Suggestions to remove a stuck chuck on a Jet lathe

[HMF]

1- How about using a piece of wood, maybe a 2x4, shoved into the head and jamming the back-gear against the housing?

2- Wedge a piece of hardwood between the bull gear on the spindle and the housing to keep it from turning. The headstock casting is more than strong enough to take this stress. Make a wrench to fit over the chuck jaws as suggested with a long lever arm

3- Remove the outside jaws, put in one inside jaw, completely engaged to the periphery of the chuck. Cut a piece of hardwood long enough to fit between the single jaw when it's perpendicular(+/-) to the rear of the bed and the bed. Select the lowest speed (without back gears, obviously) in reverse. Put a rod in the tailstock that will go into the bore of the spindle to keep the chuck from dropping onto the bed or cross slide. Turn on the lathe in reverse and slip the hardwood up against the face of the chuck resting on the rear bedway. Your chuck will almost immediatly become unstuck and unthread itself. Use a device to hold and position the wood so as to prevent simultaneous removal of hand/arm members.

Any others?

Best,

Nelson

 

[Tony Wells]

Chuck a piece of hex stock as large as possible. Using a 24" adjustable open end wrench (Crescent brand of available ), or a properly sized socket and breaker bar, unscrew the chuck.

I'm not crazy about wrenching on the jaws directly, nor slamming a jaw into a piece of wood jammed under the chuck. With even force, the stress on the back gears is acceptable.

 

[mirage100]

The way I got mine off was a piece of wood between bed and chuck to keep chuck from turning . Take air hammer a piece of brass put brass on chuck collar and let it rip .Came right off.

 

[pjf134]

Double strap wrenches in opposite direction, one on chuck and one on spindle or pulley. If that don't work chuck a piece of scrap and run slow reverse with cutter taking a fairly deep cut (dull cutter) and put a piece of wood on bed to catch chuck if you are to slow.This will work as long as someone did not pin backplate to spindle or adapter. Use wood on bed when removing chuck, less dings that way. I did see a video of a guy holding on to a chuck key then stsrted lathe in slowest setting, it flipped him over the lathe before someone shut it down, his foot got pined under the chuck while he was hanging off the lathe (ouch).
Good luck,
Paul

 

[Tony Wells]

That video is "Lathe vs Idiot" on youtube. Stupid kids playing around.

 

[pjf134]

Tony,
That's right, just thought I would point that out just in case someone would try it. A long time ago we had a shop made tool that clamped around the spindle end with a long handle and would wedge a 4x4 under the chuck jaws, then pull on handle slow until chuck came loose, worked great and did not mess up jaws.
Paul

 

[EarlH]

The 6 jaw buck chuck that I have always sticks to the spindle. The other two chucks come off easy. Even when I just lightly "bumped" it up against the spindle, it was there to stay. That is due to a great fitting face plate. I have swapped face plates with other chucks and the issue stays with the plate. It is much like a good fitting rifle barrel, screw it on with your hand but you have to use a vise and a wrench to get it off. Last year, I made a wrench that clamped on the end of the spindle (Saw one in a post on PM) It was made from a 1.5 inch thick block of aluminium bolted to a 5 foot piece of heavy wall 2 inch square tubing. To use it, I had to remove the left side guards, degrease the spindle and wrench, apply rosin and tighten the bolts until I was concerned that I was going to break the spindle. Sometimes even then, the thing would slip. Blocking the chuck with a piece of 2 x 4 also made me uncomfortable. The best time that I ever made getting that chuck off was over an hour. Last week I needed to use the 4 jaw. As I was heading for the corner to get the wrench, I noticed several bags of shot that I had purchased to feed my shotgun habit. They were laying on the floor waiting to be put away. That triggered a memory of that PM post. One of the comments made was that the "wrench wasn't necessary, just hang a bucket of scrap on a piece of pipe clamped crosswise in the chuck and when you come in the shop the next day, the chuck will be loose." It was time to quit for the day anyway so what the heck, I'll give it a try. I found an old horseshoe stake (same corner of the shop as the Wrench) It is about 30 inches long with a nice, "mushroomed" end. I chucked it up sideways in the six jaw. That mushroom end will keep the bucket from slipping off the stake. I engaged the back gears without pulling the pin on the bull gear. I gave the chuck-spindle interface a shot of PB blaster then dumped my 5 gallon Home Depot Bucket that was being used as a swarf container and hung it on the stake. I put two bags of shot in the bucket (50 pounds) and the bucket was looking kind of "stressed." I was afraid to put another full bag of shot in the bucket so I found another bag that was about half full. I carefully set that bag in the bucket and went in the house for dinner. About 15 minutes later, I heard a dull "thump" from the garage. I assumed that the bucket had let go. After dinner, I went out for a look. Much to my amazement, the bucket was on the floor and the chuck was loose! A total of 5 minutes set up time! Perhaps in the future, it may take longer to work but it appears that steady pressure (about 120 foot pounds) of torque over some amount of time will get the chuck loose. I really need to apologize to that commenter on PM. I had dismissed his suggestion without trying it. I could have saved all the time that I spend making that spindle wrench. This is an "elegantly simple" solution. I wish that I had thought of it.

Earl