Thread: Old Chuck--repair or dump?

Hi Guys,
I was scratching through some old junk the other day and rediscovered an old drill chuck,which cam in a tin of rusty odds and ends. Since I'm looking for things to amuse me and I've made any lathe tools I have had waiting for inspiration, I wondered about getting this working again----or should I just throw it in the bin.
It screwed apart easily enough but I cant see any way of separating the chuck into two pieces, to get the 3 jaws and the other fittings out of the body.The hole at the back is far too small to get the fittings out.
I suspect there should be a bent wire spring for each of the three jaws and they are missing (the jaws just rattle around)

Any ideas how to get the jaws out and what the wire springs might look like?

Thanks everyone who are willing to offer advice

warm regards

Brianchuck 2.jpg

Looks like a Jacobs style the inner section should press out, really big vice may do if you don't have a press, even if it is not repairable ( cant find spare jaws etc.) it would be a good learning excercise

Originally Posted by China

Looks like a Jacobs style the inner section should press out, really big vice may do if you don't have a press, even if it is not repairable ( cant find spare jaws etc.) it would be a good learning excercise

Looking at it, I suspect not. Note that it screws onto the arbor, and, I suspect, from the length of the thread, that this is also the adjustment for the jaws. I have an old similar but not identical chuck dating from the forties. On this one the end cap which screws onto the morse taper arbor unscrews from the chuck body, and the plunger which adjusts the jaws and the jaws themselves can then be removed from the top end of the chuck. The joint between the top cap and the chuck body is almost invisible. If the chuck is of this design trying to press it apart will destroy it, so beware.

If the chuck is of this type, now that it has been removed from the arbor you should be able to tap the projecting jaws back into the chuck body if they are not too badly rusted or stuck, because there is nothing behind them to hold them in place.

Frank.

Hi Frank, Guys,

Years ago I had a mechanical hand drill that had a chuck like that, about 3/8" capacity if I remember correctly. Horrible thing. If you tightened it hard on a drill bit, to get it out you had to unscrew the chuck a couple of turns and the bang the end of the drill bit to loosen it. It eventually went to live in the metal scrap bin.

I think Frank and Baron J are right
Thanks both
Brian

Brian, I have a small screw-on chuck on the end of a flexible drive that is screwed together.
The piece that screws into the chuck locates in the counterbored plate that pushes against the bottom of the chuck jaws.

IMG_1022.jpg

The jaws are separated by small springs positioned in holes on the sides of the jaws.

IMG_1023.jpg

Hi Brian,

I just had a look at my chuck for the first time in a while. It is a bigger version of the type Ray shows in his photo. It is half inch capacity, well made by Picador in the UK, and is not a bad chuck of its type. I still use it occasionally, mainly on an arbor with a tapered square end which I made years ago before the era of cheap battery drills to fit a carpenter's brace so ordinary twist drills can be held in the brace. This can be handy on odd occasions. Mine is threaded for a completely non standard arbor thread, 1/2" x 24 TPI. It can still be used in the lathe using its original MT arbor when a second chuck can save time changing drill sizes; it is quicker and easier just to change the chuck.

The three springs which hold the jaws apart look very similar to the springs used in cheap retractable ball point pens if yours are missing. If it is not too far gone I would say it would be worth restoring as a second chuck for the lathe.

Frank.

Thanks Ray and Franko. Ray your pic is very helpful because I figured the back of the chuck should screw off as yours does. Its just that I cant see a join line.
I will take a closer look this weekend
Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions
regards
Brian

So I set the chuck up in the lathe and took a skim off the outside .
Careful examination showed a tiny lemish near the end so IU held it in the vice and eased it 'open'.
Ah-ha! the back undid and the messy jaws and springs fell out.
Half an hour with wire brush and shelite and a reassemble and a polish of the MT1 taper and installing it into an MT2 sleeve and it works "OK"in the lathe tailstock.
It will need new springs and an internal polish to make it "nice" but it was a good outcome .

Thanks everyone for your advice.