6 jaw chuck source

Newton

Newton

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm considering a 6 jaw chuck and was wondering if any one had a source to recommend which is reliable and good prices?
Plenty one who sells these but if some one had good service and price from some one I would consider them.

Need to be able to ship to Norway.

Edit: Also, what is the recommended brand? Bison, Buck, Gator or others ?
K
 
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Bison is a very good chuck and they are made in Poland so there must be some European suppliers. You can spend a lot more and not get much difference. From what I've heard, the cheaper chinese chucks aren't good enough.

I've had my Bison chucks for 18 and 15 years and they have always worked great. They will zero out and stay there.
 
Thanks Paul.
Local source rips off as usual so it's cheaper to get it from some of the deals on ebay-however I need some special invoices to make it worh.

Looked at Bison 200mm and I guess it's just to face of the D1-4 plate and mount?
How does the micro adjust actually work to dial it in to zero-do you do this on the jaws once or do you adjust the whole body?
Thanks
 
Newton said:
Thanks Paul.
Local source rips off as usual so it's cheaper to get it from some of the deals on ebay-however I need some special invoices to make it worh.

Looked at Bison 200mm and I guess it's just to face of the D1-4 plate and mount?
How does the micro adjust actually work to dial it in to zero-do you do this on the jaws once or do you adjust the whole body?
Thanks
Click to expand...

The chuck body is adjusted on it's backplate with the adjusting screws like using a 4 jaw chuck. Usually, once adjusted in, they are fairly good over a range of sizes.
 
I bought a Bison and a Pratt body on Ebay for about 400.00 each in new condition. What I have NOT been able to find are the D1-4 back plates USED at ALL. I bought a new Bison for over 200.00 and the Pratt is still sitting.

Grizzly now sells the Bison with back for 1000.00 plus shipping...

I have HEARD the import back plates will work.

Pratt wants near 300.00 for a back plate. Is it hard to wonder why China is so successful?
 
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Once the chuck is mounted on the lathe chuck up a proven round piece and measure for runout. If there is runout you loosen three screws in the face of the chuck then using four screws on the side of the chuck body, you adjust away the runout and retighten the front screws. IT'll take a little practice but if I can do it it can't be too hard.

You'll need to check the chuck every now and then but it will hold zero very well.
 
conetip said:
The chuck body is adjusted on it's backplate with the adjusting screws like using a 4 jaw chuck. Usually, once adjusted in, they are fairly good over a range of sizes.
Click to expand...

Thanks Neil, your advice has helped me a lot (in several of my posts) and I highly appreciate it !

K
 
pescadoman said:
I bought a Bison and a Pratt body on Ebay for about 400.00 each in new condition. What I have NOT been able to find are the D1-4 back plates USED at ALL. I bought a new Bison for over 200.00 and the Pratt is still sitting.

Grizzly now sells the Bison with back for 1000.00 plus shipping...

I have HEARD the import back plates will work.

Pratt wants near 300.00 for a back plate. Is it hard to wonder why China is so successful?
Click to expand...

Wow, you have done some good deals - 400!
Thanks for the tip regarding Grizzly - that is a fair bit lower than the a Ebay sellers I have tried to contact - but not heard from..
Grizzly has been contacted.. .Thanks

K
 
Paul Dayton said:
Once the chuck is mounted on the lathe chuck up a proven round piece and measure for runout. If there is runout you loosen three screws in the face of the chuck then using four screws on the side of the chuck body, you adjust away the runout and retighten the front screws. IT'll take a little practice but if I can do it it can't be too hard.

You'll need to check the chuck every now and then but it will hold zero very well.
Click to expand...

Paul, that's for sure a procedure I could work out :wink:
I thought actually it was some form of micro adjustments on the jaws them self.
I guess you did face the D1-4 adapter plate before the chuck was mounted ?

K
 
Actually none of the three Bison face plates I've owned needed facing but it is a simple job if it is required.
 
I put an indicator on the faces and the only thing facing them would have done is, nothing. They were true. The recommendation might just have been covering their butts.
 
Paul Dayton said:
I put an indicator on the faces and the only thing facing them would have done is, nothing. They were true. The recommendation might just have been covering their butts.
Click to expand...

It would insure perfection. On cars, it is ALWAYS better to turn the rotors on the car. It guarantees any runout created by wheel bearings is accounted for..
 
Well, took my chinese chuck out today and mounted everything in one bang.
TIR was so far out that the 4 bolts could not take it in.....
Mounted only the back plate and to my surprice the face was way off.
Took the plate off-spindle is perfect - no issues.
Mounted back the plate with one shift of holes for the pins and TIR was still not good.
Tried tightning the Camloc gripping the stud bolts as even as possible- but the face was still out. All clean surfaces so no ga ga to blame.
Not impressed with the original bison face plate....
I marked it with a tape to match the position on the axle and faced the plate with two light cuts
and mounted the chuck and dialed it in to less than 0,01mm and would continue tomorrow for as close to zero as possible.

Not 100% happy about this-but after it all is in place it feels ok. Nice to be able dial it in if something happens. The operation of the jaws is very smooth and for sure better than the sloppy chinese.
The negative part is that the faceplate adds a fair bit in X axis so the chuck jaws face is a tad further from the headstock than the direct mounted chinese.

Now it's time to make more dust;-)

Have a nice weekend folks.
K
 
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