Lathe chuck removal

Thanks for this link to a useful-looking tool.

I don't recall Tony Griffiths' website article on this subject being mentioned here - I only chanced on it myself just now - but it is well worth reading and contains a link to a similar tool.

Tony doesn't mention Sparey but he does sell his book!

The gear on the end of the spindle is not keyed by a normal key but a so called French key where a hole is drilled and tapped half in the gear and half in the spindle and a grub screw fitted to key the part together. Any extreme force is likely to cause damage. The bull wheel is keyed by a single woodruff key again perfectly adequate to drive the spindle for normal turning but vulnerable to extreme force. A possibility that I have been mulling over but never tried is to make a thick sleeve and loctite it to the spindle after dismantling, this could be held in a vice with no fear of spindle damage, a couple of flats or use a square bar should minimise how tight the vice needs to be. Now we need to apply some force to the chuck preferably without damaging it. A big adjustable on one jaw is putting a load on the jaw slot that is not what it was designed for but should take a fair force without damage, a bar slid between the jaws again can apply quite a force but again the jaw slots and the scroll are taking the strain, a large Allen key will again put a strain on the scroll. If the chuck has a backplate the the chuck could be removed and a bar bolted to it using the bolt holes for the chuck, this is all a fair bit of work but shouldn't break anything. If successful the sleeve can be removed with moderate heat to destroy the loctite and should not harm the spindle.

Might be worth a try.

Mike

Mike Poole:

Points taken; the link on lathes.co.uk relates to a South Bend lathe where the tool grips the spindle rather than anything keyed to it.