Turning newbie with a chuck question
Rob Gill
ask some experts :-)
I recently got an old Beaver/Rockwell lathe (model 3401A) up and running and
decided after some practice I'd like to turn some pens and such. I bought
the pen kits and mandrel locally from Lee Valley, but for the life of me I
do not understand how to mount the mandrel on my lathe. It seems to me I
require a drill-type chuck on the headstock to hold one end of the mandrel
while the other rides on the live center I purchased. Now I've seen some
chucks that have the #1 or #2 MT which supposedly mount in the headstock,
but the arbor in my headstock does not allow that, near as I can tell.
(There is a very small hole in the end of the arbor, perhaps 1/8" diameter
max and not very deep, I don't know why it's there. Any takers on that?
Seems to me that it's common for shafts to have these small dimples... Doh!
Probably from when they were turned, right? Hey - I'm catching on!). I do
have a #1 MT in the tail end.
The inboard end of the arbor is 7/8" 14tpi (which can be difficult to find
stuff for, I gather.) I haven't found any of these drill-type chucks (what
are they properly called?) that would screw mount to my arbor. So what am I
supposed to do here? I even have the original manual and it doesn't show any
accessory that would allow me to mount a chuck with a MT.
I'll also mention that I got a 3-jaw and a 4-jaw with the lathe when I
bought it (the big huge ones!). I haven't checked yet to see if they will
close small enough to hold the mandrel, but I really thought it was rather
excessive to use one of those to hold a small mandrel anyway. I'd like to
just use a small drill-type chuck if possible, as I've seen in photos.
Thanks for you ears. Replies to the group and/or rcg...@sympatico.ca please.
Rob
Rob Gill
My headstock arbor does not have a taper hollowed out of it to accept a
chuck with a taper. It seems I can only use thread-on accessories(such as
the large 3- and 4-jaw chucks I have), unless there's some kind of adapter I
can thread on that will accept a taper.
Now if the tapers can be removed from a given chuck that happens to have the
same thread pattern as my arbor then I'd say I'm in luck, but I didn't
realize that the tapers could be removed - I figured they were all
permanently fixed or "milled" that way.
"Rob Gill" <rcg...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:_I188.25025$_J3.1...@news20.bellglobal.com...
Fred Holder
I'm not familiar with your particular lathe, however, many of the older lathes
were made without a Morse Taper in the headstock spindle and used only threaded
attachments such as your two chucks. To the best of my knowledge, there is no
drill chuck (Jacob's Chuck) that has that thread size in it. Most of the drill
chucks with Morse Taper shafts also have a another taper on the base of the
Jacob's Chuck. I would try using that three jaw chuck to hold the pen mandrel,
the only real problem there would be that large whirlling mass so close to where
you are working.
Good luck and welcome to the turning world.
Fred Holder
<http://www.fholder.com/>
In article <Ym988.26601$_J3.19...@news20.bellglobal.com>, "Rob says...
Jim M
Do you know anyone with a machinist lathe? You might have one of them
use some aircraft grade or better aluminum and machine out a chuck head that
is threaded to accept your lathes arbor. On the mandrel side, have them
machine a recess to accept the mandrel rod that you have and then epoxy that
in place. Then you should be set to go.
--Jim
Mark
"Fred Holder" <fr...@fholder.com> wrote in message
news:a3rja...@drn.newsguy.com...
Arch
arbor fits into. The arbor and chuck commonly have a Jacobs taper, tho
some do have a Morse taper. The other end of the arbor is usually a
Morse taper 1 or 2 to fit into your lathe. This doesn't help you. I only
mention it to point out one of the problems with older used lathes, I am
not critical of your machine. I have an old Beaver with the same
spindle, myself. Another chuck type is a headstock chuck. These can be
threaded directly onto the lathe spindle, and are usually hollow so that
material can be fed thru a hollow spindle and then thru the chuck. These
are mostly for metal lathes, are expensive and it's unlikely that you
will find one to fit your spindle. Again, just to be complete, and not
meaning to put down your lathe. Small drill chucks with a capacity of
1/2" or 3/8" with female threads 3/8 X 24 or 1/2 X 20 are inexpensive
and readily available. Jim's advice is probably best if you just want to
drive your pen mandrel, but for a little more expense, you might want to
attach a few other devices without the mass of the chucks you already
have or without the expense of having a female 7/8 X 14 to a female MT1
or MT2 adapter made. I suggest you consider having a steel female 7/8 X
14 to male 1/2 X 20 adapter made, and buy a Jacobs drill chuck off the
shelf at Home Depot etc. to fit. I think this will give you more options
downstream. If this long (and sexy) tale of woe doesn't help, it will at
least keep you off the streets while you are reading it! :-)
Regards, Arch
Fortiter,
Ecnerwal
> 14 to male 1/2 X 20 adapter made, and buy a Jacobs drill chuck off the
Much better to adapt from the lathe thread to a Jacobs taper; the
simplest route and the best connection to a drill chuck on a MT-less
lathe, especially if you use a JT that's big enough to have the lathe
threads inside (minimum projection of the chuck). Use some of the
super-duper locktite on the taper and it's a thread-on chuck.
