Drill press chuck information needed

[Howard]

Well, I got that $40 drill press (see sig), and it seems to be okay. It's a heavy, solidly-built piece of machinery, runs smoothly, and I didn't have any problems with it -- except for the chuck. The tapered spindle on the press doesn't appear to have any noticeable runout, and the chuck doesn't appear to wobble, but I have to fiddle with any bit that I insert in order to get it to run straight, and the smaller the bit, the harder it is to get it straight. I'm thinking that a decent chuck would make this a pretty good drill press, but I'm not sure what to buy or where to get it.

I've looked at taper chucks in the catalog at MSC, and the specifications are confusing. I'm a bit unsure of the terminology, too, and I don't want to buy the wrong thing, but it looks like a good chuck is going to run $40-$50. That doubles the cost of the drill, but if it makes the unit accurate, then it would still be worthwhile.

The unit has a tapered spindle upon which the chuck mounts (the book that came with the DP says its a Morse taper). That appears to be backwards from the more expensive drill presses (where the spindle has a socket with a taper and a slot), but I have read that that is getting to be the rule for low-end DPs. There is no size marking, so I guess I need to find information that relates the length and diameter of the tape to size designations (like, what does 6JT or 33JT mean, anyway?).

I'm thinking of taking the chuck to a local machinery supply and asking for the requisite education. Am I going to be laughed out of the place?

-- Howard

[Nova]

The "JT" indicates "Jacobs Taper". For a sizing chart for different tapers see:

Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[boonie]

No, I would not be laughed out of the machinery shop I go to. The guy would mount it in his lathe and tell me if it is true and also if you have an MSC catalogue take it with you and he will tell you which chuck will suit your needs or if the original one can have the trouble traced and fixed. Of course it is not necessary to have the catalogue but ask him to write down what you need and he will explainn all those abbreviations at the same time. My machinery shop is a really useful source of information especially if you choose morning tea break. Try to find a small 2 or 3 man machinery shop. Ken

[Howard]

BTW, the chuck has the following information on it: 1.5-13mm B16

I found a place that lists a chuck that might work:

now I'm curious about what the "B16" means, if anything.

-- Howard

[CW]

That's the best course of action. They will have a selection of tapers that they can try for fit.

[nospam]

before you buy a new chuck try giving the one you have a good cleaning. it may have a bit of metal debris left over from manufacture or some dried grease (put there as rustproof for shipping) gumming up the works. what I do sometimes is pull the chuck and soak it overnight in a small jar of solvent. laquer thinner seems to work well. then open the jaws all of the way and scrub down the insides with a qtip. work the jaws a few times and rinse. give it a drop of oil and mount it back on the press. now try some different size bits in it.... Bridger

[Howard]

Hmmm... Cheaper than getting a new one... Thanks -- I'll give it a try.

-- Howard

[Silvan]

Might help, but I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope. I had a much more expensive benchtop DP than yours, and I had the same problem with the chuck. Especially with small bits.

I don't have any trouble at all with my new drill press. Both of them had have genuine Jacobs chucks, so it isn't a matter of an el-cheapo vs. a respected brand. I think it's just the difference between the 1/2" chuck and the 5/8" chuck I have now. The big one is made somehow better, and I have no trouble centering even teensy bits in the thing.

[Jim Wilson]

Common problem. You're on the right track.

I've purchased a fair amount of tooling from Penn Tool and have been very satisfied so far. Let me know if you find better prices on decent quality tooling, though. I'm fickle. Or is that capricious...?

Although they are generally more expensive, I would suggest a keyless chuck. A true Albrecht will take an arm and part of a leg, but these work well and don't cost nearly as much.

a tighter max TIR, but it is highly doubtful that you need the extra precision. If you do, then you have the wrong drill press.

Albrechts are here, just for drools:

you really want a keyed chuck, the most common Jacobs chucks are here:

the extremely budget conscious, the el cheapos (but still probably better than the one that came on your drill press) are here:

...it looks like a good

Absolutely. Cheap drill presses never come with a good chuck.

Did you check the chuck for a taper marking? The JT stands for Jacobs Taper. The number represents the size. By far, JT33 is the most common size on small drill presses (

[Jim Wilson]

Wish I'd seen that before my first post. (G) That's the taper. It's a DIN

238 spec. The DIN 238 tapers are shallower than the Jacobs tapers. B16 is 15.733mm x 14.534mm x 24 mm long.

BTW, don't be tempted to try a JT33 chuck. It won't work. The JT33 is inch-based, but it works out to 15.850mm x 14.237mm x 25.4mm long. You need a true B16 chuck.

Jim

[Howard]

[Jim Wilson]

This is mostly a repeat. Don't know if you saw my post from last night on the B16 question.

B16 is the taper. It's a DIN 238 spec. The DIN 238 tapers are shallower than the Jacobs tapers. B16 is 15.733mm x 14.534mm x 24 mm long.

BTW, don't be tempted to try a JT33 chuck. It won't work. The JT33 is inch-based, but it works out to 15.850mm x 14.237mm x 25.4mm long. You need a true B16 chuck.

The 13mm is approximately 1/2". The item description of chuck you found on right-tool.com is not the same as the picture, and the one depicted won't work (and it's a 5/8", or approximately 16mm, too). Sometimes online vendors use the same picture for various chucks in the same line, so the D2931 might really match the description and not the picture, in which case it would be ok. I still would hold out for a keyless chuck, though.

Jim

[Howard]

Thanks for that information. I did find some B16 chucks using a search, which turned up

picture for this one is identical to the one they have up for the

3/8ths inch chuck, and the picture has on it "JT3...", so I'm guessing that the chuck in the picture is just a generic placeholder). I'm not familiar with this outfit, so I hope somebody here can tell me about them. The chuck is fairly inexpensive ($17).

I will be looking into the other that I found as I have time. The next one on the list was

and their website sucks big time (pretty, but it isn't obvious how the hell to buy anything there -- mayhaps I can sell them my web design services).

The next few on the list are in the UK and Australia.

-- Howard Lee Harkness Texas Certified Concealed Handgun Instructor

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[Jim Wilson]

Not likely you can purchase from them. They're in Taiwan. (G) I suspect they are an exporter (wholesale).

Ayuh.

[Lawrence Wasserman]

I've purchased some good quality jacobs chucks on ebay. The chuck itself usually has a jacobs taper, that is what hte 6JT or 33JT refers to. If the spindle itself has a female taper (more expensive/higher quality drill presses usually do) than that is usually a Morse taper. Drill presses that have the morse taper commonly use an arbor or adapter to mount the chuck, The arbor simply has a morse taper at one end and jacobs taper on the other.

Often the chuck is marked with the jt size. If not, you can remove the chuck, and measure the diameter of the taper. A Machinery's Handbook of any vintage will give you the info needed to match it to a standard jt size.