New Chuck for my mini-lathe (in the land of rookies)

R

rongee

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To start, I just finished reading a thread from another fella who was shopping for a used lathe in something like the 14x50 size range, and I'm sitting here, a rookie, with my 7x16 and feeling so puny. Anyway, that aside.... :)

So, I have a Little Machine Shop 5100 7x16 mini-lathe (I have a similarly sized mill from them as well). It comes standard with a 4" 3-jaw chuck, and I want to get myself a 4-jaw chuck with independent jaws because, you know, once I figured out what they were, I had to have one. The User Guide for the lathe says that the 4" chucks work well, but that the lathe will support a 5" chuck as well. So, I'm wondering if there's some reason NOT to get the 5" chuck. Is it likely to stress the lathe somehow?

Other info. I was a woodworker for a long time, and so I've developed the attitude that my power tools all want to kill me, and so I treat them with the respect they deserve. I made the move to metal as something of a new hobby when I retired (I just turned 70 a couple of weeks ago). Right now, my plans for metalworking seem to be coalescing around building little steam engines, although I saw a set of youtube videos about building an orrery (a solar system model), which is mostly a project involving a lot of gear cutting. so, I'm not thinking about making big things, really. I might try to convert what I have to CNC at some point. I'm not sure why, just seems like a fun thing to do. The steam engine kit I'm starting to work on is a P.M. Research 1BI Steam Drilling Engine. The videos I've seen about working on it would seem to indicate that having a 4 jaw chuck and a faceplate would be helpful things to have. And heck, what's the sense of doing a project if you can't buy more tools to work on it, right?

Anyway, any thoughts you might have on all this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Ron
 
We all love to spend other people's money! You might look at how much center distance that the larger chuck takes up.
 
Many lathes that size have the "backing plate" built onto the spindle and mounting the chuck with screws. If that is indeed the case for your machine, the mounting holes are pre-set for the 4" chuck. It would be a "bolt up" installation. If, on the otherhand, you have a standard mount on the spindle, a backing plate would be required, in addition to the chuck.

I personally opted for the 4" chuck, the 4 jaw because I have a larger machine to fall back on for large work. There is also the matter of the jaws of a larger chuck hanging out too far when extended for large work. I won't advise either one, that's a call you need to make. The only opinion I can make would be that the 4" chuck is the design limit for such a small lathe. A larger chuck may well fit, or it may be restricted when open wide. Check before buying. . .

.
 
Ahh, you know, the 5" would need an "adapter" that's going to take up some space, and every little bit is precious on that lathe. The 4" is just a straight replacement for the 3-jaw, with nothing else needed.

I think it's going to be the 4".

Haha, yep, there's a topic or two where I have enough in my head to help people spend their money. Who knows, maybe one day I'll know enough here to help folks do the same. :)

Thanks, fellas, you have a good evening.
 
rongee said:
To start, I just finished reading a thread from another fella who was shopping for a used lathe in something like the 14x50 size range, and I'm sitting here, a rookie, with my 7x16 and feeling so puny. Anyway, that aside.... :)

So, I have a Little Machine Shop 5100 7x16 mini-lathe (I have a similarly sized mill from them as well). It comes standard with a 4" 3-jaw chuck, and I want to get myself a 4-jaw chuck with independent jaws because, you know, once I figured out what they were, I had to have one. The User Guide for the lathe says that the 4" chucks work well, but that the lathe will support a 5" chuck as well. So, I'm wondering if there's some reason NOT to get the 5" chuck. Is it likely to stress the lathe somehow?

Other info. I was a woodworker for a long time, and so I've developed the attitude that my power tools all want to kill me, and so I treat them with the respect they deserve. I made the move to metal as something of a new hobby when I retired (I just turned 70 a couple of weeks ago). Right now, my plans for metalworking seem to be coalescing around building little steam engines, although I saw a set of youtube videos about building an orrery (a solar system model), which is mostly a project involving a lot of gear cutting. so, I'm not thinking about making big things, really. I might try to convert what I have to CNC at some point. I'm not sure why, just seems like a fun thing to do. The steam engine kit I'm starting to work on is a P.M. Research 1BI Steam Drilling Engine. The videos I've seen about working on it would seem to indicate that having a 4 jaw chuck and a faceplate would be helpful things to have. And heck, what's the sense of doing a project if you can't buy more tools to work on it, right?

Anyway, any thoughts you might have on all this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Ron
Click to expand...
The 5" chuck is huge, heavy and requires a lot of torque to turn. I sold one to one of our members that had never been used because my 7x16 would not turn it. It was purchased from LMS and was a quality chuck.

Roy
 
royesses said:
The 5" chuck is huge, heavy and requires a lot of torque to turn. I sold one to one of our members that had never been used because my 7x16 would not turn it. It was purchased from LMS and was a quality chuck.

Roy
Click to expand...
Thanks, Roy. Another thing that was mentioned to me was that it would put some extra stress on the bearings. Maybe not a lot, but why put extra wear and tear on it, when I'm probably punishing it enough by not always knowing what I'm doing? :)

I've been real happy with LMS, overall.
 
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