Del Morissette
I'd suggest you talk to Victor at BestWood Tools
http://www.store.yahoo.com/bestwoodtools/
I'd bet he could machine up piece for you that would give you an adapter
from your 7/8-14 headstock to a female #1 morse taper at a reasonable price.
Obviously you'll use a little length, but would give you a lot more
flexibility in how you use your lathe.
Victor has done some custom work for me (and others also), and I've been
impressed with both the quality of the work and the reasonableness of the
price. Give him a call.
No connection except for being a very satisfied customer.
Del in Dublin
"Rob Gill" <rcg...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:_I188.25025$_J3.1...@news20.bellglobal.com...
Lyn J. Mangiameli
Lyn
Arch
so I assumed that Rob didn't want to invest $2 in a $1
lathe, and a reasonable price is relative. A custom adapter with
internal MT will probably cost more than the lathe, and wont transfer to
many of the other lathes that Rob will surely end up with. :) IIRC he
will still have a fixed tail center integral with the tail spindle to
deal with so very much upgrading is sort of iffy. A cobbled
1/2X20 stub will cost the same or less than a JT and can be soft.
Threaded Jacobs chucks are everywhere, new or scavenged from defunct
home shop drills. A threaded stub allows Rob to use wire wheels, buffing
wheels, sanding discs small drums, flexible shafts etc. in addition to
a Jacobs or even an el cheapo keyless chuck. BTW, if a face plate
didn't accompany your Beaver, threaded inserts for face plates are
available from Grizzly in sizes to fit many spindles including 7/8X14
for $6.95. You can have fun figuring what things you can make to use
one with: jam chucks. pin chucks, wood collets----Oh, the joy is never
ending.
Halleluia, Arch
Fortiter,
Rob Gill
faceplates with the lathe fortunately, so I'm ok there.
Last night I mounted the taper that came with the Lee Valley pen kit into
the big three-jaw chuck, just to see if it would work. Seems ok, but that
big chuck certainly limits my mobility at that end.
So it sounds like I could use one of these Grizzly thread adapters to
convert my 7/8"x14tpi spindle to whatever common size accepts a Jacob's
chuck then?
Thanks for all the help...
Rob Gill
some strict rules the webtv.net mail servers use. So, I'll just post it
here:
Regarding the Beaver lathe manuals, I have no problem making you a copy and
sending it, but I'd need your address.
Did you know that you can call Delta and they will send you the manual and
parts diagrams for free? (In fact, I have a second copy of each on the way -
I
didn't realize I had the originals until I cleaned up my shop a bit and
found
them!)
I believe the numbers are:
From Canada: 1-800-GO-DELTA (1-800-463-3582)
From US: 1-800-223-PART (1-800-223-7278)
Let me know if those numbers are not correct...
Cheers,
Rob
"Arch" <al...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:9638-3C6...@storefull-136.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
Rob Gill
my taper-less arbor. I was unable to track down any kind of thread adapter
that would fit my arbor's threads.
In the end I came up with something that worked out rather easily. As I
mentioned the arbor already had a dimple in it's dead center. I turned on
the lathe at it's slowest speed and lightly plunged a 5/16" drill bit into
the dimple. The rotation of the arbor made it easy to keep the bit on axis.
I tapped the hole to 3/8"-24tpi, cut the head off an appropriately sized
bolt and was then able to mount an inexpensive Jacob's-style chuck onto the
stub.
I mounted a couple of small blanks on the mandrel with the bushings and
turned my first pen! (This one was just for practice however - I didn't glue
in the brass sleeve and attach all the parts.)
Yip - it was fun. Thanks again...
-Rob
"Rob Gill" <rcg...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
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