Drill Chuck for Turning Bottle Stoppers

[Greg Cuetara]

I am very new to the vortex of turning. I have turned on my lathe a few times and turned one piece of wood round. I have a midi delta lathe with the hopes of turning bottle stoppers and pens.

I am attempting to turn my first bottle stopper so I went out and bought a drill chuck for my lathe.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=683&filter=20777

I put the #2 MT into the end of the chuck and then put the whole thing into the headstock. For some reason it is not seating and when I put chisel to wood the whole piece of wood stops.

Please help. Is there a trick to getting this to seat properly? When I put my pen mandrel in it seems to seat properly.

Thanks for any help,
Greg

[Josiah Bartlett]

First, make sure you have cleaned the preservative oil off the taper or it will just spin. Second, make sure the taper for the chuck matches the lathe, there are several morse tapers. Third, make sure the chuck really is a #2 (or whatever your lathe is) taper by comparing it to the other accessories you have.

If you have some prussian blue or chalk you can see if the taper is fitting the seat or not, you need full contact to get friction.

Feel free to give it a rap with a hammer to seat it. (use a block of wood to prevent damage to the chuck jaws)

[Greg Cuetara]

Josiah,
Thanks for the advice. After some more tinkering I don't think the MT is the correct piece to fit into the midi lathe. It seems that the MT is a bit too long and it won't let it seat properly. I know that I do have a MT #2 on the lathe and the taper on the chuck is a #2 but again I think it is just a bit too long....gonna have to have a chat with the folks down at the rockler store...lol. Actually they have been very helpful to me thus far.
Greg

[Steve Kubien]

Whenever I use a drill chuck on my lathe I also install a retaining rod. The taper adapter for chuck is drilled and tapped 1/4x20 on the bottom end. I cut a length of threaded rod to the appropriate length, screw it into the taper body and add a few washers and a nut to draw everything together and hold it tight.

HTH
Steve Kubien

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Greg,

Steve's got the right idea. Check the end of the morse taper and see if it has a threaded hole in it. Mine has a 1/4"x20 threaded hole in it. I got a long 1/4x20 bolt, a wing nut and a couple of washers. Run the wing nut onto the bolt backwards...the wings towards the head of the bolt. Then put the washers on. Now put the m/t into the headstock and bring the bolt through the hole in the handle on your headstock, screwing it into the hole in the end of the morse taper. Run the wingnut up against the washers, securing the m/t and the drill chuck so it can't come out while you are turning. When I first acquired mine, I chased the b/s blank and drill chuck before I saw the hole and realized what it was for....:o

Good luck with your turning!

[Jerry Allen]

Greg,
Jet minis have the same problem: the tapered part on the MT#2 is too long, about 1/2". Compare the length to the one on your stock center. The measurement is from the wide end of the taper to the end, not the back of the rotating center.
Mark your chuck to that dimension, or even a touch shorter and cut of the end (about 1/2") with and angle grinder with a metal cutoff wheel or a hacksaw. Clean up the end on a belt sander and bevel the edge a bit. It should then work just like your stock centers.

[Kevin McPeek]

Personally I hate using the Jacobs chuck in the headstock. If you use a draw bar as mentioned above it will stay seated but otherwise it tends to work loose. IMHO you'd be better off getting a Beall collet chuck and getting the collets for both pen mandrels and the stopper mandrel. Not only will you never have the Jacobs come wobbling out, but your pens will generally run more true.

[RL Johnson]

Greg
I think that Kevin has the best solution. I too purchased the Jacobs chuck from Rockler. I only use it to drill with now. The Beall Collet chuck is so much better. You can also use it for the bottle stoppers that use a dowel with cork. Woodcraft and Penn State also have a collet chuck system at a lower price but the Beall is top quality.
I also use the Beall to turn finials, it holds the tennon great.

[Tom Sherman]

Greg, check with PSI or CSUSA they have kits that come with a screw chuck that will screw onto your spindle and hold your blanks.

[jim tracy]

Greg,

If you grind the flat end piece off the back of the chuck, it will work fine. The chuck is just too long for your Mini. Once I removed that end piece on mine it worked perfect.

[Michael Dove]

Thanks for posting this question. I have a Jet 1014vs lathe and a #2MT drill chuck that never stays in place unless I give it a few wacks with a perswader. Now I know what my options are to snug this in place. :cool:

[Greg Cuetara]

Thanks for all the advice. I finally got a #2 MT with a draw bar installed. The only problem now is that the morse taper stays in the lathe but the chuck falls off of the adapter. I have given the chuck a love tap to get it to seat properly but that hasn't worked...not sure if I should go further and give it a wack with a sledge or if I can just use some CA to attach it. I am only using this in my lathe so not sure that I will ever have to take it apart again. At least take apart the chuck and adapter.
Thanks,
Greg

[Dean Matthews]

I have to agree with the hammer fix. I bought my drill chuck with a #2MT at Woodcraft and had similar problems... it would eventually find a way out. Using my deadblow hammer that problem went away. It's a little more fun trying to get it out later... but not too bad.

The other thing... check the hole in the headstock for debris. I know that when I turn things with my Talon that all sorts of crud can make it in there. If there is enough debris it could make the fit unhappy.

[Greg Cuetara]

Thanks Dean. I will try giving it a good wack and see if that fixes the problem. The funny thing is that the first chuck / adapter I got from rockler I couldn't get them apart after I realized that it wouldn't fit in my mini lathe. When I got this one from woodcraft it is a bit loose.
Greg

[Ron McKinley]

Here's how I turn bottle stoppers: http://inlandwoodturners.org/pages/BottleStoppers.pdf

You can make your own pin chuck from 3/8" drill rod and a small piece of 1/8" metal dowel. Grind away 1/8" of the drill rod for the dowel to set in.

Or, you can buy one from Packard Woodworks at http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=110106&Category_Code=

I've made several hundred bottle stoppers using this system.....Ron

[Stuart Johnson]

Take a look at Ruth Nile's page on turning a stopper. I find the small homemade screw chuck works much better than a drill chuck.

About half way down the page:

http://www.torne-lignum.com/make_stoppers.html

[Rick Gibson]

Greg: Like Jim said. I have the delta midi as well and ran into that problem Cut most of the flat piece off the end and it seats perfectly now. It's just to long for the headstock on that lathe.

[Dale Gregory]

I tried the screw method, but when using the wooden pegs for the silicone covers it requires you to redrill the smaller screw hole left in the turned piece afterwards.

I'm not following you guys on the pin rod method. If you cut a 1/8" flat and then put a 1/8" pin in it, how does turning your piece lock it in place? Seems like you are just replacing metal with the same size???? Help my old brain understand this logic.




Dale