobs headstock chucks in different sizes that I use on my Logan and have had good results
with them. The TIR isn't great, but I use them when that isn't important. Due to the small diameter, they're quite nice to work around or when the compound needs to be clocked over close to the chuck.

 

[Illinoyance]

I liked the threaded Jacobs chuck in the olden days when all I had was a worn out Craftsman lathe. Later I acquired a South Bend 10K with a 6" Buck Adjust Tru chuck. I never used the Jacobs after that.

 

[Tozguy]

I'm with shooty, take it apart and see what the problem is. Even if you free it up by soaking there will be an unknown amount of crud left in the workings. I got a great deal of satisfaction from taking one of mine apart and got it working like new (or better) again.