Hey Howee, im at machining school and your videos help give us all an edge and know more than our teachers sometimes do. Everybody in the class is grateful to you, your crew and your videos for showing us some good techniques and good stuff we dont get to learn in a school environment.
Four jaw chucks are my go to. I have gone to the trouble of making a heap of split sleeves that slide over a whole series of commercial sizes. 1" 25mm 28mm 30mm 1 1/4" etc right up to 90mm. Four jaw chucks normally bell mouth a wee bit and my sleeves are tapered on the outside about .010 or 0.25mm. This helps with vibration and makes the bars sitting pretty parallel when you chuck them up..Ideal for chrome shafting too as I do a heap of hydraulic chrome shafting. The sleeves are the length of the jaws and have a 3/8" or 10mm shoulder to stop them moving in. With I had done it years ago. Much easier than fiddling with packers.
I think if my chuck had 10 thou of bellmouth I would regrind the jaws, but I do like the sleeve idea and may make some since I have been doing more and more cylinder rods as well
You would make a very good teacher, it's crazy how well you're able to break stuff down to where it sounds very simple, thats definitely a sign that you do, in fact, know what you're doing lol. Very good stuff
I've used a 3 jaw scroll chuck with independently adjustable jaws many many years ago. At my current job we have a old purpose built lathe for putting figure "8" grease grooves and it has a 4 jaw scroll chuck with independently adjustable jaws. Its a pretty neat and handy machine for putting helical grease ways in bushings.
I'm there! I officially have enough 4 jaw practice. I am stoked. Last week it would have taken me longer to swap the 4 jaw out to put in my good 3 jaw to run a piece of TG and P than it did to just put it in the 4 jaw and get on with it. I have a smaller lathe (14" swing) so I use two chuck keys opposing each other for adjusting the 4 jaw. When I started out that made a big difference to the ease of doing it. I don't find I need to do that anymore - although still do because I can tighten opposing jaws and don't move the part off center. Cheers, great video and I love watching all your content. Best wishes!
Set the all 4 jaws to the same land mark ring on the chuck body. Get your scale out and measure the distance between jaws. Find the difference between your material and the jaw number. Divide by two. Move each jaw which ever way by the sum you found.
That was the way I was taught back in 1997. Man I apprenticed under told me I would get faster when I got my "eye-crometers" calibrated. He was right. I miss that rank old goat.
I briefly had a intern at work who said he knew how to machine on a lathe. So I handed him a piece of square stock and pointed him to the small lathe with a 4 jaw chuck. Took him over an hour to get it lined up with an indicator. I teased him about how long it took. He said I couldn't do it much faster. So I told him to center punch an offset hole on another piece of square stock and to take the jaws out of the lathe chuck. Took me less than ten minutes to get the lathe drilling the offset hole. I told him to never underestimate experience. I hope he remembers that humble sandwich I served him that day. Good video!
I keep telling people not to buy a six jaw chuck unless you’re going to use it with machined, or precisely ground work. And while it helps with thin wall, it’s not as good as a collet. You will damage a six jaw if you use it with mill rounds. As he said, only three jaws will contact securely. So I’ve seen guys tighten it as much as possible to get all jaws somewhat tight. That, of course, wears the scroll and the teeth on the jaws. If you remove every other jaw and use it as a three jaw, you must exchange the three jaw sets on a regular basis so that the chuck won’t wear unevenly. That helps, but doesn’t eliminate the problem. Universal chucks with a scroll and pinioned jaws were very popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when they lost favor.
One thing that is never said is that a three jaw chuck is inherently weaker than a 4 jaw chuck. When the jaws are opposed as in a 4 jaw chuck it makes for more work holding (greater grip) that a 3 jaw chuck where the clamping forces are at 120° apart. I like to think of a 4 jaw as 2 bench vices a 90° to each other.
Yes, that's rarely mentioned, I learned it on my apprenticeship in 1968. Our instructor said the four jaw chuck should be used more often than it is. You can see how the four jaw chuck evolved from a faceplate.
Ughhh, fine, I'll stop being lazy and put my 4 jaw back on. I can indicate in just fine with it, but given the choice I'll toss the 3 jaw on, even though my jaws are pretty beat.
I do that quite often in reverse. I have a 21" swing lathe that only has a 3-jaw. I take the 8" 4-jaw and chuck it in the large 3-jaw. One day they might buy me a bigger chuck but I am not holding my breath.
Hey Howee, im at machining school and your videos help give us all an edge and know more than our teachers sometimes do.
Everybody in the class is grateful to you, your crew and your videos for showing us some good techniques and good stuff we dont get to learn in a school environment.
I never knew that I wanted to know so much about machining. Thanks Howee for sharing your knowledge!
