Fabricating a Drill Chuck Key

[cathead]

This morning started out with no real project in mind. One thing I wish I had was another drill chuck key. I measured on the old one and
looked at the angles involved and decided to try to make one. It took a couple hours but I think well worth the effort. For one thing
I got the satisfaction of making my own tool and as it turned out a better tool than came with the chuck. Drill chuck keys seem to have pretty
poor tolerances so thought I would make one with less slop. I used a 16DP 14.5 pressure angle involute cutter to make the teeth
although not the correct cutter gave me the shape I needed. The teeth on the chuck seem to be more straight cut that a regular gear tooth
so a little experimentation was in order. A spin index was used to cut the 12 teeth. Of course the tool was not complete without a decent handle
so I made a steel ball with my ball maker to adorn the handle. It is definitely an improved version after testing it out.


Here's a photo of both the old one and the new one.

 

[RandyM]

Well done!

 

[mattthemuppet2]

interesting! So, did it end up with less slop than the original?

 

[cathead]

interesting! So, did it end up with less slop than the original?

Yes, significantly.

 

[Silverbullet]

What steel did you use? Any hardening to be done. I've had to repair or replace numerous chucks. I did repairs on many brands of power tools .

 

[cathead]

What steel did you use? Any hardening to be done. I've had to repair or replace numerous chucks. I did repairs on many brands of power tools .

I used some stress proof and heated it red and quenched it in oil. It didn't seem to harden it much but works fine. Maybe I will
try another heat treatment or possibly make another out of an annealed truck axle shaft I have. I reefed on it quite heavily
and it seems fine.