My Accessory Micro 3-Jaw Chucks

darkzero

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Had a couple of 2.5"/63mm 3-jaw chucks. One of them I made a 1" arbor for & used it with my old mini lathe cause my old 6-jaw chuck could not grip material smaller than 3/8" (my current one can't either). The 6-jaw was my primary chuck & was a PITA to swap chucks. The second one I got later on & mounted it on a revolving center to use with my current lathe.
20200221_204456.jpg


They were just cheap chucks that had the typical .003" run out. Plan was to regrind the jaws someday. But that was yrs ago & never happened. Old ones were threaded mount. I came across these 3"/80mm front mount chucks with plain backs.
20200221_224145.jpg20200221_224207.jpg


I have plenty of chucks now & a cam lock spindle so swapping chucks is easy. No need for the micro chuck mounted on the straight arbor anymore but I had a new idea for it. I got these plain back ones so I could make them "Tap-Tru" (undersize register on the backplates) to dial out runout. Made new arbors & backplates.

Arbors are made out of 4140HT & the backplates are just CR1018. Didn't actually need 2 arbors since one will be going on a revolving center but the second arbor made it easier for me to hold to make the second backplate. Backplate for the straight arbor I made 13/16"-16 thread to have room for a .635" clearance hole in the arbor to fit 5/8" stock (matches the chuck through hole). Backplate for the revolving center is 3/4"-16.
20200221_205216.jpg20200221_204152.jpg20200221_205556.jpg


My new idea for the straight arbor chuck will be to use it with my ER-40 collet blocks anytime I want to hold something that is larger than 1" but don't feel like setting up the super spacer.
20200221_210409.jpg


The revolving one will be used just like my old one in the tailstock except now I can dial out the runout. Great for holding work on the outside when a center can't be drilled to use with a live center. Or hold a tube that has a seam weld inside that wouldn't work well with a bull center unless you grind down the seam weld (could have used it for this very same reason a few months ago). Looks funny I know but hey it works fine for light duty. The revolving center is a MT2 so I have to use a MT3 sleeve which is adding to the stickout.
20200221_210132.jpg


These micro chucks are pretty cool cause the jaws are reversible, no additional set of jaws for OD needed. I wonder why they don't make the scroll teeth on the jaws like this for bigger chucks, not as strong I guess? I suppose the straight arbor one would come in handy for use in the collet chuck if I didn't feel like swapping the collet chuck out. But I don't use my collet chuck much anyway.
20200221_223755.jpg


And finally, storing them in telescoping tubes in one of the cabinets for my lathe stand. I still need to fully disassemble the chucks to clean & deburr them though.
20200221_223714.jpg


Thanks for looking! waving.gif



Some WIP pics :big grin:

20200218_160556.jpg20200218_163346.jpg20200219_151839.jpg20200219_160306.jpg20200220_153637.jpg20200220_181817.jpg20200220_185251.jpg20200220_185338.jpg20200220_185517.jpg20200221_135558.jpg20200221_174645.jpg20200221_191604.jpg20200221_195520.jpg20200221_184651.jpg
 
The live 3 jaws in the tailstock is a great tool when having to face pipes . No need for steady rests . I have one for a larger lathe of course , but no longer have the lathe . :rolleyes: If I ever get the Clausing up and running , it'll be my first G-job . :encourage:
 
Really nice work Will!



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Had a couple of 2.5"/63mm 3-jaw chucks. One of them I made a 1" arbor for & used it with my old mini lathe cause my old 6-jaw chuck could not grip material smaller than 3/8" (my current one can't either). The 6-jaw was my primary chuck & was a PITA to swap chucks. The second one I got later on & mounted it on a revolving center to use with my current lathe.
View attachment 314364


They were just cheap chucks that had the typical .003" run out. Plan was to regrind the jaws someday. But that was yrs ago & never happened. Old ones were threaded mount. I came across these 3"/80mm front mount chucks with plain backs.
View attachment 314366View attachment 314367


I have plenty of chucks now & a cam lock spindle so swapping chucks is easy. No need for the micro chuck mounted on the straight arbor anymore but I had a new idea for it. I got these plain back ones so I could make them "Tap-Tru" (undersize register on the backplates) to dial out runout. Made new arbors & backplates.

Arbors are made out of 4140HT & the backplates are just CR1018. Didn't actually need 2 arbors since one will be going on a revolving center but the second arbor made it easier for me to hold to make the second backplate. Backplate for the straight arbor I made 13/16"-16 thread to have room for a .635" clearance hole in the arbor to fit 5/8" stock (matches the chuck through hole). Backplate for the revolving center is 3/4"-16.



My new idea for the straight arbor chuck will be to use it with my ER-40 collet blocks anytime I want to hold something that is larger than 1" but don't feel like setting up the super spacer.



The revolving one will be used just like my old one in the tailstock except now I can dial out the runout. Great for holding work on the outside when a center can't be drilled to use with a live center. Or hold a tube that has a seam weld inside that wouldn't work well with a bull center unless you grind down the seam weld (could have used it for this very same reason a few months ago). Looks funny I know but hey it works fine for light duty. The revolving center is a MT2 so I have to use a MT3 sleeve which is adding to the stickout.



These micro chucks are pretty cool cause the jaws are reversible, no additional set of jaws for OD needed. I wonder why they don't make the scroll teeth on the jaws like this for bigger chucks, not as strong I guess? I suppose the straight arbor one would come in handy for use in the collet chuck if I didn't feel like swapping the collet chuck out. But I don't use my collet chuck much anyway.



And finally, storing them in telescoping tubes in one of the cabinets for my lathe stand. I still need to fully disassemble the chucks to clean & deburr them though.



Thanks for looking! View attachment 314375



Some WIP pics :big grin:
So what are you doing with the old ones? :grin:
 
Haha. Was planning to sell them on ebay. Didn't think anyone here would be insterested but I rather not sell on ebay. :)
 
Excellent work DZ!
I feel a shameless copy of the new found ideas very soon !
 
Last edited:
Thanks Mike! That's one of the reasons why I share these things. :encourage:
 
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