Truing the jaws on my old 3 jaw lathe chuck

JF in MI · Mar 16, 2018

Hot melt glue some nuts onto the jaws for rubber bands to hold them outward against the spiral gears. Then run the grinder in and out until the sparks subside. Was able to get them to .003" runout which is close to as good as a new 3 jaw, or so I'm told.
Jaw truing

dr sportster · Mar 16, 2018

Sure looks good to me. Is that a Clausing lathe ?

JF in MI · Mar 16, 2018

Yup, a Clausing

Oliver 500 Wa · Mar 16, 2018

Nice work! Having the bands tension like that would also help pull out the clearance in the fit on the slots that the jaws slide in.

Bob - MI · Mar 16, 2018

Are you looking for a job?

I think we could use someone like you around here.

JF in MI · Mar 16, 2018

Funny you should say that. Now that I'm retired it seems I have too much work and not enough time to do enough of it. Seems like a full time job.

JD Seller · Mar 16, 2018

I always just chucked a short section of pipe in the out side set of teeth on my jaws. I then bored them with a carbide cutter. Then chuck a short piece of bar stock in the inner jams and turn the out side teeth. Usually get them with in .002-.004 IF the spindle bearings are any good.

MikeJM · Mar 17, 2018

I just tried that on my 19” LeBlonde, it was a last ditch effort before I started looking for a replacement, chuck was so worn out I ended up making it worse, so now I’m looking for a new or slightly used 3 jaw with a L1 taper in the 10 to 15 inch range.

In the meantime I have to mount my 4 jaw up and indicate everything.

JF in MI · Mar 17, 2018

The problem with doing it that way is that you are working the opposite of any play that might be in the spiral gear or the jaw rails. Also, on many lathes like mine the spindle bearings are adjustable for play. When I first got mine that was the first thing I did.

MikeJM · Mar 17, 2018

I had clamped a ring so it would force the jaws into the correct position to account for wear, unfortunately I don’t know how much this chuck was abused, but the guy that had it before me used soft jaws almost exclusively. The trouble is I had .010-.030” runout and it was inconsistent, I suspect the scroll is damaged.

Im going to take it apart and hopefully be able to use the back plate to mount another chuck.

It’s a nice sized lathe for the work I do, 72” between centers, enough power to do some real cutting, previous owner put a single phase motor on so I don’t need to have a converter.

Truing the jaws on my old 3 jaw lathe chuck

JF in MI

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dr sportster

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JF in MI

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Oliver 500 Wa

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Bob - MI

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JF in MI

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JD Seller

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MikeJM

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JF in MI

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MikeJM

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