# chuck sticking on headstock spindle face



## Shay Vings (13 Sep 2011)

My Teknatool G3 chuck tends to stick to the drive spindle of my Record DML 305 lathe. Originally I tried a leather washer but later realised that leather absorbs moisture which created rust on the spindle face so I have given up that idea.

It seems wrong to put soft washers there when the lathe manufacturer has gone to such a lot of trouble (;-) to machine the spindle drive face flat and smooth.

I try not to overtighten but roughing down inevitably creates some tightening shock loads

The spindle thread seems fine: its the mating faces where the problem seems to occur

Ideas?


----------



## cornucopia (13 Sep 2011)

use a nylon washer- that sorts it.


----------



## CHJ (13 Sep 2011)

If you don't have easy access to propriety nylon washers then cut yourself one out of some thick plastic like an ice cream box, or turn one out of an old plastic chopping board.


----------



## myturn (13 Sep 2011)

What do you mean by "stick" ?

Locking the headstock, inserting the chuck key and giving a sharp jerk/tap on the key should loosen it.

I wouldn't put any soft washer between the chuck and spindle.


----------



## CHJ (13 Sep 2011)

Placing a rigid plastic (well rigid as far as the expected loads are concerned) between chuck and spindle face is regular practice, far less risk to machine than having to apply excessive shock loads to the spindle and bearings to release the 'wrung tight' friction fit of the chuck/spindle interface.

Even used on heavy machine tools where risk of damage to gear teeth etc. is to be avoided.


----------



## paulm (13 Sep 2011)

As Chas says, self made washer from thin chopping board used on mine after having major problems removing a chuck after using the Kel McNaughton coring system which created masses of torque and made removing the chuck afterwards almost impossible !

Cheers, Paul


----------



## myturn (13 Sep 2011)

Well I think something's not right if the chuck is on so tight it won't come off using normal methods.

I regularly use my lathe in reverse for sanding and some hollowing where it is convenient to get a scraper in the far side and the chuck has never come undone through reverse motion but always comes off with a tap on the key with the spindle lock engaged. I do have a locking collar but have never had the need to use it yet.

I've also used a bowl-saver where the loads have been so great as to break the foot off the wood, but still the chuck comes off when required.

Maybe it's down to how often you remove the chuck, I usually swap mine over several times for each item to save changing jaws and to go between prong-drive and chuck so perhaps leaving it on for long periods without removing it causes this.


----------



## CHJ (13 Sep 2011)

It's more down to the quality of fit, if the two surfaces happen to be machined such that they form a perfect, for want of a better word 'airtight' fit then the chances are it will grab with sufficient friction to be difficult to break.

I have one chuck that grabs well, some time ago when using engineers blue to check fits when I was cleaning up the spindle nose It showed a large area of contact, another chuck only had actual contact on about a third of the collar face. (rear chuck collar not perfectly square and coarser machining)


----------



## wasbit (14 Sep 2011)

Milk cartons are a good source of plastic for making washers.

Regards
wasbit


----------



## Paul Hannaby (14 Sep 2011)

myturn":1o1kv9nv said:


> What do you mean by "stick" ?
> 
> Locking the headstock, inserting the chuck key and giving a sharp jerk/tap on the key should loosen it.
> 
> I wouldn't put any soft washer between the chuck and spindle.



If you like your chuck in one piece, *don't ever use the chuck key as a lever to loosen the chuck*. You risk damaging the scroll mechanism. A much less risky way is to open the jaws wide enough to insert a long screwdriver or some other lever between the jaws, tighten the jaws on the screwdriver and use that to loosen the chuck while engaging the spindle lock.

Putting a washer on the spindle will loose a few fractions of a millimetre in accuracy but in most circumstances, that isn't significant to us woodturners anyway. I would challenge any woodturner to remount the same piece of wood twice with better accuracy than we're talking about here!
I use a nylon washer with my chuck because that also acts as a good seal for my vacuum chuck so I just leave it on the spindle almost all the time.


----------



## dickm (14 Sep 2011)

Not so long lasting, but possibly less likely to introduce any measureable inaccuracy, is to use a piece of heavy-ish quality printer paper, liberally soaked with oil, as a washer.


