Drill chuck needed for lathe

[Tim Compton]

I am looking for a 1/2" chuck for my lathe. I want a good one. Are the PSI and Craft supply chucks good or just cheap junk. I know that Jacob's are good. Where is the best place to get it.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I bought two and had one from my metal lathe days that was a whopper 3/4 inch chuck on a MT2. The two most recent are ebay specials and are more precision than the brand name big chuck. I was surprised how much I use the cheap two. Sometimes for drilling pieces and other times for holding small round stock for turning. and some times for holding small round stock for drilling using both of the two chucks. (i have drilled 1/4 inch dowel pieces length wise to make hollow wooden tubes for pipe stems)

[John K Jordan]

I am looking for a 1/2" chuck for my lathe. I want a good one. Are the PSI and Craft supply chucks good or just cheap junk. I know that Jacob's are good. Where is the best place to get it.

I bought three from Mike Hare who sets up a local symposiums. If you are interested I can send you his contact information. I keep a machinist's center bit in one for starting holes.

I highly recommend you get one threaded on the end for a drawbar. That way you can mount it securely in the headstock if needed, otherwise it will easily loosen.

JKJ

[William C Rogers]

I bought the Nova and I am happy with it. I think it was less than $30.

[Barry McFadden]

I use the one from Lee Valley.. http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=49251&cat=1,330,69091&ap=1

[Dick Mahany]

I have had a keyed generic no name 1/2" chuck for years that has worked fine. Recently I decided to get the PSI keyless chuck and don't care for it. It is considerably longer and the jaws rotate with the body when tightening the chuck. I have only used it a few times but the last time it locked up on a large forstner bit shank after drilling out an end grain box on the lathe for hollowing. I had to use channel locks to free it. I can't recommend that one.

403829

[Marvin Hasenak]

We really need to what lathe do you have, to make sure a suggestion will work with your lathe.

[John Keeton]

I have a no name one that seems to work fine, but there are moments when I am not happy with how it functions. On the recommendation of JKJ, I just ordered one (0 - 1/2", 2MT shank) from Mike Hare - $62 shipped. Mike was very informative and it sounds like a great piece of machinery. He intends to stop carrying them as his cost has gone up substantially and it is getting increasingly difficult to make it worthwhile, so if you are interested it may be the time to buy.

Michael Hare
vmwoodworking1982@yahoo.com

[Tim Compton]

I have a Rikon midi 70-220VSR with a MT2 on the quill and headstock.

[Brice Rogers]

To add some diversity to these posts, I bought and/or collected 2 or 3 no name 1/2" MT2 chucks. They hold the Forstner bits just fine. They lock into the MT2 just fine. They open and close just fine. Their finish also looks fine. A person could call them "cheap junk" and they would be correct on the "cheap" part but incorrect calling them "junk". I paid under $15 apiece for them at Harbor "Fright" :eek:

[Clint Bach]

My harbor freight chucks (I have four or five) all run identically and run true. Zero problems. I tapped the morse tapers to hold them in the headstock.

To tap the morse tapers just chuck a bar in the chuck and the other end in a scroll chuck and tap from the tailstock end. Easy and accurate.

Clint

[John Keeton]

There have been previous threads on SMC that speak favorably of the HF units. There have been limited folks reporting the shank loosening from the body of the chuck with some having difficulty getting the shank seated true back in the chuck. Those were somewhat isolated and the vast majority of folks have been pleased with them. However, FWIW, the description doesn’t state whether it is a ball bearing unit, but does state it is for light work and for mini lathes. Nonetheless, for the money it seems to be a very good bargain.

[Alex Zeller]

I have a cheap keyless chuck I got off ebay for less than $20. It looks the same as in my Craft Supply catalog. I have a feeling that there's a couple factories in China cranking these out. It's worked fine for me but I have no clue how accurate it is. It seams just fine but I've never mounted it into my head stock so it never spins. Even then I suspect I would need to put my dial gauge on it to measure any inaccuracies. The holes I've drilled with it seam perfectly centered and of the correct size so that's a good sign.

Most often I just use a spade bit with the point and ends removed so it makes a flat hole. It's 1 1/2" and I use it to core out the center on bowl blanks. For this it works great as accuracy doesn't matter much. By using the tailstock I can drill exactly as deep as I want.

[Michael Mills]

In the short run, if you have a drill press check it. The ones I have had use a 2MT taper. Easy enough to tap out and move to the lathe and they always re-seat in the drill press with no problem. I did that for about 3 years but I only needed to drill about once a month on the lathe.

[Brice Rogers]

Clint, thanks for the suggestion. Good idea.