Unusual drill chuck

Hi all. Here is another unusual item for comment. It's a drill chuck mounted on an Arbor with a sighting scope built into the shank.

Viewing down the eyepiece gives a magnified view through the centre of the chuck jaws so that the work piece can be placed accurately beneath the chuck. Stick in a drill bit and happy days!

Not sure if it is meant to be static as in a lathe tailstock or if it is meant to rotate. It only has a drive tang not a drawbar thread. But the optical part is all smooth and the setting screws are recessed so it could be used in a drill press.

Picked up one of these years ago and took it along to the club(Stockport) to find out what it was. Iwas told it's a jig borer chuck- centre the cross hairs on your mark then put in a centre drill and spot it. It must have been 20 years ago and I was told then that it would have cost £500-600 so don't drop it! Sandy

Its a toolmaker's optical chuck, only used one once and that was at college in the 60's

 A nicely illustrated 'strip-down and measure' of that chuck assemblage might make a good article for MEW.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 05/01/2018 17:35:03

I have one similar, on an MT2 arbour. Mine appears to also have a focussing control. I haven't used it, and am unlikely to, as it needs vision a bit closer to 20/20 than I possess nowadays.

rgds

Bill