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Thread: Drill chuck for my lathe

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Lancaster, PA
    Posts
    158

    Drill chuck for my lathe

    I purchase a drill chuck for my lathe, the chuck and morse taper were separate in the box. What is the correct way to seat the chuck on the morse taper?

    thanks,
    Shawn

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,889
    Clean so no oil or grease on either part that touches. Open chuck so jaws do not show, place taper in chuck and set chuck nose down on bench. wack tang end with a rubber hammer one time.
    Be careful when inserting into quill so tang is oriented to make removal easy. Some tangs can be too long or short to work right without modifications.
    Bill D

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    southeast Michigan
    Posts
    676
    As Bill said both the male and female tapers need to be clean. The idea of wacking the the chuck with the jaws receded is also good advice when installing a chuck in a drill press because you have weight and gravity working against you. However, this is not necessary when installing a chuck on a lathe tailstock. You can just ram it in by hand and be good to go. I have used this method on both my wood and metal lathes for many years and have never had a problem.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Somewhere in the Land of Lincoln
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    2,546
    Typically the Morse taper tang will only seat in the quill one way. Oriented so it can be removed with a drift. Everything else that's been stated is spot on.

  5. #5
    Personally I would not be "whacking" anything. I'd do as others have said right up to and including the assembly of the taper and the chuck. Then I would place this assembly in my lathe tailstock with nothing in the headstock. I'd move the tailstock with the chuck assembly up very closely and place a flat piece of hardwood over the headstock and lock the tailstock on the ways. I'd then carefully advance the chuck assembly against the headstock using the tailstock feed to tighten the assembly. If you absolutely had the need to whack something you could tap this setup once it was cinched down. My thoughts on carefully putting together machinery bits...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Lancaster, PA
    Posts
    158
    Thanks everyone!

    chuck is assembled, I put it in the tail stock and it’s off center from the drive center by about a 1/16th. Any idea on how to correct it?

    thanks,
    Shawn

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    San Diego, Ca
    Posts
    1,647
    I'm guessing that your lathe bed isn't level.

    One way to check is to put a pair of centers into the headstock and tailstock and see if they touch. If not, use the levelers under the legs or base and turn one of them until the points meet. If you adjust it in one direction and it gets worse, then reverse direction or go to the other leg.

    If you think that the problem is with the new chuck, Then put it into the headstock, put in a short straight rod (drill rod, drill bit, etc. that you KNOW is straight) and power up the lathe. If there is run out in the new chuck, you'll spot it right away.

    Or did I miss read your post?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Lancaster, PA
    Posts
    158
    Brice,

    Thank you for the info, I’ll give it a try today!

    Thanks!

  9. #9
    Shawn, rather than “level”, I think Brice is actually talking about your ways being co-planer - in the same plane. In other words, no twist in the ways. A lathe will function properly out of level so long as the ways are co-planer. His method of correction is accurate. If you have a pair of winding sticks putting them across your ways while you are adjusting your legs might help you dial it in a bit quicker.

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