Quality R8 Drill Chuck Recommendarion

I have been making a bunch of T slot clamps with M10 threads. The R8 drill chuck I have for my Super X3 and KX3 mills are both key type budget cheapies (£13) and I have had real problems getting it to grip the drill bits without them slipping whilst drilling and then to grip the M10 Tap (turning by hand and putting on half to one turn and backing off etc.). I am not being over aggressive with the drill feed, am using cutting fluid and starting small and stepping through (6mm - 7.5m - 8.6mm). I have tightened the chuck with the key as much as I can, and the key is not a great fit and some teeth are new bent/chipped. I have been putting up with this for the past year and enough!

So it is time to get a quality R8 Drill chuck, and am looking for advice on whether keyless can possibly have the same holding power as a keyed chuck, and any recommendations for the make/model to go for.

Hi there I have used both keyed and keyless chucks on my bridgeport, at present am using a keyless from RDG tools.

For ease of use the keyless is excelent for gripping even a 25mm dia (turned down shank to 13mm) but if you want to use a tap in them then when you reverse turn the chuck will release. What I do now for tapping is to use a small centre in the chuck to line up with the tap holder to which I have put a centre hole in then tap by hand using the tap holder.

Paul

Go for a decent brand/make avoid the chinese some arent very accurate with runout.

Look around for Metabo, Jacobs, Rohm that wont break the bank. Even better choose with integral R8 shank.

Buy a keyed chinese chuck for other times such as tapping. Drill hole, remove drill, replace with tap and drop speed to lowest with cutting oil, plough straight in works every time. Then reverse out job done seconds. In saying that would only do that above 3/16"/M5 in aluminiums, M8 for steels. Thats not even using the machine taps.

Because you are going in square to drill hole, its easier to tap.

The only keyless I have is a cheap one, and more or less useless. I keep a centre drill in it as it will hold, but you need to apply gorilla force. I have many other standard chucks, the ROHM mid-range ones I st use have lost their edge and need a lot of welly now. I need to clean them, I think.

I recently made an arbor for a 1/4" Jacobs chuck and it is a dream to use, hardly any force and it locks solid. I have various other chucks and the jacobs are all OK, althopugh some are 'economy' ones that are less smooth.

At work we bought an expensive hand drill and Tom was complaining about the tacky cheap-looking keyless chuck. Craig pointed out that if you span it by hand, it wuld go from fully open to fully closed in one spin! It's a Jacobs and has masses of grip, despite the 'plasticy' grip.

I suppose the point is keyless or keyed, if it's a quality make it will do the job.

Neil

You can get a keyed drill chuck to grip more tightly by going round each hole with the key in turn, rather than just using one hole to tighten the chuck.

Regards,

Andrew

Thanks Andrew - I have tried that - does not help with the POS I have......

There's a reason the vast majority of chucks you'll encounter in the model engineering game are keyed Jacobs 13mm chucks. Looking at what Rotagrip Ltd have is as good as any.

**LINK**

By "Jacob's" I mean made by them, not using it as a generic term for "keyed chuck". I think there are plenty of cheaper chucks out there with other suppliers. I have several nonames (generally OK) and others include "LFA" (OK), "Golden Goose" (good) and the ubiquitous "Diamond" brand (cheap and cheeful)

Neil

I haven't bothered to buy a drill chuck for my R8 mill. Since I only use the mill in drilling mode when drilling accurate holes I use my set of ER25 collets to hold the drills. Slower to use of course compared with a drill chuck but at least the drills are held tightly and accurately.

B

Golden Goose (bought from Rotagrip), keyless and a superb bit of kit. Yes you can reverse by hand, just grip the knurled edge at the top (back) of the chuck.

A while ago I bought a new lathe and seeing as they were selling it 'fully loaded' I ordered 3 genuine Jacobs keyless chucks.

Unfortunately none of these have lasted more than a couple of years. All have exploded whist undoing the chuck. On casual instection I'm inder the impression that they have been over hardened as the shrapnel has that appearance.

They ought to stick to making cream crackers

I have replaced them with the same style and size keyless chucks from Arc Euro with no problems at all, in fact I have gradually gone thru and either edded or replaced the chucks on other machines with keyless.

I do machine tap on the big lathe and have found if you hold the outside of the chuck as you reverse then they don't spin and this works OK for me up to M16 thread, above that i often have to back out with a tap wrench.

They can tighten themselves up and I use a leather strap wrench that lives on a nail between the twin spindle drill, also on keyless and the lathe.

I do still have a few keyed chucks for specials like 0 and 00 series but still keep loosing the damn keys. These are gradually being changed over to the small ER11 collet chucks with a threaded back as sold for the little X0 mill. They are awesome.

John S.

I would look for a good used Albrecht chuck, lots on Ebay but you need to keep a search for what you want, many listed are quite expensive but I have bought them for under £60 in excellent condition. You can also buy a re-furbishing kit from Albrecht -- jaws springs ball bearings etc. at a modest cost.

Another make is Johansson, not so popular now but I have some in smaller sizes [up to 3/8"] I bought some 50 years ago and they are still as accurate today despite constant daily use.

Quality always pays dividends long term.

Cheers John

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I was leaning towards Jacobs, but have seen a lot of negative comments on the interweb (they don't make 'em like they used to since a take-over and move to China manufacture...), Albrecht do look very excellent, but also very pricy, the idea to search for used is a good possibility, I am looking into the Rotagrip offerings, and CutWell do one R8 integrated that might be good. Another make I have come across is Accupro from MCS - from their prices, they should be very good - does anyone know them? I will check out the Arc Euro offerings I like Arc.

Edited By EtheAv8r on 14/01/2013 19:10:01

My recommendation is still a keyed chuck. Tighten it and job done. Keyless are in theory more 'convenient' but if they self tighten and self loosen or need a belt to undo them when they tighten, I would suggest the case is made. Drill bits are far more likely to slip and burr in a keyless chuck and then you've got the aggro of filing/grinding the burr off the bit before you can put it back in the case. It's true the Jacobs quality seems to have taken a nose dive. You want a UK or USA manufactured one. Quite a few on Fleabay. Large keyless have a place in industry and mass production but that's not such a high priority in model engineering. I have both, a Jacobs 13mm keyed and an Albrecht 13mm keyless and the keyless rarely comes off the shelf except when the keyed one is otherwise occupied.

Just a passing thopuight, but the one 1/2" I have that never slips and never needs excessive force to tighten it is that on my cheap-as-chips Machine Mart pillar drill that cost £39 13 years ago!

Neil

We had a very good one at work but it had seen some action so probably nicely run in.

Following my week-end of research (interupted by returning No. 2 daughter to University) and your kind advice, I plan to go with a 'quality' keyed chuck (probably Jacobs or Accupro) and a reasonably priced keyless (probably from Arc Euro).

Update: MSC have the Jacobs 16N (30227) 3-16 mm keyed ball bearing SuperChuck on special offer in their clearance list today at a bargaintastic price. So I have ordered one.

It only appeared today - so in must have been 'meant to be'!

Edited By EtheAv8r on 15/01/2013 22:45:54

MSC have stopped stocking Jacobs. Are you sure a 3mm minimum is going to be small enough? An M3 tapped hole wants drilling 2.5mm.

Well, duh, you can always use the keyless one if it goes small enough.