I bought a large benchtop drill at an auction a couple weeks ago. Today the chuck fell off while I was using it. No harm done, but a bit of a shock.
I found the instructions on the internet; you just retract the jaws and hammer it on with a soft hammer. I can do that, but if it fell off once... Can you put anything on it (locktite?) to make it less likely to fall off again?
These tapers are a bit tricky. They hold like iron until . . ..
Make sure that the surfaces are clean. When you think they are really clean, clean them one more time. Alcohol, acetone, lacquer thinner work well. In that process, make sure there are no burrs or problems with either the male or female taper.
A light application of chalk will help seat the taper. A substantial swat with a hammer (protect the chuck with a block of wood) should have it well set.
Drill presses are not meant for side loading. It is this motion that may have tripped yours loose. ___________________________ Keep the whole world singing. . . . DanG
You do not say the means of attachment from the chuck to the drill press that allowed the chuck to "fall off".
Since it is a "large benchtop" I assume a morse or jacobs taper is involved......it this is the case
clean the male & female parts of the taper with a solvent.....if you use carb cleaner, oil slightly & then clean again w/ acetone.
make sure both parts a really clean...also check for any imperfections in the taper surfaces & burnish off carefully
re-install the chuck...should work
locktite.....not a great idea since both tapers should work w/o it & loctite will make future disassembly difficult
cheers Bob
The cloth with acetone gave back black. The deceased probably didn't clean it before assembly. All is well now.
No side loading; I was boring a 1.5" hole in kingwood. The dust was so heavy it looked like steam. Fortunately I had an air cleaner on and a dust mask.
Toller spake thus:
Unrelated question: what is "kingwood"? Sounds like ironwood or something extremely hard (of course, "ironwood" is also a catch-all name that includes dozens of wood species ...).
It is in the same genus as cocobolo and rosewood. Very dense and hard. Exquisite wood, think varigated rosewood; I got a "buy" on it at $20/bf. I will find out on Monday whether or not it can be glued when I try to turn my glued up block.
It should be installed clean and dry. make sure there are no burrs or other defects that will interfere with seating the taper. If necessary you can clean any up with a file, remove the absolute minimum amount of metal that will let the taper fully seat. Clean both the male & female tapers with a drying solvent, automotive type brake cleaner works well. When it is clean and dry proceed to install as you described above. Don't put any locktite on it. The most common reason for one of these chucks to (unintentionally) fall off is putting some kind of side load on the shaft. on the drill.
oToller spake thus:
If it's similar to rosewood, you might want to consider wiping the glue surfaces with solvent (acetone or similar) before gluing, as the resins interfere with bonding. But you already know that.
I had the same thing happen. I never was able to get it to stay on. I considered using JB Weld, but I just bought another drill press at an auction and scrapped the old one, cuz I got tired of fighting with it. You'd think they would have a keyed shaft or some other BETTER method of putting the chucks on.
Tapered is the normal way for a chuck to be installed, even on substantial sized industrial drill presses and it works fine if it's seated correctly. I would guess you had a burr or ding or didn't properly clean the one you couldn't get to seat and stay. The tapered seat IS the better way.
If it's anything like cocobolo be careful with any sawdust. It's toxic.
Yes, it would be hard to center the chuck any other way.
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