OK. it happen again !! for those of you that don't know; this happen to me last year. South Bend heavy 10. bison chuck. i had finally gotten the chuck off (last fall ) i think. since then i took it off once to use a collet. no problem getting it off then. need to get it off again. it won't budge!! i WILL get it off sooner or later. the question that i have at this time is. is there anything that i can do to prevent this from happening again. yes the threads are clean; and, no i didn't "jam " it on. would grease help. how about a dry spray lube. any suggestions?? until last falls stuck issue there has never been a problem. have had it off only around 8-10 times, but , never a problem. whenever i do get it off i think i'll make it a weekly ritual to loosen it. i now fear my heavy 10.
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stuck chuck AGAIN !!!!!
- Thread starter porthos
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Light oiling is usually all you need to do- is it a cast iron backplate?
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36" swing? That's a good-sized lathe
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We also had one in the same shop that swung 86" and was 31 ft between centers; later at the same location they had a lathe that swung 16 ft and was over 100 ft between centers with two carriages and power tailstock mover and feed; that is big ------
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I'd use some oil when mounting , not much but I'd wipe it in with my hand . That or neverseize and then it won't stick. I usually have to use an adj wrench to take mine off with a wack on the wrench with a lead hammer. I don't know if maybe a large thin brass washer on the spindle would help.
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OMG John you could take a stroll from one end to the other on your lunch break
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You want to use cast iron.
You probably have a 5 or 6 inch chuck on your 10L so you aren't doing any really heavy turning nor do you have a 50# chuck mounted on the lathe. Assuming the threads on your spindle and chuck aren't damaged, the only way it will get really stuck doing normal use is if you have a chip in the thread. I know you said it's clean. Obviously, it's very easy to clean the spindle threads with a rag and you should do it every time, but the chuck threads are much harder to get perfectly clean, especially after boring when a ton of chips are jammed in the chuck.
With air and a brush you can get almost all of it, but after a good cleaning I recommend chasing the threads with a spring thread cleaner. It's something you can easily make, although I really had to dig to find a picture of one on the net.
With my lathe I'm always swapping the chuck on and off, but only had it stuck one time when I was in a hurry and didn't clean properly after boring. I used a heavy-duty strap wrench to hold the spindle from turning and a hex bar in the chuck to turn the chuck off with a box end wrench. Afterwards I found and removed a tiny chip embedded in the chuck threads. That's all it took to get it stuck.
On these small lathes you don't need to use such, uh, aggressive techniques for chuck removal. You want to be careful as the back gears are cast iron and don't appreciate shock. Mr Pete has some good ones here:
Slapping it on...turning until it stops then go back about 1/4 turn then spin it fast to seat usually lands it good and easy to remove.
Just turning it snug allows cutting forces to work on the interface and it could get wonky if it is not seated well.
They can get seated firm by design...Place machine in lowest belted speed (not in back gear) and place chuck key in directly upward first then give it a tug.
If that does not work place it straight forward and apply some pressure and tap it with large mallet.
These are from old manuals except many advise using back gear and not shifting front so gears are locked but that often results in broken teeth.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk
Just turning it snug allows cutting forces to work on the interface and it could get wonky if it is not seated well.
They can get seated firm by design...Place machine in lowest belted speed (not in back gear) and place chuck key in directly upward first then give it a tug.
If that does not work place it straight forward and apply some pressure and tap it with large mallet.
These are from old manuals except many advise using back gear and not shifting front so gears are locked but that often results in broken teeth.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk