Most of my Jacobs are old USA built and I had to rebuild a few of them. They are all very serviceable now but some were pretty worn before I rebuilt them. I really haven’t put a gauge on them but that’s because I haven’t noticed any excessive runout. These are matched to various MT 2 and MT3 arbors for use in lathe tailstocks. I also have a couple of Jacobs #0 chucks with 1/2” arbors for drilling very small bits. I just chuck these in a 1/2 collet or another Jacobs set into a tailstock. I tend to leave various size bits so it’s quicker when I need to spot drill and then drill bigger holes. No fumbling with chuck keys most of the time.
Also have a couple of Albrecht 5/16” capacity chucks matched to 1/2” arbors. I do love Albrecht chucks but just can’t afford buy new Jacobs let alone a new Albrecht. Almost every chuck I have came from EBay. Some of the Albrechts needed new jaws which also were sourced off of EBa. If one is patient, it’s not too hard to source a rebuildable quality drill chuck and then patiently source a matched rebuild kit from EBay. They both show up all the time on EBay. I’m pretty sure that I have a total cost of @ 75.00 or less for each of my Albrechts. And now they are all as good as new. Even Albrechts can be had for a reasonable cost if the jaws suck. It just takes some time and investigation to get it all together.
I could never justify 300.00 to 400.00 for a new chuck. But now I must have 4 of them and they are perfect In my opinion.... other than cosmetic. Like maybe someone put a pair of pliers to the knurled housing.
Anyway.... that’s my rant. I just like to have a bunch of chucks and FWIW... I did buy just one keyless Chinese chuck. It’s crap and everything chucked into it slips. Just crap in my opinion.
Also have a couple of Albrecht 5/16” capacity chucks matched to 1/2” arbors. I do love Albrecht chucks but just can’t afford buy new Jacobs let alone a new Albrecht. Almost every chuck I have came from EBay. Some of the Albrechts needed new jaws which also were sourced off of EBa. If one is patient, it’s not too hard to source a rebuildable quality drill chuck and then patiently source a matched rebuild kit from EBay. They both show up all the time on EBay. I’m pretty sure that I have a total cost of @ 75.00 or less for each of my Albrechts. And now they are all as good as new. Even Albrechts can be had for a reasonable cost if the jaws suck. It just takes some time and investigation to get it all together.
I could never justify 300.00 to 400.00 for a new chuck. But now I must have 4 of them and they are perfect In my opinion.... other than cosmetic. Like maybe someone put a pair of pliers to the knurled housing.
Anyway.... that’s my rant. I just like to have a bunch of chucks and FWIW... I did buy just one keyless Chinese chuck. It’s crap and everything chucked into it slips. Just crap in my opinion.
