Looking for small chuck to fit a Craftsman

[Russell Neyman]

One of my students purchased a 12" Craftsman Copymaster lathe, which is not too bad for a starter lathe except for the fact that the seller couldn't find the three-jaw chuck that came with it. The Sears/Craftsman site is no help at all; apparently the lathe is no longer available. Eyeballing it, I think the arbor is a 5/8th inch by 16 TPI arrangement. Any ideas, gang?

[Kathy Marshall]

Russell, try to find out for sure what the spindle size and thread count is, could it be 3/4" x 16 tpi? Nova makes several different sizes of inserts for their chucks. Their website also says they might have other sizes not listed. Your student can also save some money by going for a reconditioned Nova chuck (check their website, teknatool.com I haven't got one of the reconditioned ones, but I've heard good things from others that have).

Good luck!

[Don Orr]

As mentioned above, the spindle thread is most likely 3/4" x 16tpi. Mine is. As was the one I sold. It is a common thread pitch. You can buy a 3/4" x 16 hex nut very cheaply to check it out for sure. Much as I hesitate to recommend them, PSI carries a large selection of accessories in 3/4" x 16tpi. They also have many #1 Morse taper accessories as well since the taper on the Crafstman is probably a #1.

Hope they have fun with it!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Another vote for the 3/4" x 16tpi spindle size. I learned how to turn on a Craftsman Mono-Tube lathe and when it come time for a chuck I bought the Oneway Talon. A couple of years later when I upgraded lathes - I just bought a new insert for the chuck and am still using that same chuck today! So, if your student can afford it, have them check into chucks that can be upgraded from lathe to lathe. It's cheaper in the long run in my opinion.