Chuck for Rotary Table

Hi all,

I am thinking of buying a chuck to suit a small rotary table I have acquired. The table is the same as the Arc Euro 100mm one here. As I can only afford one chuck at the moment which would be the most useful in the view of those with experience of such things, a 4 jaw independant or a 3 jaw self centring?

Best regards

Terry

Hi Terry I would start with the 4 jaw as you can clock round stuff as well as holding odd shapes

The only draw back is the constant clocking, but then a lot of new 3 jaw chucks need the odd tweek

Paul

I bought a cheap 3 jaw chuck to fit my rotary table, but have never fitted it. I doubt I ever will; it's just as easy to locate a part on the centre of the table and clamp it. As a proviso, my rotary table has a parallel 1" hole in the centre, so it's simple to make up locating spigots.

Best Regards,

Andrew

Hi Terry

Is it not possible to make an adapter to fit your lathe chucks to the rotary table? This could give the advantages of both chucks. Having said that I have a large 3-jaw on mine which is pretty accurate and serves for much of the time.

Regards

Norman

Terry.

Have you considered a collet chuck like one of these?

I have an Emco rotary table that is similar in size to the one you have linked to, but I've never had need to mount a 3 or 4 jaw chuck to it as yet. What I did make was a faceplate that was as large a diameter as possible, given the restriction of still being able to use the setup on its side.

You could make up some sliding jaws (complete with jacking screws) to fit into the four tee slots of the table that can be securely fixed in position and used to clamp parts in a similar way to a 4 jaw chuck.

Martin.

Hi All,

Thanks all for your advice. It is certailny food for thought and I'll let you know how I get on. I was considering a dedicated chuck as the table, with it's tailstock and dividing plates, can be used as a dividing head. Would that affect my decision?

Regards and thanks again,

Terry

issue you will have is all four jaw tables come with four t slots, the three jaws come with only three t slots ( as do the chucks mounting holes), personally if your thinking ahead i would go with a four slot which you can use both the four jaw independent and the four jaw self centering chucks on, as a side line it makes fixing a vice or even a part directly onto the table a lot easier as you have that extra slot

in your case you have the four slot already which unless you have the facility to make a conversion plate/mount you wont be able to use a three jaw chuck

Edited By John Haine on 21/06/2012 16:32:35

Just be aware that a chuck can 'Un-screw' from the rotary table if you do some heavy milling in the wrong direction !! Try to think of some sort of locking device. I use one of my lathe chucks mounted onto a false nose piece welded to a flat plate, then clamped to the table. I crossdrilled the chuck/nose piece and place a pin into the hole to stop it unscrewing at the critical moment.

Gee everyone,

Youihave all given me some great food for thought, and believe me all responses are much appreciated. I would especially thank Bogs for inspiration but I will take all of your advice into account.

SpeedyB5, I had thought about the unscrewing problem and have some ideas whirling around in the dark soup inside my head. I would be grateful for more ideas on this aspect of the problem, I tend to over complicate stuff and would like some simple solutions to churn around!

Best regards and thanks,

Terry

If you don't mind some extra holes you could put a hole in the RT table and a corresponding hole in the chuck backplate and insert a (removable) pin.

Actually I find a pattern of tapped holes in the RT table quite handy.

I made my own rotary table from bar stock. It has a rather small but tall 'cotton reel' shaped spindle to match my mini lathe (round flange with three/five hole fitting). I regularly swap chucks between lathe and table (on the mill). Naturally, this also allows me to use the faceplate too. If I was doing it again I would still use this method.

Neil

You can just see it here: