Drill Chuck from HF

[Rich Aldrich]

I bought a drill chuck with a #2 MT with the key today for $8.00. It seems like it is decend quality, but I am always hesitant of Harbor Freight. I might have wasted the money, but it is just a drill chuck.

It seems to work smooth, but I wont get a change to try it until this weekend. I will be able to post a picture then also.

[David Walser]

Rich,

Like you, I'm always leery whenever I buy something from Harbor Freight. Some items perform well, while others aren't worth hauling home. Let us know how you like the drill chuck. For $8, many of us might like to have a spare.

Just FYI, I bought my first drill chuck from Craft Supplies USA in 2003 and it's served me well. My only complaint was it wasn't threaded for a draw bar. Two years ago I bought a key-less drill chuck from Little Machine Shop when it was on sale. The new chuck is threaded for a draw bar and I use it in my headstock whenever I cannot support the turning with the tailstock. Both chucks cost a lot more than $8. I still prefer my keyed chuck from CSUSA -- because it's smaller diameter keeps it out of the way of my turning tools -- but both are good quality.

[Joseph M Lary]

I think i have 5 of them now ,I get them setup with drill bits or sanding pads and i dont like changing them out . Take them home put it in the lathe head stock and see if they run true . I had 1 that didnt run true , took it back no problem.

[alex carey]

i also have that one, never used another so i don't know if its the drill chuck or my tailstock but seems to move a little bit which means I don't get a perfectly straight hole.

[Cathy Schaewe]

I have 2 of the HF drill chucks - they work fine so far - and you can't beat the price!!!:D

[Bernie Weishapl]

I bought a half dozen of them so when I do pepper and salt mills I don't have to change bits. I bought mine on sale for $5.99 each. Work pretty well and if they go bad get another one.

[Rich Aldrich]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like everyone is happy with theirs, so I will going by one of their stores again on Friday. Maybe I will pick up another one or two.

[Jim Sebring]

I also have two of them. The last one was on sale a couple of months ago for $6.99, IIRC. I drilled and tapped both for a 1/4 x 20 allthread drawbar.

I've been turning jewelry pendants lately using Riichard Joyner's Pendant Backer Plate. I use one chuck in the headstock to hold my bottle stopper mandrel that's screwed into the backer plate. The other chuck is in the tailstock with the spur bit used to drill the hanging hole in the pendant blank. It's a very convenient setup.

[Mike McAfee]

I've had a HF 8 buck chuck for about 3 years and nary a problem! I'm kinda liken the idea of having several with different implements in em, thanks to those who suggested that!

MMc

[Bob Haverstock]

I've had a HF 8 buck chuck for about 3 years and nary a problem! I'm kinda liken the idea of having several with different implements in em, thanks to those who suggested that!

MMc

Mike,

Back when I was a Machinist Apprentice, big radail drills and and fixtures with drill bushings were the common tools used to locate holes in machined parts. A drill operator might have 15 or so drills, taps, reamers and chamfer tools to use in one operational step so there where a lot of tool changes per hour.

There was a very quick collet connect system that was used. We could and would change tools without stopping the drill spindle. Collis was the name of the system and it was built around slip fit drivers with locking sheres and a tapered sleeve to hold the sheres in position. We didn't spend much time twirling chuck keys. And so ends my tour down memory lane.

Bob Haverstock

[Mike Minto]

i agree, HF is a crap shoot. things i buy there mostly have no moving parts (ie, the 55 pound anvil i bought there - can't go wrong with that), but even the sandpaper i got there was a waste of time, IMO.

[Jeff Fagen]

Everytime I see a neat tool that someone got from HF they are all out of stock and can't get anymore when I go down there.:(
It's an oddlots store.

[John Hart]

I got my chuck at HF a few years ago...works great!....although I don't use it much.

Also....I got some sandpaper the same day.

It was ok.... if you like sand falling on your floor and embedding itself in the wood I guess.

I cut it up in smaller squares and use it to mix epoxy on. (That's what they meant when they said "Multi-Purpose")

I love HF....but you're right. You gotta pay attention.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I bought a half dozen of them so when I do pepper and salt mills I don't have to change bits. I bought mine on sale for $5.99 each. Work pretty well and if they go bad get another one.

I did the same as Bernie. I bought every one of them the local store had when they went on sale at $5.99. I got I think 6 of them tho I could find only 5 of them in the end. I opened and used just one at first. It worked just fine. I gave one to a friend here at work, and here on the creek, and that one ran so far out of true it was amazing. You could visibly see it wobble when at speed in the headstock and it ran just as badly out when used in the tailstock. Nothing we tried made that one any better.

So I went home and got the others out of their boxes and they work just fine. At least as well as the first one. So I had 1 bad one. I wish I had tested them earlier I would have returned the bad one.


As some have mentioned I also have a higher end drill chuck. A Golden Goose one in my case. I have found it to be slightly better in how true it runs when I measure with my indicators. But visibly they both run great.

Given how much the Golden Goose cost me I wouldn't buy a second but I will get some more of the HF ones when the next sale occurs I will just test them the day I buy them, just in case. :) In my case, like Bernie and so many others, I just hate changing things out in order to drill the different sizes.

Joshua

P.S. I bought some of their smallish 1x8tpi screw chuck/faceplates from HF as well. They were on a good sale so I got 5 of them I think. The first 2 work perfectly. The 3rd one when I opened it had real issues and I just tossed it. So be careful but it isn't that hard to find some that work quite well.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I talked to the buddy I gave a HF drill chuck too awhile back. I was talking to him this afternoon and he said that he has 3 and they have all been bad. Just an FYI it seems you can have a pretty bad run of bad luck with them. Just an FYI for those considering them.

Joshua