Lathe fine tuning
- Thread starter Ccarroll
- Start date
Chris Hightower...:thumbup:
I'm sure Chris will speak to this when he sees your post, but in the meantime you may want to bore your soft jaws to ensure concentricity. Highly unlikely to have bearings running out that much.
I fought these chucks for 2 years to get them to spin a dead center true..... swore a lot and tried a lot of different things , called Chris Hightower...........,until I found out how to use them............
First of all...... The work piece does not need to run dead nuts true....... I know some people prefess how they work within a few tenths and how true their cues are........... The truth is if you can get a tip, a ferrule, or any part of a cue within about 1 thousands of an inch (.001) everything will be perfect.
Just a couple hints..... first one hole in the chuck will center better than the other 2. Put a ground pin in the chuck and indicate it, Loosen and tighten it a few times and spin it and watch the dial indicator each time to see how true it is. Do this with the other 2 holes and you will see that one hole is best. I put a ***** punch mark by this hole and usually use this one to tighten the jaws.
The other hint is that those little collets for shafts never worked for me. I wrap the shaft or the butt with a piece of .020 plastic shim stock. The piece of shim stock is about 1 inch by 3 inch. Just wrap it around the shaft with the ends sticking out between 2 jaws.
Put the shaft in the chuck with the shim stock wrapped around it and indicate it. Loosen and spin it 1/3 turn and try again......until you get it within 1 thou run out............... I do this and I never have to shim any shaft or butt........ there have been a few exceptions that were crooken as a pretzel
You could also try cleaning and lubing the chuck..... you might need that silly 1 inch spindle wrench from Taig to remove it from the spindle. I bought one about $6. Fully close the jaws and them remove the chuck. Put it face down and remove the snap ring.... remove the scroll back plate.... leave the jaws where they are...clean it and lube it with white lithium grease..... put it back together and put it back on......................... takes about 10 min
There are some that feel that you need to bore the jaws to true them up. Things do not run true because the jaws are not true, they run out because of the way the jaws clamp down on them. I have bored the jaws twice in 4 years and I don't think they needed it either time .......... I find that lightly sanding the jaws helps if there are chips, dirt, or burrs on them. Open the jaws but not all the way...... wrap your finger with 220 and sand each jaw in and out a few times to polish them..... it helps a little.
One last thing I learned from a talented machinist, If you are trying to bring in the runout the last thou.... sometimes you can give the high jaw a tap from a small rubber hammer or a block of wood to get it to run true.... it works....
First of all...... The work piece does not need to run dead nuts true....... I know some people prefess how they work within a few tenths and how true their cues are........... The truth is if you can get a tip, a ferrule, or any part of a cue within about 1 thousands of an inch (.001) everything will be perfect.
Just a couple hints..... first one hole in the chuck will center better than the other 2. Put a ground pin in the chuck and indicate it, Loosen and tighten it a few times and spin it and watch the dial indicator each time to see how true it is. Do this with the other 2 holes and you will see that one hole is best. I put a ***** punch mark by this hole and usually use this one to tighten the jaws.
The other hint is that those little collets for shafts never worked for me. I wrap the shaft or the butt with a piece of .020 plastic shim stock. The piece of shim stock is about 1 inch by 3 inch. Just wrap it around the shaft with the ends sticking out between 2 jaws.
Put the shaft in the chuck with the shim stock wrapped around it and indicate it. Loosen and spin it 1/3 turn and try again......until you get it within 1 thou run out............... I do this and I never have to shim any shaft or butt........ there have been a few exceptions that were crooken as a pretzel
You could also try cleaning and lubing the chuck..... you might need that silly 1 inch spindle wrench from Taig to remove it from the spindle. I bought one about $6. Fully close the jaws and them remove the chuck. Put it face down and remove the snap ring.... remove the scroll back plate.... leave the jaws where they are...clean it and lube it with white lithium grease..... put it back together and put it back on......................... takes about 10 min
There are some that feel that you need to bore the jaws to true them up. Things do not run true because the jaws are not true, they run out because of the way the jaws clamp down on them. I have bored the jaws twice in 4 years and I don't think they needed it either time .......... I find that lightly sanding the jaws helps if there are chips, dirt, or burrs on them. Open the jaws but not all the way...... wrap your finger with 220 and sand each jaw in and out a few times to polish them..... it helps a little.
