Keyless Chuck for Drill Press

[Eric DeSilva]

I'm sick of the chuck on my drill press, which is a Steel City 17 incher. Tough to work, and going multiple revs with the key is a PITA when switching from, say, a small pilot bit to a countersink. I also seem to be able to reliably get the little webbing between my fingers and my thumb pinched in the key/gear, which isn't so comfortable.

So I started thinking about replacing the check with a keyless chuck. My DP has an MT2 taper, so I that was my initial search on Amazon. But I'm sort of mystified by the price ranges I see--I can buy a PSI 1/2" keyless chuck w/MT2 taper for $35, or a Grizzly for twice that, or South Bend for 3x that, or an Albrecht or Jacobs for ten times that. I'm assuming the latter two are higher precision to a degree that is probably irrelevant for woodworking, but thought I'd solicit opinions anyway... Guess my initial inclination is to go for the Grizzly, since they seem to have a pretty good value-for-dollar point for most equipment.

Also, anyone see a downside to a keyless chuck on a DP?

[Mike Henderson]

I'm interested to see what responses you get. I've been thinking of putting a keyless on my DP.

Let's see what people recommend.

Mike

[Mike Heidrick]

I use a MT2 0-1/2" chuck from Shars on my Craftsman 12" metal lathe. Works awesome. Id skip even grizzly and just go to a shop that caters to metal tools(and yes I know Griz has metal tools but not as cheap as many many other folks do).

[johnny means]

I can't think of the brand, but a friend of mine bought a seemingly nice keyless chuck from Woodcraft. Turns out something about the design causes it to self tighten to the point that it called for pliers to loosen it. He then went and bought a nicer one which doesn't have that problem. I can't say the difference was price related, but there definitely was a difference between brands.

[Mel Fulks]

I have fixed a number of slow too tight chucks by spraying Ballistol on them and working them . I can't stand using the key for anything more than tightening and loosening .

[Chris Fournier]

I don't use keyless chucks in the wood shop but I do on my metal mill, they are a treat to use. Shars is a good place to start looking for inexpensive offshore chucks. You won't be unhappy with a Jacobs though.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I bought a cheap keyless chuck (on eBay or somewhere) for my DP. Works fine - I don't think there is any disadvantage (versus keyed). The one I bought was some no-name unit that I think was ~$40. In retrospect, I wish I'd spent more on a higher quality chuck, as this one has some eccentricity to it. It also claims to be able to hold a bit as small as 1/32", which I thought sounded like a great feature (at the time I bought it), but in retrospect, it results in jaws with very narrow points that are hard to get bits aligned in (without accidentally getting the bits pinched in the spaces between the jaws). I'd rather have gotten one that only went down to 1/8" (fairly standard, I think).

[jack forsberg]

I have a Albrecht keyless on my Jones and Shipman jig borer 3/8 cap, but i have a ball bearing key chuck on the 17" delta 5/8. The key-less is very nice but can slip on 1/2 shanks or larger bit like wing cutter and forsner bits. for wood working a $40 chuck is all you need IMO

[Bruce Wrenn]

I have the Woodcraft keyless chuck on my bench top DP. Couldn't be happier, except for loss of height under chuck.

[Matt Meiser]

I've had one on my Delta 18-900L practically since the day I got it. Got it from Shars, through their Ebay store as recommended by someone here. I really like it.

[Aaron Berk]

I took off my keyless and went with a jacobs keyed chuck.

With low rpm torque, I wanted something that would hold on.

If I had a 300$ keyless I might be happy, but my craftsman keyless on my 15" DP was a joke.

[pat warner]

I drill in wood, plastic & metal.
It can easily take 6-10 operations and 5 or more drilling tools for one fastener.
The piece that receives the screw head: Pilot hole>countersink or counterbore>chamfer back side of work.
The piece that receives the thread: Root drill, chamfer both faces and tap on occasion.
Without a keyless chuck you'll never get done.
Drill both pieces at once, drive the fastener with a gear driven impact wrench?
Then no need for a keyless chuck (http://www.patwarner.com/images/old_rock.jpg).

[Eric DeSilva]

I'll give that a try too... Although at $30, seems tough to not go keyless.

[Eric DeSilva]

Thanks for all the responses.

Hadn't heard of Shars before--I started reading the responses and thought it was a typo with someone trying to type "Sears." :o

It looks like the Shars, Woodriver and PSI may all be sourced from the same (probably Chinese) factory. Interestingly, upon closer inspection, the Grizzly has only one section that is knurled, which seems odd to me--seems like you need two things to grab or you are just rotating the spindle around. I'm wondering if those are designed for use on a mill or something where the spindle is frozen if it isn't on (I don't even know if they work that way). Looks like I'm probably ordering the Shars and some Ballistol.

[Jared Sankovich]

http://www.cdcotools.com/item.php?itemid=250
&
http://www.cdcotools.com/item.php?itemid=255

[Guy Belleman]

Years ago I found a used, but new condition, Jacobs chuck on eBay and couldn't be happier. I also had to get the wedges that are used to get the installed chuck out.

[Eric DeSilva]

I have fixed a number of slow too tight chucks by spraying Ballistol on them and working them . I can't stand using the key for anything more than tightening and loosening .

I ended up replacing my chuck, but went ahead to see if I could loosen up the old one with some Ballistol. Sprayed some in, then just worked the chuck a bit, and all the tightness is gone... That stuff is great.

[Charles Coolidge]

Albrecht

275541

[Tom Blank]

I got an AccuPro through MSC. MSC sometimes has them on sale for a pretty good price. If you get the integral spindle you may gain some clearance. I'm really happy with it.

[Keith Hankins]

I've been wanting to replace my chuck in my Fische but cant justify it. I want to put in a precision chuck key less, but at two bills for a good one, I'll keep my keyed one. It only has +/- .0015 run-out, which is great for woodworking, but I'd like to have a nice precision one for threading and jigs. Let us know how you like your choice which ever one it is. I'd love to know the final run-out.

[glenn bradley]

Well this isn't much help since there are folks responding that are happy with chucks all through the mystifying price range you were trying to narrow down :).

I have a Delta 17-905 which is definitely a 'home shop' quality machine. Putting on a chuck that cost more than the machine didn't make sense since I had no way of knowing what I might upgrade to and what the taper might be. I picked up whatever the keyless chuck was that Woodcraft carried a half a dozen years ago. It was about $40 and has worked wonderfully all that time. I do have to take it off and clean it every few years but, that is just normal machine maintenance. I just cleaned it a couple months ago and I can still send it spinning nearly through its range with a quick twist from my hand.