An Old Chuck

[rxh]

I'm gradually refurbishing the bits and pieces that came with my ancient Barnes lathe and I thought some readers might like to see this 1/2" capacity drill chuck made by the Union Mfg. Co. New Britain, Connecticut (Patented June 27. 1899). It was very rusty so I got to work on it using an angle grinder with twist knot brush. Then I took it apart, cleaned and oiled it - it operates nice and smoothly now. I was interested to see that the jaws are driven by right and left hand square screw threads (12 TPI) and there is hardly any backlash in the motion. I like to get these old things into usable condition.

 

[AndyT]

Very nice - good for another century or two. I do like the rugged simplicity of this sort of old kit, where you can understand it all by taking it apart and having a good look at it.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

That's interesting - not seen one like that before.

For anybody wanting a bit of background reading on workholding devices for lathes, the Workshop Practice series title 'Workholding in the Lathe' by Tubal Cain is well worth the purchase price. Indeed, pretty well anything by Tubal Cain (T.D. 'Tom' Walshaw) is worth reading.

 

[inaspin]

Hi

Now this is a coincidence i picked up one the same at the car boot at the weekend for 50p, in pretty good nick aswell, although i had never seen one before i thought it could come on useful. I have used it several times in the last couple of days and already really like it, no chuck key with it so using a screwdriver until i get round to making one.

Thanks for the info on it aswell

Regards

Berns

 

[Harbo]

That's nice to see an old device put back to use - nice job.

Without diverting too much, I think work-holding is perhaps the most difficult (and interesting) aspect of metal working?
It's one thing seeing the finished article from the plans but achieving it without too many cock-ups or issues is the hard part and involves a fair bit of thinking ahead. And most of these problems generally involve work holding in some way?
"If only I'd machined that bit before I did this"!!

Rod

 

[heimlaga]

The chuck on my almost new...eh.....well..... almost 70 years old hollow chisel mortiser is of that type.
Unfortunately the fingers that grip the drill in that kind of chuck are susceptible to wear and muchroom and then the chuck stops working. Also a worn chuck of that type does not center the bit very well. Mine had muchroomed a bit but I filed carefully and made it work smoothly and accurately but with the current rate of wear (semi professional use) I doubt there is more than 30 or 40 years of useful life left in it.

Yours look much better than mine so let's hope that it will serve you for many years to come!