#2 morse taper to 1/2" straight adapter

[Jason Mikits]

I have a few drill chucks that have a female 1/2" hole with set screws, that I'd like to use on my lathe. I've looked, but can't seem to find this adapter. Does anyone know who might sell one? I thought I might have to have these turned on a metal lathe, but I'd really just like to buy it if I can.

[John K Jordan]

I have a few drill chucks that have a female 1/2" hole with set screws, that I'd like to use on my lathe. I've looked, but can't seem to find this adapter. Does anyone know who might sell one? I thought I might have to have these turned on a metal lathe, but I'd really just like to buy it if I can.

You are looking for a 2MT mandrel with a 1/2" shaft on one end? I've never seen or heard of one. I've bought a number of 2MT collets that will tighten on a 1/2" shaft so perhaps you could use one of these with a length of precision 2" rod, half in the collet and the other half in the chuck. However, the collets are made to tighten on the 1/2" when drawn tightly into the headstock with a draw bar. Since you can't use a drawbar on the tailstock to get it to work in the that way I would probably insert the rod in the collet, put the collet into the tailstock and apply pressure to tighten, then tack weld the rod onto the end of the collet.

But might be simpler to just get a chuck with a 2MT mandrel, about $23 from Little Machine Shop. I have one for my metal lathe and it works fine.
https://littlemachineshop.com/produc...2870&category=
There are lots marketed to woodturners but some cost quite a bit more.

JKJ

[Peter Christensen]

You’ll need to get a Morse Taper Machinable Blank and have it turned down. Are you sure there isn’t a slight taper in the chuck for one of the tapers? They aren’t all the same.

https://www.victornet.com/tools/Blan...arbors/20.html
There are other suppliers of these if you don’t have enough for the minimum order.

[Dave Bunge]

I have a few drill chucks that have a female 1/2" hole with set screws, that I'd like to use on my lathe. I've looked, but can't seem to find this adapter. Does anyone know who might sell one? I thought I might have to have these turned on a metal lathe, but I'd really just like to buy it if I can.

Chucks with #2MT can be relatively cheap as John posted. Harbor Freight also sells one for about $15.

If you're intent on getting an adapter, one option could be to start with the "Morse Taper Lathe Adaptor" that Beall sells to use with their buffing system. http://www.bealltool.com/products/turning/tapers.php It's got a#2 morse taper with internal threads for a drawbar. The other end is 5/8" rod machined with a flat for the set screws. It's made from aluminum so it might be possible for you to turn it down to 1/2" on your lathe. I'm not a metal worker, so not sure what your odds are of being precise enough doing this.

I use the Beall adaptor to mount Shopsmith accessories on my lathe, mainly the 12" sanding disk. The Shopsmith stuff has female 5/8" hole with set screws so slides right on.

Dave

[Jason Mikits]

Thanks for the suggestions. These are fairly nice (expensive) keyless chucks that I got very cheap. I had a friend make me 2 of these a few years ago on a metal lathe and should have had him do all 4. I'll probably just have them made but was hoping not to have to bother my buddy with something if I could buy it relatively cheap. I want to give them to another friend who just got a lathe and is realizing the vortex that turning can be.

[Randy McCreight]

I searched Amazon for "1/2"-2MT arbors." I found many keyless drill chucks that have a very slight internal taper such as 2JT and 6JT. I suggest that you search by brand name. Try machine shop suppliers, such as MSC online and Traverse Tool. It can be confusing.
I think my 1/2" hand drill uses a straight adapter. Is that what you have?