Four jaw chucks are my go to. I have gone to the trouble of making a heap of split sleeves that slide over a whole series of commercial sizes. 1" 25mm 28mm 30mm 1 1/4" etc right up to 90mm. Four jaw chucks normally bell mouth a wee bit and my sleeves are tapered on the outside about .010 or 0.25mm. This helps with vibration and makes the bars sitting pretty parallel when you chuck them up..Ideal for chrome shafting too as I do a heap of hydraulic chrome shafting. The sleeves are the length of the jaws and have a 3/8" or 10mm shoulder to stop them moving in. With I had done it years ago. Much easier than fiddling with packers.
I think if my chuck had 10 thou of bellmouth I would regrind the jaws, but I do like the sleeve idea and may make some since I have been doing more and more cylinder rods as well
@markvoluckas4571 problem is at different dia jaws are bell mouthed different amounts.
You would make a very good teacher, it's crazy how well you're able to break stuff down to where it sounds very simple, thats definitely a sign that you do, in fact, know what you're doing lol. Very good stuff
Supervisor thought it would be funny to put the new kid on a 4 jaw. I had allready been trained on a crankshaft grinder.😂 not a problem!
I've used a 3 jaw scroll chuck with independently adjustable jaws many many years ago. At my current job we have a old purpose built lathe for putting figure "8" grease grooves and it has a 4 jaw scroll chuck with independently adjustable jaws. Its a pretty neat and handy machine for putting helical grease ways in bushings.
I'm there! I officially have enough 4 jaw practice. I am stoked. Last week it would have taken me longer to swap the 4 jaw out to put in my good 3 jaw to run a piece of TG and P than it did to just put it in the 4 jaw and get on with it. I have a smaller lathe (14" swing) so I use two chuck keys opposing each other for adjusting the 4 jaw. When I started out that made a big difference to the ease of doing it. I don't find I need to do that anymore - although still do because I can tighten opposing jaws and don't move the part off center. Cheers, great video and I love watching all your content. Best wishes!
Set the all 4 jaws to the same land mark ring on the chuck body. Get your scale out and measure the distance between jaws. Find the difference between your material and the jaw number. Divide by two. Move each jaw which ever way by the sum you found.
That was the way I was taught back in 1997. Man I apprenticed under told me I would get faster when I got my "eye-crometers" calibrated. He was right. I miss that rank old goat.
Wealth of Knowledge ... Thank You Kindly For Sharing ...
peace
4 jaw is my favorite for 98 percent of work. The rest of the guys thing I am nuts.
This is an amazing video on 4 jaw using.
Could you make a video covering getting shafts/hydraulic rods straight in the 4 jaw chuck?
Thanks
Always great John…Paulie in Florida ❤
I briefly had a intern at work who said he knew how to machine on a lathe. So I handed him a piece of square stock and pointed him to the small lathe with a 4 jaw chuck. Took him over an hour to get it lined up with an indicator. I teased him about how long it took. He said I couldn't do it much faster. So I told him to center punch an offset hole on another piece of square stock and to take the jaws out of the lathe chuck. Took me less than ten minutes to get the lathe drilling the offset hole. I told him to never underestimate experience. I hope he remembers that humble sandwich I served him that day. Good video!
Love your videos! Thank you!
I keep telling people not to buy a six jaw chuck unless you’re going to use it with machined, or precisely ground work. And while it helps with thin wall, it’s not as good as a collet. You will damage a six jaw if you use it with mill rounds. As he said, only three jaws will contact securely. So I’ve seen guys tighten it as much as possible to get all jaws somewhat tight. That, of course, wears the scroll and the teeth on the jaws. If you remove every other jaw and use it as a three jaw, you must exchange the three jaw sets on a regular basis so that the chuck won’t wear unevenly. That helps, but doesn’t eliminate the problem. Universal chucks with a scroll and pinioned jaws were very popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when they lost favor.
What about an 11 jaw chuck. Someone should make one that goes one further.
One thing that is never said is that a three jaw chuck is inherently weaker than a 4 jaw chuck.
When the jaws are opposed as in a 4 jaw chuck it makes for more work holding (greater grip) that a 3 jaw chuck where the clamping forces are at 120° apart. I like to think of a 4 jaw as 2 bench vices a 90° to each other.
Yes, that's rarely mentioned, I learned it on my apprenticeship in 1968. Our instructor said the four jaw chuck should be used more often than it is. You can see how the four jaw chuck evolved from a faceplate.
I keep chasing my tail, thanks for the advice
I hate changing chucks . I keep the jaw 99 % of the time unless I have a 3 jaw production job
4 jaw adjustment can reach high levels of accuracy.
Ughhh, fine, I'll stop being lazy and put my 4 jaw back on. I can indicate in just fine with it, but given the choice I'll toss the 3 jaw on, even though my jaws are pretty beat.
Algorithm booster
Is that why i see a lot of 3 jaw chucks chucked up in a big 4 jaw...im guessing its the poor mans adj 3 jaw?
I do that quite often in reverse. I have a 21" swing lathe that only has a 3-jaw. I take the 8" 4-jaw and chuck it in the large 3-jaw. One day they might buy me a bigger chuck but I am not holding my breath.