CL500M 3 jaw chuck removal.

[user 43883]

I'm new to the site but am hoping to save myself more endless google searches.

I'm progressing from woodworking to metalworking and have recently brought a second hand Clarke CL500M. I'm in the process of stripping and cleaning it ahead of using it and, so far, all is good. My problem though is that, although I downloaded the manual and explosion diagrams et al, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to remove the currently installed 3 jaw chuck back plate.

Unlike my woodworking lathe, the back plate doesn't seem to want to unscrew, rather [unless I'm missing something], the back plate seems to be part of a tapered shank that slides inside the headstock [Sorry, I'm learning the terminology but it's slow going].

I have a 4 jaw chuck that I want to also use with my CL500M but it has 4 mounting holes as opposed to the 3 on the 3 jaw chuck but, in order to make a new backplate, I want to be sure I can remove the old one first.

Any advice would be deeply appreciated.

Cheers - Dave.

 

[Inspector]

Are you sure that is a backplate and not the end of the spindle? Quite a few small lathes have a shaft like yours that all the chucks bolt to.
An example of a replacement shaft for one of the mini lathes/
https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1341
Pete

Yup here is a video of one getting a new motor etc but it shows the flange at about 2:54 give or take. Might be more shots further into the video.

 

[ChaiLatte]

although I downloaded the manual and explosion diagrams

I like the idea of an explosion diagram. A bangin' read no doubt.

See page 6, item 1 here:

https://www.clarkeservice.co.uk/technical_information/metalworking/cl430-500m_tech.pdf
One of the four holes in the chuck will hopefully line up with one of the three holes in the spindle. That has now reduced your problem by 25% at no cost.

 

[Dalboy]

What you call the backplate is part of the spindle you use it to mount the chuck either the three and four jaw as well as some of the collet type chucks the bore will be a morse taper for other type of accessories which will need a holding bar to prevent them coming out. You probably have found out how to mount the main chucks using th studs on the back of those and three nuts to secure them to the plate you have shown
My lathe uses the same principle

 

[Fergie 307]

Problem you may have is that you will need to machine your chuck to suit the face of the mounting plate. Might be easier to buy a chuck that is intended for it, they're not expensive. Personally I wouldn't spend a lot of money on it. If you get into metal working you will soon want to replace that with something better. Don't know if it's the same machine but a mate bought a brand new Clarke one years ago. He called me because he couldn't get accurate work from it and thought he was doing something wrong. Turned out it was just very poorly made, and impossible to set up accurately. Got his money back and bought a nice little Boxford. Chinese lathes have moved on a lot in the meantime to be fair, so hopefully if it's fairly recent it might not be too bad in that respect. But if you get the bug you will quickly want to upgrade, a quality old British or American machine is in a different league altogether.