Drill Press Problem - HELP!

[Carole Valentine]

I went to drill a counter bore tonight with a 3/4" Forstner bit and I can't get the jaws on my chuck to open all the way to accept the shank. Can't figure out what the deal is. It's a Delta 16 1/2" press. Any ideas?

[Dennis Peacock]

Is your DP chuck a 3/8" size chuck? Try and measure the shank of the forstner bit and see what size it is. The shank should be "stepped" down to a size that should fit nicely in your DP. All else fails....just weld that sucker in there.!!!! :eek: :D :p

[Carole Valentine]

No, Dennis...you don't understand...I use these bits all the time. But all of a sudden, my chuck won't open up like it is supposed to. It will close down all the way, but it sure won't open up all the way. I am going to see if I can remember how to get the darn thing off tomorrow and try and figure out what's wrong.:confused:

[Gary Max]

Last time that happened to me I had to remove the chuck and clean it out. Just took it off and soaked it in WD-40. It worked for me---there must of been some trash inside the chuck because that solved my problem.

[Sparky Paessler]

Carole

It does sound like there is some trash in the chuck. You might want to try blowing it out good with compressed air. I have the same Delta press and have the instructions around here somewhere on how to get the chuck off. I do remember that it came with a wedge that you use to knock out the MT shaft. If you need the instructions I can find them, scan them in and email them to you.

Sparky

[Dennis Peacock]

Not opening all the way....Understand....I was just funnin' with ya. Probably trash between the tail-end of one of the jaws and the upper section of the chuck. Blow it out with some good compressed air or shoot some WD-40 in there, let sit for a minute and see if you can dig it out with a thin wire. OR do like Sparky said...knock it off and clean it out. :D Sheesh....I'm a lot of help aren't I.?? :o :rolleyes:

[Carole Valentine]

Looks to me like the chuck is going to have to be disassembled and me thinks that is no easy task from looking at the instructions I found on a web site.:(

The press is still under warranty, so maybe Delta will send me a new one. (Fingers crossed!) Sure is aggravating. (grumble, grump, curse.....)

[Rob Russell]

Sometimes I'd had the individual jaws stick a bit. Try opening the chuck all the way and then pushing the jaws up, see if they pop in.

[Carl Eyman]

As I understand his peoposal you would open it as far as it'll go, push up on the three jaws if they are protruding from the chuck, or, if not choose a piece of dowel bigger than the size of the openning in the jaws, but smaller than the openning in the outer shell of the chuck and push up. I'd go so far as to give them a rap with a soft mallet. You might also try filling an appropriate size container (+/- 1/2 pint} with kerosene or any other appropriate solvent and immersing the chuck in it while still on the drill press. In other words put the container on the table and crank up the table. Annoying, ain't it?

[Carole Valentine]

No luck so far.:( Sure hope Delta honors the warranty cause this DP is less than a year old.