L-1 Chuck

[wired]

Ive got an old L1 chuck'ed Hendey lathe. The 4 jaw is worn out. Like really worn out. I want to replace it . I have a 3 jaw Bison that works great but I need an adjustable 4 jaw for barrel threading work which I dont do often but do do occasionaly. I was looking at a Bison 4 jaw since they seem to be the only company that has them ready to go $1400 which stings . Unfortunately they are not available off the shelf. No one else besides Pratt makes an off the shelf unit and those are about double the cost. I dont know enough about chucks to know whats compatible if I want to buy a generic 4 jaw independent and match it up to a L-1 mounting adapter.

Any ideas?

 

[MrWhoopee]

You will likely have to get the chuck and backing plate separately. The hard part will probably be finding an L-1 backing plate. You might find it easier (more economical) to modify a face/drive plate to fit the chuck you get. They're not giving those away, either.

L-1 Dog Drive Face Plate Metal Lathe Backing Plate Clausing Leblond Pratt Etc | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for L-1 Dog Drive Face Plate Metal Lathe Backing Plate Clausing Leblond Pratt Etc at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Here's a blank adapter plate that turned up.

10" L1 Semi-finished adapter Plate for LATHE CHUCKS #ADP-10-L1SM-NEW | eBay

L1 Semi-finished threaded back plate for lathe chucks. Thread: L1 standard. Keyway slot finished by EDM wire cut.

www.ebay.com

I've been very happy with my Sanou (Chinese) 4-jaw, but it did require lapping the jaws to make them move more freely.

 

[mmcmdl]

As always ........................when it rains soup , I'm holding a friggin fork . I got some L0 stuff down here .

 

[wired]

Well I bit the bullet and ordered up a kalamazoo chuck. Ouch. That hurt.

 

[ErichKeane]

As you've discovered, L1 chucks are basically non-existent, and getting backing plates is a bit of a PITA. New stuff is non-existent, and used stuff is sometimes suspicious. I've found reasonably good luck getting backing plates on ebay, but they end up being ~$200(as of a few years ago!).

One nice thing is that as long as you get a plain backing plate with enough 'meat' on it to cut anything resembling a register, you don't have to be that accurate of a machinist for a 4 jaw independent chuck. So

There IS a guy in the Portland Oregon area that seems to have collected a bunch of old lathe parts (https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/tls/d/portland-lathe-chuck-mounting-plates/7473734796.html) and sometimes advertises L1 chucks, so you might have good luck prodding him!

 

[ErichKeane]

Now that I post that, I see that ebay has actually reasonable prices on backing plates! For an 8", $120 is a steal: https://www.ebay.com/itm/313198189164

And $150 for a 10" is darn cheap too: https://www.ebay.com/itm/313528194277

Looking into my purchase history, it appears I bought at least one from that guy, which I believe I was happy with (I only had 1 bad one, and I think it was a 'gator' brand).