I have a 7x10 lathe that i want to use for tips and ferrules.The 3 jaw chuck it has is not very accurate.My question for the cuemakers is can i buy or make a chuck that would be better for cues?I have a 4 jaw but it takes too long to set up.Some of the ones on repair lathes look good but i dont know if they can be fitted to mine.thanks
chuck for 7x10 lathe
- Thread starter almer
- Start date
almer said:
Even a not so accurate chuck can be used to do cue work. Chucks center under pressure such as you put on a piece of steel. With a cue shaft you can not clamp down hard enough without damaging the shaft to make it center every time. It is very easy actually. Just use a leather sleeve around the shaft and after you snug it up check it with a dial indicator. Then just lightly tap on the jaw on the high side till it turns true. The jaws on most all chucks can be bumped around quite a bit on the scroll plate to easily center things. Even if you try to shim it, every time you loosen the chuck, it wants to center differently anyway it becomes just chance. Do what I am telling you and you will have no problem. Having said that, the chucks that came on your lathe is probably not the best but it should do what you want. You need to do some reading on machining and maybe even take a course as well if you don't have any background. There are a lot of tricks that make life easier.
You can find chucks easy enough through MSC Industrial supplies. They are a nation wide company. You can also rebuild the chuck you have. They have the parts.
Macguy
Not to be rude but I would never try any of those things you suggested.
Macguy
Not to be rude but I would never try any of those things you suggested.
Michael Webb said:
Not offended, but I have been running lathes for 40 years and that is how it is done. There are no rules just experience. The problem with a self centering chuck as it applies to a cue is you can't use much pressure and pressure is what centers the chuck. Try it just out of curiosity and report back. I am beginning to think this trick is not that commonly known. I was in one cue makers shop and he was shimming with pieces of paper for about 5 minutes and I said let me show you something. I snugged it up, tapped it into center and gave it a little extra snugging and it was at zero. He just started laughing and said " It is that easy and I have been doing all that crap for 10 years" .It took me 10 seconds and works every time. Some things just are not found in the book.
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I understand exactly what your saying but, why would you do that to a shaft or butt. It is a safety risk, I have collets out of delrin that go in 1/4 mm
steps. I have also seen inexpensive chucks around $110.00 dial to -O- if put on correctly.
You have all those years experience so you are very comfortable doing it that way. In todays age people are buying lathes to do their own work hoping it comes with magic dust. A good example is a friend of mine. Bought a lathe because he saw me work one. Tried to clean his own shaft,
let go of it for a minute and wound up sitting on his back side. The shaft whipped and caught him right on the chin.
steps. I have also seen inexpensive chucks around $110.00 dial to -O- if put on correctly.
You have all those years experience so you are very comfortable doing it that way. In todays age people are buying lathes to do their own work hoping it comes with magic dust. A good example is a friend of mine. Bought a lathe because he saw me work one. Tried to clean his own shaft,
let go of it for a minute and wound up sitting on his back side. The shaft whipped and caught him right on the chin.
Michael Webb said:
On one lathe I have I have a six jaw Buck chuck and if I chuck up a piece of drill rod and clamp down on it, it repeats zero every time but you just can't do that with a cue shaft. It is always .001 or.002 or so off, that one tiny tap and it becomes zero. I think you can possibly do more damage clamping down with plastic collats. I put in a shaft to say, cut down a ferrule or a tip, (the lathe has a chuck on both ends,) and I am done in a few minutes. In less time then some guys may spend trying to get the shaft to run true. It is not the speed I am talking about though, the work is just easier to do with out a bunch of half assed jury rigging. You know, doing say a ferrule, even if a shaft has some run out in it, or is not round it is still no problem. I get as close as I can to zero and take a pass on the ferrule, then check it with the dial indicator and tap the low side to the top side and take another pass. No time at all it is perfect without having to do almost any sanding later and you almost never touch the shaft. You could spend a half hour just trying to hand sand the ferrule on an out of round shaft doing a lousy job, to blend it to the shaft if you don't know what you are doing and end up sanding the guys shaft trying to get it right. It doesn't matter that you are working on cues or a cam shaft, the same principles apply to doing the work.
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Well I guess the moral is what ever works best for you. I'll have to let the other cue makers know that chances are good we're doing it wrong.
We use collets/bushing too. UHMW, Delrin or Phenolic. UHMW is the softest and will not mar the shaft.Michael Webb said:
We thread the ferrules with a thread mill that is vetically dead center to the 6-jaw chuck.
We don't use a die which you will have to on a lathe with no thread gear.
Michael Webb said:
I recently had a carpenter over who did not know how to hang a door. Just because someone makes a living at something doesn't mean they know anything. They spend their day trouble shooting the messes they get themselves into. Anyway, good luck.
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We buy them as rods and turn them and bore them.almer said:
almer said:
While you are at it, check out this forum, you may find it interesting.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/7x10minilathe/messages
Again you are doing machining and the cue is the by product. That is where your knowledge base needs to start. Most want to put the cart before the horse. They want to build cues and haven't a clue about the machines they use.
Check this site also, you can check the archive. Anything you think of to ask has probably already been asked and answered.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&group=rec.crafts.metalworking
Machines often have more capabilities then their original intended design. If you know how they work you can exploit it to the fullest, but you need to know more then just how to turn it on. Good luck.
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