Drill Press Taper Not Holding

[Pete Simmons]

Got a nice Ridgid floor model drill press. Works great.

Had it over 2 years all of a sudden the chuck tends to fall off the morse taper. I clean it well put back and before long it falls off again.

Any tips other than super glue.

[Lou Morrissette]

Pete,
It sounds as though you have developed a small burr on the edge of the taper preventing it from seating properly. Try stonning the edge of the taper.

Lou

[Brian Hale]

Clean the male taper with 600 grit abrasive so the scratches run around the taper, not up and down. then clean both parts with alcohol. Put them together and put an old drillbit in the chuck, seated all the up and and press it into a piece of scrap like you were trying to punch a hole it. That should seat it pretty good.

Brian :)

[Frank Fusco]

Got a nice Ridgid floor model drill press. Works great.

Had it over 2 years all of a sudden the chuck tends to fall off the morse taper. I clean it well put back and before long it falls off again.

Any tips other than super glue.

Don't do the CA or LocTite thing. It will throw off the precision. If you like egg shaped holes, though, that would be OK. :eek:

[Pete Simmons]

Only kidding about the super glue.

I will try those ideas they sound good.


Thanks


Pete

[Phil Thien]

Had the same problem until I cleaned very thoroughly with lacquer thinner. Clean inside the chuck (Q-Tips) and the taper, too.

[Eddie Darby]

The arbors Morse Taper fit relies on perfect metal to metal contact to be able to perform it duty. Anything that inhibits this will lead to eventual failure, even greasy finger-prints. These arbors are not that expensive to replace should this continue to happen after all attempts to remedy it. I actually have an extra one as a back-up.

The Rigid site provides a PDF file on the owners manual that has two sections dedicated on replacing the drill chuck. this should help to make sure that you aren't missing anything, such as aligning the arbor tab correctly. Pages 13 and 21.

http://www.ridgidparts.com/pdf/DP15000.pdf

I tried to find what the Morse Taper was and the chucks taper ( same style of fitting for chucks ) but I had no success. Weird that they don't say. I am sure that a Rigid dealer will know these.

[Jim Hager]

An old timers trick is to coat the inside and the outside of the taper with chaulk. Holds really good then.

[Dave Ray]

Jim, good to see you back, missed you around the creek. Good trick with the chaulk to

[Dave Ray]

Jim, good to see you back, missed you around the creek. Good trick with the chaulk to

[Dave Ray]

Jim, good to see you back, missed you around the creek. Good trick with the chaulk to

[Randy Meijer]

A good cleaning and checking for burrs will probably solve the problem. I have been told that machine shops sometimes use Loctite. Whether that compromises the arbor alignment as suggested by Frank, I can't say.

A trick that I have seen mentioned; but never tried myself, is to put the chuck and arbor in the freezer for a couple of hours and then stick it in the DP......at least it sounds good??

For me, I just open the chuck all the way stick it in the DP and whack it with a wooden mallet or a length of 2x4. That has always worked for me. Be very sure to open the chuck so you are banging on the body of the chuck and not the moveable jaws and don't be too heavy with the mallet or you might bugger up the spindle bearings.

Randy