New precision chuck for milling machine

Hi,

I had until recently only used the ER32 collets with my Sieg X3 milling machine. When I came to use the drill chuck the runout was quite excessive.

Could anyone please recommend a better quality precision MT3 13mm drill chuck.

Many thanks,

Sarah

Edited to make it clear Sarah is after a precision DRILL chuck an dthat her ER chuck is OK

Edited By JasonB on 27/12/2015 14:09:29

A common mistake with the ER type chuck is not to insert the collet into the nut before screwing onto the nose, if you have fallen into this trap the runout will be excessive. The collet should be inserted into the nose with a tipping and pushing motion, the collet should then be retained in the nut and spin easily. The cutter must not be inserted until the collett is in the nut.

Mike

Edited By Michael Poole on 27/12/2015 12:01:59

Hi Mike,

Confusion is one of my special powers! I'm basically just after a new precision three jaw chuck for my milling machine.

Regards,

Sarah

It would be worth checking if it is the chuck or the collet at fault. I put a clock on the inside surface of my ER20 chuck and found it to run perfectly true. I came to the conclusion that the cheap collets were at fault.

I have also read that the collets need to be tightened quite hard

Sarah

I get the impression you are enquiring about a 3 jaw chuck, (presumably a drill chuck) and your question is nothing to do with collets?

If it is a drill chuck you want, then buy the best you can afford.

For accuracy, Albrecht take some beating.

Ian P

Hi Ian,

Yes I t is just a precision drill chuck I'm after. I've seen many listed on the shop websites, but none list runout. Just after any recommendations.

Regards,

Sarah

If you have a reasonable quality drill chuck to start with then fitting the taper shank can introduce a runout error, both taper and socket must be perfectly clean before assembly and care taken not to introduce any bias when tapping the taper shank with a mallet. Chucks are to be found with the taper and body all one piece and should run true. Jacobs and Rohm are reliable brands and if money is no object then Albrecht make very good keyless chucks. With Asian chucks Golden goose and Vertex are brands that have positive feedback. After that you rely on the reputation of the supplier and most of the advertisers on this forum site have sound reputations, some have multiple positive endorsements from the users of this forum for quality and service.

Mike

I tend to favour older Jacob's 1/2" chucks. There are usually a number of them about on ebay etc but often they are 2 morse. 3 morse should be around as well.

Some years ago Rotagrip had a lot of used ones about and may still have them. No facilities for a draw bar though.

I have also used one of the heavy duty ones on this page but infrequently. Seems ok and well made to me.

**LINK**

Arbour from the same source.

John

-

> Golden goose

I have a very small 0-1/4" Golden Goose chuck and despite the cheesy name and modest cost it's spot on.

What sort of run out are you looking for, quality chucks can be had with a quoted runout if you look on the right websites. Unmounted ones from 0.04mm or ones with integral shanks a little better at 0.03mm but like most things you gets what you pay for the 0.04mm start around £100 and upto £500 for the 0.03mm integral ones.

Look for makes liek Rohm, Accupro, albrecht.

J

Sarah,

A 3 jaw drill chuck will be OK for drilling applications but will not be any good for milling as the cutter will work loose. I also recommend that you get a chuck compatible with your draw bar rather than on with a tang.

If the run out on your ER 32 collet chuck really is excessive then Michael is probably correct - try it. Nothing very confusing about it!

Good luck.

Hi,

What I meant to have said in my first post was that everything was nice and true with my ER32 collets, but the 'wobble' problem lay with the drill chuck. As I said confusing people is one of my super powers

I've started looking for the chucks again. Thanks for the reminder that I neew to get an Arbor with my M12 drawbar. It would be nice to get one with an integral Arbor, but most seem to come with a Tang. I've found a few suppliers that do seperate MT3 Arbors with M12 drawbar threads. I'd like to get it in the £60 to £100 mark.

Regards,

Sarah

Check the arbor is ok by removing the chuck from it and checking the runout on your mill. I had a similar problem with a Rohm chuck and it turned out to be the arbor.

Edited By Vic on 27/12/2015 14:39:01

Over the last two or three years I have slowly gone round and replaced all the drill chucks with keyless ones.

Not a small task as each machine has 2 to 4 chucks to speed operations up. It has been a worthwhile task though and I reckon at least 2 months of the year have been saved not having to look for a damn chuck key.

Each machine also has a strap wrench hanging on the tool board for that machine and it's only a 2 second job to give the chuck a quick tighten to stop the tool spinning.

I found that even with so called class chucks like Jacobs [ although I still feel they should have stuck to making Cream Crackers ] the keyed chucks, no matter how much you tightened them, they still spun the drills.

One thing I did find though that was when I bought my new TOS lathe it came fully tooled up and I had a real good deal off the importer. It came with four 1/2 capacity Jacob keyless chucks on MT4 tapers to for the tailstock.

None of these chucks survived the first year. They all self tightened as they do but then tightened to a point where they exploded internally. The only one I did manage to undo, everything fell out as shrapnel. I'm certain that the parts were over hardened.

These have now all been replaced with decent quality Chinese imports from a well know distributor in Leicester who shall remain nameless with not breakages in the last ? got to be 10 years.

Edited By John Stevenson on 27/12/2015 16:04:42

Quickest and cheapest method is to use a chuck with a parallel shank in an ER collet. Turn a bit of bar to a decent size, tighten the drill chuck on the bar, turn the parallel shank to fit the collet. Centre support the shank if necessary.

I've never ever had any problem at all with my older Jacob's 1/2" keyed chuck John S even with 1" blacksmith drills in them - in fact it's drills like that which cause me to use it rather than a industrial Rohm keyless. The Jacob's probably came with the lathes I have owned so circa 30 years old or so apart from a used one which I bought from Rotagrip for a Raglan I had bought of a dealer. All no draw bar. Then there was all of the Jacob's of all sorts of sizes during training. They would be old now too.

The stupid 5/8 2 morse on on my bench drill part gave up the ghost the 1st time I drilled some 3/8 holes in stainless. It's ok 1/4 dia and up but smaller stuff wobbles all over the place of late.

I do have a spare Jacob's of the right age.

John

-

Edited By John W1 on 27/12/2015 16:42:07

I second Vic's comment. Most problems I have seen with big drill runouts is due to bent arbors. New arbors are quite cheap and swapping out an old one for new on your drill chuck may cure the runout. Most of the ones I have sorted out have been bent by people at work swinging a radial arm saw so that the chuck or drill bit in the chuck clouts a solid feature such as a vice. They then put everything away without telling anyone so the next person to use the chuck has to get the problem sorted out.

Martin

Hi Sarah, sent you a message re your chuck. Mick