How do I get D1-4 camlock chuck apart?

My chuck has become very inaccurate, so I finally decided to try to take it apart to remove and clean the scroll properly. I've removed all screws and the camlocks. Now what? How do I get the back plate off, or should I even try?

It should just pull off but it will be tight

A judicious tapping with a copper hammer might loosen it

Hello Simon,

There could be threaded holes in the back plate which are used to jack it off. Failing that, if it is face bolted, use those screws to help jolt it apart by tapping on the slackened bolt heads, working round it like a cylinder head so that it doesn't tilt and jam.

Do mark the relative positions either side of the joint of chuck body and back plate with a centre punch before you separate them

Regards

Brian

There were threaded holes for jacking screws. I got it all apart. It was interesting to see how it works. I had never given it a thought. There was brass swarf in behind the scroll probably because brass makes the smallest chips. I cleaned it all and put it back together and somewhat to my surprise, it is much more accurate, so it was well worth the effort.

If you think brass swarf is bad, try machining a lot of cast iron. Those pesky tiny fragments get everywhere and find their ways into most chucks. A regular ritual here is at New Years I strip and clean all my lathe chucks and properly lubricate them. Makes a huge difference to smooth working and accuracy.

I had an old and battered Burnerd chuck off the Super 7 which would never hold true and felt rough when I adjusted it so hid it away in a cupboard. I assumed it was simply worn, so that was chuck #1 to get the treatment, so I could figure out how the do the rest. Surprise-surprise it is now almost as good as my expensive replacement. It was full, and I do mean full of swarf from countless years of use. The grease was like concrete. Hence, the anal fascination with cleaning all the chucks in the workshop!

There would have been cast iron dust too but most is done in the 4 jaw. I'm sure you mean "'annual' fascination". I can't really see how the gunk makes the chuck so inaccurate, especially as mine didn't have very much really.