I thought I'd throw this out to the group and see if anyone had any comments. My Jet drill press has an extremely low run out~.001, but when it comes to chucking up small bits ,1/8 or lower, the bit doen't seat well. It seems as though the jaws are not engaging evenly. I'm pondering changing the chuck to a Jacob Keyed or Keyless chuck. I'm not sure of the lingo or how to go about making this switch. Any ideas, comments or concerns? Maybe there is no need to switch chuck at all.
Thanks, Don
Just go ahead and buy a Keyless chuck with morse taper adaptor, so you can use the keyless chuck most of the time, and switch back to the old one for using bigger bits. BTW, really large bits usually use no chuck but have a morse taper of their own.
The chuck that came with my Jet floor drill press was very cheap. Turned to gravel inside without hard use. Jet sent a replacement, but it too wasn't a whole lot better.
A couple years ago I replaced it with a Bison keyless (made in Poland) - about $60. This is an Albrecht ($200+) clone and is one of the best upgrades I ever made in the entire shop. I liked it so much I bought a second for my lathe.
When (If) you get a new chuck, get a new arbor to go with it. You'll need a #2 Morse taper (MT) on one end with a Jacobs taper (JT) on the other (my chuck uses a JT33 but it could vary depending on the chuck you buy).
To change the chuck, you extend the drill spindle so you can see the
2"-ish slot. Rotate the chuck until you can put the metal wedge that came with the DP through the slot and tap it with a hammer. The wedge presses against the end of the arbor tang. The chuck will drop out of the spindle (have a folded towel on the DP table).Clean the new arbor and the new chuck's arbor bore of all grease, oil and dirt. It's a good idea to clean the DP's arbor bore as well - don't use anything metal as you don't want to score the taper walls. Place the chuck on the arbor and then the arbor into the DP. Make sure the chuck's jaws are not protruding from the end of the chuck and then extend the DP spindle into a piece of wood to press and seat the various parts. Set the DP to the slowest speed and under power do the same pressing into the wood to again seat and align all the parts. Taadaaa. Done.
BTW, vibration is your worst enemy when you're trying to keep things together - best friend when you want things to come apart. If you introduce excessive vibration to the chuck when drilling or sanding or whatever, the arbor could drop out of the DP and you'll need to go through the seating process again.
One more question Owen. Where did you purchase your Bison chuck and do you recommend a specific one?
You've already gotten advice on replacing the chuck. I would add that good quality Jacobs chucks are perhaps one of the bargains that can still be purchased on ebay. I've bought a few really nice used chucks at a small fraction of what they sell new for.
As one other option, if the existing chuck works well for larger size shanks, you could get a pin chuck for smaller bits and chuck that into the drill chuck. If you do this, make sure you get a ping chuck that is designed to be chucked into a larger chuck. Some are made only to be hand held and some of these have a free turning portion of the handle to aid in hand use of very small drills.
Thanks Larry. I just spoke with our maintenance supervisor and he recommended the same thing( ping chuck that is). A lot of machine shops have two(or more) chucks they use for a range of bit sizes. I am curious to how these devices work. Have you used one?
Thanks. Don
Apparently the vendor I bought mine from no longer sells them, but you could email him to see if he has any more in stock or has a lead on them.
Other than that I'm not sure who else carries them since I haven't really been looking. MSCdirect carries Bison metalworking lathe chucks, so may be worth a try.
Collet
Collet
I'm not sure what you mean by collet.
first step is to clean your chuck. remove it from the press and soak it in a solvent like kerosene overnight, then spend a little time with toothpicks getting all of the crud out.
Why not get a good quality smaller chuck that you can chuck in the standard chuck when you use small bits? Cost would be low...
John
They make small chucks that fit into the larger chucks. You put the small bit into the small chuck and then put the small chuck into your larger chuck. That way you don't have to keep pounding out the chucks to switch them.
Any metalworking supplier would have them. MSC/Enco, Travers, Penn Tool, J&L, etc.
collets are definitely better than chucks, but not too many drill presses will take a drawbar.
Most of the pin chucks I have seen are something like a router collet. They do have a limited range of sizes they will hold, so depending on the smallest drill bit you intend to use, and the smallest that you can reliably use in the regular chuck, you may need 2 pin chucks to cover the entire range.
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