Powermatic Drill Press Keyless chuck

[Ron Selzer]

Used it with a flycutter to cut a hole in plywood, now can't get it loose.
Before I take a pipe wrench to the chuck any good ways to loosen the chuck up?
Ready to get a good key chuck for it.
Ron

[Michael Burnside]

Who makes the keyless chuck? It should have come with a wrench already for this purpose. I've never had this happen with my Llambrich even when using monster bits in hardwood, but if I did, I'd drop the quill enough to slide in the chuck removal wedge (preventing quill from rotating), get the wrench that came with the keyless chuck and spin it loose. I would never use a pipe wrench.

[Ray Selinger]

I keep a couple of strap wrenches handy. They don't leave tracks like pipe wrenches do. At work we used Rohm (sp) brand, they got kinda chewed up . I'm using Glacern at home, they have a hole for a pin wrench, but I still use the strap wrenches I used on the Chinese clone of a Albrect (sp)

[Tom Blank]

I had the exact same thing happen with a fly cutter. I used the spanner wrench that came with the keyless chuck and a parallel jaw bar clamp to hold the body of the chuck.

What is it with fly cutters?

[Larry Frank]

I have had a similar issue with a keyless chuck and large (3") hole saw. I finally got it loose with a large strap wrench but was not easy.

[Ron Selzer]

Looks like i need to get a strap wrench.
Any recommendations on which one to get?
Thanks
Ron

[Kent A Bathurst]

I had the exact same thing happen with a fly cutter. I used the spanner wrench that came with the keyless chuck and a parallel jaw bar clamp to hold the body of the chuck.

What is it with fly cutters?



I have had a similar issue with a keyless chuck and large (3") hole saw. I finally got it loose with a large strap wrench but was not easy.

My Voyager has a LLambrich keyless chuck. Those two are pretty much the definition of quality engineering and production. I had the same thing with a 3"+ hole saw on, like, Day 5 of ownership.

As per Tom, a spanner wrench came with it. However, I'm a little more laissez-faire about pristine tool condition, so I used a pipe wrench for the other lever.

MY THEORY:
I need someone smarter than I about the engineering behind a keyless chuck, but somehow that rascal knows to grip tight and stay tight at high and higher RPM.

I think that knowledge gets cattywampus during large diameter work, where the tip speed goes waaaaay up, and vibrations/balance become non-meaningless. It continues to tighten until it is not coming undone without an assist. Fly-cutter is unbalanced by definition.

I called Llambrich CS and asked about my situation, and she said - Yep. That's why there's a wrench.

[Ray Selinger]

You need two strap wrenches . Cheap Harbor Freight ones will work fine.

[Michael Burnside]

You need two strap wrenches . Cheap Harbor Freight ones will work fine.

Not if you have a quill lock or like I said, drop the quill and insert the metal wedge. It shouldn’t take much to break it loose.

[Ray Selinger]

They can get so stuck, busting them free with pipe wrenches was what would do them in our maintenance shop at work. Drill chucks are consumables. The machinists praise the Rohm (sp)chucks as being accurate,reasonably durable, and affordable. Most of the Taiwanese and Chinese drill presses are clones of the early Japanese ones. There isn't anything handy to grip in that design.