Shars keyless chuck for drill press

[Dan Friedrichs]

I was looking for a better keyless chuck for a drill press, and found some old threads where Mr. Van Huskey recommended Shars-brand chucks. I'm looking for an upgrade from the "no name $20 special", but don't need an Albrecht.

I found this one, which seems to fit the bill:
http://www.shars.com/products/toolholding-workholding/drill-chucks-arbor/1-2-keyless-drill-chuck-with-morse-taper-2-integral-shank-13mm-1

But I notice it doesn't have a second "ring" to grip to tighten. Does anyone know if this is "self tightening" (ie - some sort of clutch mechanism inside the chuck)? Does such a self-tightening mechanism even work properly in a drill press (where the spindle can spin freely when the drill press is powered off)? Finally, what's the spanner wrench for?

[Chris Fournier]

I have a couple of these types of chucks from Shars and I use them in my machine shop. They are great value. In the wood shop they would not disappoint.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Chris, are they like the "one hand operation" version that comes on most cordless drills, now? And does that "mechanism" work properly with a drill press (where there aren't any gears or anything holding the spindle)? Thanks :)

[Malcolm McLeod]

I upgraded about a year ago to this Jacobs keyless (http://www.jacobschuck.com/keyless-chucks/jacobs-33364-jk-130-j33-medium-duty-industrial-keyless-13mm-chuck.html). It has dual grips, but a hard twist (thru dual-reduction belt drive) is enough to tighten any <1/2" bit. I use the dual grips to tighten on larger forstners, etc. I haven't bothered to check for run-out because I haven't seen any evidence. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

And it seems to be in same price range as the Shars...?

[Bruce Page]

Looks like you grip the knurl and use the supplied spanner wrench to tighten.

[Van Huskey]

Basically all the keyless drill press chucks are design "copies" of the Albrecht and are self tightening but I haven't run into one that was a one handed tighten as there is usually nothing to hold the spin of the DP itself but you can easily one hand tighten it enough to safely hold the tooling while you finish tightening it BUT it doesn't take much at all to tighten them. The Shars I have all have the small secondary knurled area at the top my guess is the ones without it are designed for use with the spanner wrench but honestly even with no knurling most people could get it tight enough to start and it ill do the rest. From reading metal working forums I think I tighten them much more than necessary by hand. Normally you use the spanner wrench to loosen the chucks since in hard drilling (which you generally don;t see in woodworking) they can self tighten beyond most people's ability to hand loosen them so you use it on the top holes but have enough grip on the wider bottom knurling. I have seen them tighten enough in hard metal drilling to need two spanner wrenches (or strap wrenches) to loosen but haven't encountered it with wood drilling.

Albrecht is king but while the cheaper ones don't "feel" as smooth and probably don't have the pit bull like grip or as low TIR they are quite adequate for woodworking.

[Mike Heidrick]

Shars has a ton of different keyless chucks besides this one. I use them in my metal lathes with great results.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Just to follow up - I contacted Shars and they advised against using this particular model on a drill press, since there was no way to lock the spindle.

[Bruce Page]

Basically all the keyless drill press chucks are design "copies" of the Albrecht and are self tightening but I haven't run into one that was a one handed tighten as there is usually nothing to hold the spin of the DP itself but you can easily one hand tighten it enough to safely hold the tooling while you finish tightening it BUT it doesn't take much at all to tighten them. The Shars I have all have the small secondary knurled area at the top my guess is the ones without it are designed for use with the spanner wrench but honestly even with no knurling most people could get it tight enough to start and it ill do the rest. From reading metal working forums I think I tighten them much more than necessary by hand. Normally you use the spanner wrench to loosen the chucks since in hard drilling (which you generally don;t see in woodworking) they can self tighten beyond most people's ability to hand loosen them so you use it on the top holes but have enough grip on the wider bottom knurling. I have seen them tighten enough in hard metal drilling to need two spanner wrenches (or strap wrenches) to loosen but haven't encountered it with wood drilling.

Albrecht is king but while the cheaper ones don't "feel" as smooth and probably don't have the pit bull like grip or as low TIR they are quite adequate for woodworking.
FWIW, I have both 1/2" & 1/4" capacity Albrecht chucks. I use the 1/4" a lot to drill small holes. I prefer my 30 year old 14N Jacobs Ball Bearing Super Chuck to the Albrecht. It runs just as true and can take a lot more abuse. I have a 16N in my lathe tailstock.

[Van Huskey]

FWIW, I have both 1/2" & 1/4" capacity Albrecht chucks. I use the 1/4" a lot to drill small holes. I prefer my 30 year old 14N Jacobs Ball Bearing Super Chuck to the Albrecht. It runs just as true and can take a lot more abuse. I have a 16N in my lathe tailstock.

There are still a LOT of people that prefer keyed chucks and the 14N and 16N are among the best. I have just become a keyless convert, the only time I don't like them is after a long session with a large forstner in really hard wood they are a bear to unlock and I know have a pair of spanners for those times, some use strap wrenches.

[Floyd Mah]

I have a similar chuck on a mill. Here's the fine points of tightening this type of chuck.
The only part of the chuck that you can manipulate is the sleeve with the radial hole. The spanner has a pin that fits in the hole and you use that to tighten the chuck by turning the sleeve. Only, as Shars says, there is nothing to allow a separate grip on the spindle. On a mill, there is enough inertial mass that you can give the wrench a jerk or tug and the chuck locks on the bit before the whole spindle spins in the direction that you torqued it. With a drill press, if the spindle spins freely, you might not get it to tighten. If you don't find it inconvenient to lift the pulley cover at the top of the drill press, you can just open the cover, reach up and grab the belt to stabilize the spindle. Chances are still good that you could close it with just a tug, but if that fails, you can still do what I just described.