Herbert 2d collet chuck

Hi I'm sure that I'm being an idiot here but....

I have a Herbert 2d round head capstan lathe and find it a real pain to fit the collet chuck without ending up with ball bearings flying all over the place. I'm sure there must be an easy way of doing this.

The main problem I have is that the inner part of the chuck has to bolt on to the flange (this is the part with the ball bearings) and then the outer part of the chuck has to fit over it at the same time a locating key (that can spin round for added fun) has to line up with a slot (which you can't see).

I do have the operating manual for it but it seems to think that such an easy job requires no explanation.

if anyone can shed any light on the procedure I would be very grateful.

Many thanks.

David

Hi, many years ago I worked in a shop with about 40 ward & herbert bar lathes, changing from collet chuck to jaw chuck was an almost daily pain in the ass, definitely stick the balls in with the thickest grease you can find,we kept it to hand in a cup from the vending machine which lent itself to dobbing it on the capstan of the next machine along for some reason. However, more importantly make a wooden chuck board to restrain the ball chuck horizontally & at the correct height, if your luck is in & it will fit over the cross slide just wind it into position, if not, fit it over the bed the bed & still wind it into place. With careful "design" it will also serve for refitting the jaw chuck, in both cases reducing the amount of wrestling required. PS still not as big a rave as changing them on big CNC lathes, cheers

Many thanks for that.

Yes, grease your balls.

Works every time.

I used to use lithium grease.

You can actually leave the balls in the attachment when you remove it.

regards David