lathe tooling

zx24

zx24

Cue Maker Apprentice
Silver Member
Where is a good place to shop for MT#3 concave live center and drill chucks?
 
It depends on what quality you want. Travers has about as good of quality as you could ask for. But Enco will have some lower end chucks at much better prices.
 
zx24 said:
Where is a good place to shop for MT#3 concave live center and drill chucks?
Click to expand...

I've probably got close to a dozen chucks that I don't use. I've got Rohn, an albrecht keyless, an Enco, some others and some Chinese and none of them are worth using, in my opinion. The last 3 chucks that I have purchased, and the only ones that I use, I have bought on e-bay used. As far as I'm concerned the only chuck worth using is a Jacob's super chuck. They hold a bit straight, they tighten easily, they don't let the bit slip which both ruins the bit and the chuck and you can get them fairly cheap. There is one guy who comes up with a lot of them and they go for 20 to 50.00 each which is about a third or better than a new one.

Dick
 
I've had the opposite experience as you Dick. I have used at least 20 different jacobs bb superchucks over the last 10 years, on both lathes and mills for mostly metal working but some cue repair. I bought one brand new, and the others were in a couple toolrooms I worked in. THey all sucked for holding small diameter drill bits (anything under 1/8"). I even bought a smaller version of the Jacobs (but not the super chuck, a step down from it) that only went up to 1/4", just for the small diameter drills. No good either. All these chucks on a lathe would not line up the drill bit perfectly with the center hole from a center drill. ANd on a milling machine where you can see the bit spinning, it was obvious they took a lot of fussing to get to spin true, if they could spin true at all.

THe toolroom I was at also had Albreight chucks for the mills. There was no comparison whatsoever. tHey held the smallest of drill bits with no problem. Spun them dead true. I spent the 300 and bought one for my lathe at home. It was like night and day compared to the ball bearing super chuck I had before (that I also bought brand new).

At my current job, the shop had the bb super chucks for the lathes and mills. Same problems as before: they didn't hold anything true. I ordered knock-off Albrieght chucks from MSC due to the shops budget. These were made in Taiwan, and were a bout $100 with the arbor, compared to about $300 for the Albreight. They worked as well as the Albreight, as far as I could tell, and way better than the jacobs bb super chuck.

In my opinion, next to a quick change tool post, an Albreight or knockoff chuck is the best improvement one can make to a lathe.

Anyway, glad we both found chucks that we like...
 
iusedtoberich said:
I've had the opposite experience as you Dick. I have used at least 20 different jacobs bb superchucks over the last 10 years, on both lathes and mills for mostly metal working but some cue repair. I bought one brand new, and the others were in a couple toolrooms I worked in. THey all sucked for holding small diameter drill bits (anything under 1/8"). I even bought a smaller version of the Jacobs (but not the super chuck, a step down from it) that only went up to 1/4", just for the small diameter drills. No good either. All these chucks on a lathe would not line up the drill bit perfectly with the center hole from a center drill. ANd on a milling machine where you can see the bit spinning, it was obvious they took a lot of fussing to get to spin true, if they could spin true at all.

THe toolroom I was at also had Albreight chucks for the mills. There was no comparison whatsoever. tHey held the smallest of drill bits with no problem. Spun them dead true. I spent the 300 and bought one for my lathe at home. It was like night and day compared to the ball bearing super chuck I had before (that I also bought brand new).

At my current job, the shop had the bb super chucks for the lathes and mills. Same problems as before: they didn't hold anything true. I ordered knock-off Albrieght chucks from MSC due to the shops budget. These were made in Taiwan, and were a bout $100 with the arbor, compared to about $300 for the Albreight. They worked as well as the Albreight, as far as I could tell, and way better than the jacobs bb super chuck.

In my opinion, next to a quick change tool post, an Albreight or knockoff chuck is the best improvement one can make to a lathe.

Anyway, glad we both found chucks that we like...
Click to expand...

The Albrecht that I have and the Rohn will hold the drill bit tightly under power but, of coarse, not in reverse. In my experience with the ones i have, neither holds the bits straight. The Rohn I bought new but the Albrecht was used. I got it because I was unhappy with the Rohn and the Albrecht was supposed to be the best. Maybe it is worn out. All of the Chinese chucks I've tried won't hold the bit or tap tightly enough to keep it from turning. I would have to put a wrench onto the key trying to get it to hold tightly enough to remove a tap from wood. Their jaws are just made of too soft of steel. The Jacobs chucks I have are all 14N models which are 0 - 1/2 inch. I've had no problems with any of them holding smaller bits although I haven't used anything smaller than about 1/16 inch. Truthfully, you are the first machinist who I have ever had a conversation about chucks who has had an unfavorable opinion of the Super Chuck.

Dick
 
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