Thread: Help With Drill Press Chuck Removal

Originally Posted by bob ward

If you have the spindle out, ie no seals or bearings to worry about, then you can apply more heat to the situation. Heat will also break down loctite if you are unlucky enough to have a loctited arbor.

Is the aim of this exercise just to change the chuck? If so, with a ball joint separating tool or similar, you should be able to remove the chuck from the arbor and replace it with a new one.

Bob it is mainly about changing the chuck but it too seems to be fixed in place. Hadn't thought about trying a ball joint separating tool so thank you - I think I have one so somewhere in the shed.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

Possibly correct depending on the type or size of shop you take it too.
Probably depends on whether you want to save sleeve or tool in it.
Hopefully it has a hollow spindle and it can be pushed out ( quick and easy) rather than the cost of machining or freezing/heating.

Pipeclay, unfortunately the spindle is not hollow above the drift window. I will try heating it when I get it out and if that fails I will have to enquire around about local engineering shop capabilities. I will however try the ball joint separator on the chuck as Bob Ward has suggested before dismantling. If the chuck comes off I will be satisfied with that for now so I can get on with my projects. Unfortunately I am a bit of a perfectionist and like/want all my stuff to function as it was designed to.

Originally Posted by hitch

Pipeclay, unfortunately the spindle is not hollow above the drift window. I will try heating it when I get it out and if that fails I will have to enquire around about local engineering shop capabilities. I will however try the ball joint separator on the chuck as Bob Ward has suggested before dismantling. If the chuck comes off I will be satisfied with that for now so I can get on with my projects. Unfortunately I am a bit of a perfectionist and like/want all my stuff to function as it was designed to.

That is fully understandable. I feel the same way myself. If the spindle is removed from the drill press and it has been loctited on then heat will release the loctite. This may be the only option.

Dean

At last some good news. With some not too gentle persuasion with a ball joint separator the chuck parted ways with the arbor. Thanks for the suggestion Bob Ward. Thanks again to everyone for your comment and assistance.

Now the question is what replacement chuck. I think a 13mm chuck will meet my requirements and it will have to have a B16 tapered mount to match the arbor that I can't remove. I am prepared to spend up to around $100 to purchase a good mid range quality chuck and keyless seems to provide convenience over keyed. Most drilling will be in wood. Any advice/ suggestions will be much appreciated.

My drill chuck experience, these are all 16mm keyed chucks. The chuck that came with my shoddily made Hafco AL340 lathe lasted 4 years at probably 2 hours per week use max before it stopped holding drill bits.

While having a complete brain fart I bought a replacement from one of the local suppliers who pretend to be suppliers of engineering supplies but in reality most of their stuff is of too poor a quality to even put in Christmas crackers. "Macho" brand it had on the box, and what a complete POS it was, it couldn't even hold a 5mm bit to drill through aluminium without the bit disappearing into the chuck.

So I bought one from CTC in Hong Kong from whom I buy a fair bit of my tooling, which is what I should have done in the first place. The chuck does exactly what it is supposed to do, ie hold drill bits firmly while you drill stuff. If you buy a chuck from them buy the arbor with it so you have it when you swap the old one out. You should have a fair bit of change from your $100. This is keyed chucks I'm referring to here.

OTOH the 16mm chuck that came with my shoddily made Hafco HM52 mill is still going strong as the one in my shoddily made Hafco drill press, both have 5 or 6 years on them.

The 2 cheap chinese keyless chucks I have, both have limited depth inside the jaws. Something to look out for.

Dean

Originally Posted by hitch

At last some good news. With some not too gentle persuasion with a ball joint separator the chuck parted ways with the arbor. Thanks for the suggestion Bob Ward. Thanks again to everyone for your comment and assistance.

Now the question is what replacement chuck. I think a 13mm chuck will meet my requirements and it will have to have a B16 tapered mount to match the arbor that I can't remove.

Hitch, if you have the capability I'd try very hard to remove the arbor. If the chuck was hanging on that hard and the arbor will not budge, it could be that it is bent or the B16 taper is damaged. I had a second hand arbor & chuck where I finally removed the chuck and then discovered that the taper was damaged enough that no chuck would seat firmly on it (I think the chuck had semi-welded itself on after the arbor continued to rotate when the drill had stalled in a hole). Chucks with arbors are more common second hand too.

Plan B would be get some emery strip on a piece of flat timber and try to dress up the taper so it is smooth and continuous

Michael

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

The 2 cheap chinese keyless chucks I have, both have limited depth inside the jaws. Something to look out for.

Dean

Thanks Oldneweng. I had not heard of that possible limitation before.

Originally Posted by Michael G

Hitch, if you have the capability I'd try very hard to remove the arbor. If the chuck was hanging on that hard and the arbor will not budge, it could be that it is bent or the B16 taper is damaged. I had a second hand arbor & chuck where I finally removed the chuck and then discovered that the taper was damaged enough that no chuck would seat firmly on it (I think the chuck had semi-welded itself on after the arbor continued to rotate when the drill had stalled in a hole). Chucks with arbors are more common second hand too.

Plan B would be get some emery strip on a piece of flat timber and try to dress up the taper so it is smooth and continuous

Michael

Thanks Michael. Despite the difficulties the taper appears to be ok. It has some discolouration patches (dark grey) otherwise appears smooth and undamaged. Tomorrow I will clean it up and test runout.

The following is for completeness for anyone who may be interested now or in the future.

The arbor remains stuck in the spindle and for now I will take no further actions in an attempt to free it.

I have purchased a Porta Validus 13mm keyless chuck to replace the old worn chuck. I had no difficulties installing it and so far it is remaining firmly in place.

With the new chuck installed testing indicates that I have just 0.002" or less of runout throughout the range.

I'm happy with that and consider it lucky given the thumping the drill press has had during efforts to free the arbor.

I need to replace the chuck on my bench top drill press but I'm having trouble breaking it free, I'm using a ball joint splitter and hammer.

do you think if I keep working at it it'll come free or do I have to pull the quill to remove this chuck?

Been giving it a good wack but it's not budging

IMG_20190816_185249.jpg

Have you tried any heat? In the first instance I would try a hot air gun.
Heat - let cool - repeat, half a dozen cycles

Originally Posted by BobL

QAhve you tried any heat? In the first instance I would try a hot air gun.
Heat - let cool - repeat, half a dozen cycles

Good idea, I'll dig out the heat gun and try

Gave it a bit of heat from a hot air gun and a light tap and it fell off, just need to find a replacement now, couldn't find anything local so eBay it is

A trick I learnt a couple of years ago for removing a tight DP chuck is to put a bit of pressure on the back of the chuck (my old Richardson has a nut on the spindle that is meant for this or use a couple of chuck removing wedges) Then put a short bit of round bar, the largest in dia that you can fit in the chuck, and give it a few fast taps sideways with a soft face hammer. Doesn't have to be real hard, just fast. Its surprising how effective it is. Having said that, I have only ever tried it ( both successful) on two DP's

Peter