One last thing I learned from a talented machinist, If you are trying to bring in the runout the last thou.... sometimes you can give the high jaw a tap from a small rubber hammer or a block of wood to get it to run true.... it works....
When you bore the jaws, which you dont need to do often, I have a piece of purpleheart that is about 7" long and just barely goes through the headstock. Slide the piece through the rear chuck side and stop just shy of the aluminum jaws and tighten down on the hardened steel behind the aluminum, then tighten the rear chuck. Now the jaws are held in place tight, bore only a few thousandths, and then follow Kims advice with cleaning and lubrication. Dirty jaws allow for grit to cause wear, I just changed my front chuck at the end of last year......after 11 years.
My equipment is cleaned often as its the life of the machines. Packing the jaws with lithium grease and changing it regularly will help keep your jaws running true and cut down on wear.
My equipment is cleaned often as its the life of the machines. Packing the jaws with lithium grease and changing it regularly will help keep your jaws running true and cut down on wear.
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Just a note.... the rear chuck is not always concentric with the front chuck..... for that reason.... when working on long pieces chuck them up in the front chuck and use a steady rest about a foot from the rear chuck instead of using both chucks.
The steady rest with a 3 jaw chuck in it is a great thing to have.
Kim
The steady rest with a 3 jaw chuck in it is a great thing to have.
Kim
Kim. Do you need that wrench for the Deluxe or just Snap Ring pliers?
I don't think I would bore the jaws for .002" run out on the needle which is only .001" actual run out. If it turns that true then once you get your work piece chucked up put the indicator on it. Find the high spot and tap the corresponding jaws lightly with a piece of plastic or wood to get it within .001" total needle movement on the dial indicator.
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I use a 1" flat washer for chucking up the jaws then bore them out. Got within .0005
On the deluxe I just put the index pin in and unscrew the chucks with the bar for tightening.
I use the wrench on my spinners with the standard Taig head stock...
You need the snap ring pliers for all the chucks.
Kim
Hi,
Just read this thread and was puzzled by the idea of lubing the threads of a chuck jaw. It seems to me that you would want to keep grease out of those areas as they would mix with the wood dust and muck up the works.
I am not familiar with the details of the Hightower jaws engineering but on my buck chucks I keep my jaws clean by just blowing them out with 110 psi air with a pressure nozzle.
Rick
Just read this thread and was puzzled by the idea of lubing the threads of a chuck jaw. It seems to me that you would want to keep grease out of those areas as they would mix with the wood dust and muck up the works.
I am not familiar with the details of the Hightower jaws engineering but on my buck chucks I keep my jaws clean by just blowing them out with 110 psi air with a pressure nozzle.
Rick
Lubricating machnery is a two edge sword when it comes to using tools for wood working. If you do not lubricate then you are wearing things away and will loose tolerances faster. If you do lubricate you can draw dust to the area (as you pointed out) which can cause it's own set of problems. So my practice is to lubricate the bed of the lathe fairly often and wipe the dust off often and grease the chuck only occasionaly as you feel it start to get stiff.
Another option for the beds is to wax them with cue wax, butchers wax or bowling alley wax. This eliminates dust build up, but also causes wax build up. I decided wiping the dust off is the way to go for me.
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The accuracy of scroll chuck is dependent on the accuracy of the scroll.
So if you machine the jaws with the chuck tightened down to a particular diameter then when you chuck up on a different diameter you are using a different part of the scroll and wont necessarily get the same results.
The better quality chucks have hardened and ground scrolls and are far more repeatable. The little Taig chucks are adequate for the purpose but not made accurately enough for half a thou repeatability and no amount of fussing will change that.
So if you machine the jaws with the chuck tightened down to a particular diameter then when you chuck up on a different diameter you are using a different part of the scroll and wont necessarily get the same results.
The better quality chucks have hardened and ground scrolls and are far more repeatable. The little Taig chucks are adequate for the purpose but not made accurately enough for half a thou repeatability and no amount of fussing will change that.
Very true....... it's important to know your equipment and how to use it to get the accuracy you need.
Kim