Do I need a chuck for this lathe?

[dickyhb]

Hello Guys.

I'm finally buying a Proxoon DB250 microdot lathe now i have my garage sorted. It does not come with a chuck and Amazon has one beside the lathe for wood turning for about £30. I'm making some fishing floats and wood baits, do I need a chuck. I know it holds things in place, but thats about all I do know about them.

Thanks.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'd leave it for the moment. It looks to be a three jaw one, which are often independent so not so easy to adjust. For your small work you can make up carriers and holders to fit the faceplate or just work between centres - you might find you don't need it anyway.

 

[J-G]

...It looks to be a three jaw one, which are often independent so not so easy to adjust. ...

Cannot let that go Phil - I have a motto - "If you don't correct, you accept" !

FOUR Jaw Metalworking chucks are usually 'independent' - I've never seen an independent 3 Jaw chuck in some 50+ years of engineering.

Proxxon do make a 4 Jaw Independent Chuck but the 3 jaw mentioned looks to be a scroll type. Five minutes more research shows that there are two versions, one is made from zinc (Axi. Ref 702057) the other steel (Ref 27026). Personally I wouldn't even think of using the ziinc one - never mind buying it, when the steel one is £2 cheaper!! (well, using the two adverts I've seen).

Regrettably the Proxxon has a 16 x 1 metric thread so you are limited to what they make available.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Sorry, yes, you are right. I'm thinking of woodturning four jaws which of course are scroll, then thinking it's the three jaw ones that are independent. A downside of a three jaw is you can't load square stock into it which might be relevant to the OPs usage.

 

[dickyhb]

So you're saying the 3 jaw steel one is worth the money and I'd use it? It does have some things called collets, what do they do and will they fit the chuck?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No, a collet chuck is a different thing. Collets have a very limited range, so they're not much use for wood. The three jaws move in or out to grab the piece to be turned, the downside of three jaws is it's no use for square stock.

 

[J-G]

No, a collet chuck is a different thing. Collets have a very limited range, so they're not much use for wood.

The ER collet system is in fact very good for wood - particularly for small diameter work - which might be ideal for dickyhb. The problem is that I don't know anyone who makes a collet chuck with a 16 x 1 metric fitting

ER collets mostly have a 1mm 'range' (Imperial are also available) so you do need a 'set' to cover a large dia range. I use them to hold square and hexagon stock as well as 'irregular shapes' and round - though the best grip is of course with round stock which may be wooden doweling or any of the various 'plastics' (Delrin, Nylon etc.) now available. Once you have a piece of square (or irregular) stock reduced to round, you can easily reverse the work and hold on the now 'round' part.

Sorry this doesn't really help dickyhb though it might be an option to get the 3 jaw steel chuck and then a straight shank ER collet chuck (from RDG, ArcEuro, etc.) which could be held in that (the shank may have to be shortened) - not ideal but a possible solution. The diameter of through bore of the 3 Jaw chuck would need to be checked to make sure the Collet Chuck shank could be accommodated.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I meant they are not a lot of good for wood in the sense thay you need loads of collets, not just one, as you point out. Perfect and justifiable if you are making hundreds of things of the same size. It depends whether the OP is making a few bits for himself or setting up a mini production line.

 

[dickyhb]

This comes with several six in fact collets. They must fit this lathe or they wouldn't be in the kit I suppose? Thanks I'll get the chuck too.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If it comes with six collets it should have the collet chuck with it - the collets are no use whatsoever on their own.

 

[J-G]

If it comes with six collets it should have the collet chuck with it - the collets are no use whatsoever on their own.

I've now looked at some details about the DB 250 and it does come with 6 collets - 2-3-4-6-8 & 10mm but they won't be ER type, they'll be proprietary Proxxon, probably similar to a Morse Taper or R8 type. I doubt that they will be 'Peatol' or 'Pultra' and Proxxon are not known for their adherence to 'Standards'. There is a through bore of 10mm so I suspect that it will have a 16 x 1 mm thread on a closing nut which wouldn't be used when a chuck was fitted.

It also comes with a face-plate, a drive centre and a live centre (for the tail-stock I presume).

The 'blurb' states "Powerful drive motor with speed control between 1,000 and 5,000rpm." but I wouldn't consider 150W 'Powerful' by any stretch of the imagination! :lol: