Grizzly H6267 four jaw wood chuck

[Brice Rogers]

Yesterday I received a new H6267 4 jaw chuck from Griz. I had been using a T10811 4 jaw kit and liked it, but grew tired of going through the process of removing and reinstalling eight screws in order to change the jaws. So I thought that I would buy another chuck so one would generally be set with a small set of jaws and one large. I would still have to swap out jaws when I switched over to the cole jaws, but that isn't an every other day sort of thing.

I mounted the new chuck and noticed that I have about 0.015" lateral runout. Hmmm...
I removed the jaws to make sure that there wasn't any debris under them, re-cleaned my spindle, re-cleaned the chuck, etc. Although I found a chunk of metal under one jaw, the runout is still on the order of 0.014". hmmm.
I checked the thickness of each jaw and they are close to equal (as they should be).
I used a caliper to measure the inside of the jaws and the outside of the jaws looking at set 1-3 and comparing it to set 2-4. The jaws do not define a circle but define a slight oval that is roughly 0.013-0.015 out-of-round. I swapped jaws 1 and 2 and remeasured and the oval is independent of the jaws and follows the chuck. This suggests that the scroll is not quite in the center.
I put in the 4 inch set of jaws and the out-of-round actually seemed to get larger (around 0.018) although the runout was about the same.
I also noticed that the holes for the allen screws are not the same depth and some are drilled too shallow. Rather than firming locking into place, the friction just slowly went up as I was tightening. Some of the screws are now showing that their ends are getting deformed as I force them in.

I'm reluctant to just swap it out for the same model.

Am I being too fussy and is this the quality that I should expect from a $150 chuck with 2 sets of jaws?

[Jay Mullins]

Send them back for a refund, Send a letter to Griz with the above assessment.

Jay Mullins

[Doug Ladendorf]

+1 then save your money for a Vicmarc.

[Alan Heffernan]

I would send it back and choose another brand. I realize that the Griz is perhaps more economical than other offerings but looks like you get what you pay for??

[carl mesaros]

+1 then save your money for a Vicmarc.

Good advice. Vicmarc chucks are great.

[Mark Greenbaum]

Is the chuck body off center? Maybe the threaded insert? Jaws? I have the Grizzly 5.5" chuck (http://www.grizzly.com/products/5-5-...campaign=zPage) , and have been happy with it, but I am only turning wood - not rocket parts :-) To me - once a piece of wood is mounted and spinning - I determine the cylindricity. Marking the jaw number to the point of where the wood mounts helps to re-engage to the same place later, but usually I don't worry. Am I missing something?

[Brice Rogers]

Hi Mark,

I also have the 5.5" Griz chuck and it is quite acceptable.

I spent a bunch of time checking out the new 3-3/4 inch chuck that is the problem. It seems like the chuck body and insider are on-axis. I see very little runout on the chuck body. I also swapped some of the jaws to see if perhaps they were mis-machined. But that didn't change anything significantly.

I found two or three things that are a little suspect - - the runout follows the scroll position within the chuck. I put a mark on the edge of the scroll at one of the jaw openings and then rotated the scroll by 90 degrees by watching for that mark to show up at the next jaw opening. The runout followed the scroll location. So, I am suspicious that the scroll spiral may not be properly machined/centered. Also, I noticed that when I tighten the jaws using different tightening holes that it changed the position of the part I was holding. This suggests that the scroll is moving a little inside the chuck body. Maybe there is some debris in there or roughness or just too much slop.

If I were turning spindles, the runout wouldn't be a problem. But it could cause some issues with a thin wall piece.

I didn't want to spend a whole lot more for the second chuck, but the 3-3/4 inch one is a bit too far out. Maybe I'll get a second 5-1/2 chuck.

[Brice Rogers]

I just got off the phone with Grizzly. The tech agreed that 0.015 was too much runout. He said that it happens sometimes but it isn't a high-frequency problem. So I am getting the Griz 5-1/2 inch chuck set and (after all the paperwork is done) paying the difference.

One surprise is they wanted me to pay the shipping for the 2nd chuck (to replace the defective one). Hmmm.... But after a discussion, they agreed to refund my first shipping cost.

So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this new 5-1/2" chuck will be as good as my first one.

Pulled further into the vortex....

[Brice Rogers]

FWIW, I think that I found the source of the runout. When I was removing the jaws and getting ready for packing up and returning, I noticed that three of the four jaws had play. That's normal, especially with a low-end wood chuck. Visually, it looked like 0.020 to 0.030" of play. But the fourth jaw didn't wiggle around. No play. So either there is a burr, a ding or a mismachining of one of the "backing jaws". I tried unthreading the jaws to get a better look at the problem, but it seemed to get stuck before they came loose. Perhaps there is a stop that has to be removed. But I decided not to take the back off the chuck for fear that I'd end up with something that I couldn't return.

Right now, I'm awaiting my new 5-1/2" chuck kit.....

[Ronald Blue]

Odd that you can't back them out far enough to release from the scroll. I can't imagine there being any sort of stop to prevent that. It sounds like you have indeed located the issue. I hope the replacement is what it should be.

[Mark Greenbaum]

FWIW, I think that I found the source of the runout. When I was removing the jaws and getting ready for packing up and returning, I noticed that three of the four jaws had play. That's normal, especially with a low-end wood chuck. Visually, it looked like 0.020 to 0.030" of play. But the fourth jaw didn't wiggle around. No play. So either there is a burr, a ding or a mismachining of one of the "backing jaws". I tried unthreading the jaws to get a better look at the problem, but it seemed to get stuck before they came loose. Perhaps there is a stop that has to be removed. But I decided not to take the back off the chuck for fear that I'd end up with something that I couldn't return.

Right now, I'm awaiting my new 5-1/2" chuck kit.....

The 5-1/2" chuck does have posts that stop the jaws, and keep them from screwing all the way out and falling off. I am not sure about the smaller chuck, as I don't own one.

[Michael Mills]

Perhaps there is a stop that has to be removed.

It may have a stop built in to prevent the user from extending the jaws past a recommended/safe range. On Nova's SN2 the stop is built in but on the older SN's there was a set screw to limit jaw travel.

[Brice Rogers]

The end of the story:

I returned the defective chuck and paid extra to get the Grizzly 5-1/2 " chuck kit. I really didn't want to spend the extra money but I had good luck with this model previously. So, I received that unit today and it has very low run out. I'm a happy camper again. Hopefully the credit on the one I returned will work out without needing my re-intervention.