----------



## chrisbaker42 (14 Sep 2011)

Looking through the forum for something else I cam across a 2002 post which was a review of the axminster m950 lathe and it suggested there that the use of ptfe tape at the end of the thread should solve the problem, I am certainly going to give it a go.


----------



## Redkite (23 Nov 2017)

How did the PTFE work out Chris?

Would a rubber strap wrench, as used for removing oil filters, be a safe and effective way of releasing a troublesome chuck?


----------



## minilathe22 (24 Nov 2017)

I use a piece of gasket paper, maybe started off 2mm or so thick but has now squashed down very thin. I had not considered that it might absorb water, I may put a little oil on it to prevent this.


----------



## hawkeyefxr (25 Nov 2017)

I did just this, my chuck got well and truly stuck. some how the chuck loosened by about a quarter of a turn, when i stated the lathe it snapped back the the face of the chuck and spindle slammed together and it was 'stuck'.
I did free if off after a few hours and made a leather washer to go between the faces, this was ok but not good. So i cut one from an old plastic milk bottle using my dividers, i scored the out diameter round and round till i could just push the disc away from the main part of the milk bottle side. I then did the same on the inner circle and wound up with a perfect plastic wash. No more sticking chucks.


----------



## Phil Pascoe (25 Nov 2017)

I made a hot melt glue washer - I just went around the spindle with hot melt then did the chuck up to within a couple of mil.


----------



## Lons (25 Nov 2017)

I also have thin plastic washers on both my lathes cut from milk bottle carton and no sticking or problems. Metal to metal is never a good idea imo.


----------



## NazNomad (25 Nov 2017)

I use a leather one, but after reading this lot I'm going to switch to plastic tomorrow.


----------



## graduate_owner (25 Nov 2017)

I bought a metal lathe, Myford M series, on which the chuck was stuck tight. Really tight. The previous owner had engaged the back gear to lock the spindle, and hit it so much they broke about 5 teeth off the bull wheel. Talk about ham fisted. Anyway I tried running in reverse, using a lever etc but nothing worked. Finally I unscrewed the chuck from the backplate to reduce the amount of metal there, and heated the backplate with a propane torch. It just unscrewed by hand.

K


----------



## Phil Pascoe (25 Nov 2017)

:idea: I thought to make some metal washers of different thicknesses to increase the versatility of the indexing.


----------



## Arnold9801 (2 Dec 2017)

I have just experienced a jammed chuck in my Poolewood lathe. It won’t come free no matter what I do. Have started with wd40, banging a punch in the chucks holes and a square chunky piece of square metal in the chuck and a pair of stilsons but no joy.

Anymore advice.......Please?


----------



## minilathe22 (2 Dec 2017)

In my experience it is a sudden rotational impact that you need to create, leaning on it gradually with leverage is no good. Do you have a secure method for locking the spindle? then square piece of wood/metal inbetween the chuck jaws sticking out as an arm, hit it with a mallet. Little bit of heat on the back of the chuck mounting plate to expand it may help. I am sure others will have advice as well.


----------



## Arnold9801 (3 Dec 2017)

minilathe22":1y2hu2jt said:


> In my experience it is a sudden rotational impact that you need to create, leaning on it gradually with leverage is no good. Do you have a secure method for locking the spindle? then square piece of wood/metal inbetween the chuck jaws sticking out as an arm, hit it with a mallet. Little bit of heat on the back of the chuck mounting plate to expand it may help. I am sure others will have advice as well.




I have been thinking about applying heat. I’ve got an experienced woodturner coming over to help me tomorrow......fingers crossed!


----------



## NazNomad (3 Dec 2017)

Arnold9801":3diw3r4n said:


> I have just experienced a jammed chuck in my Poolewood lathe. It won’t come free no matter what I do. Have started with wd40, banging a punch in the chucks holes and a square chunky piece of square metal in the chuck and a pair of stilsons but no joy.
> 
> Anymore advice.......Please?





Lock the spindle.

Clamp a bar in the chuck (as pictured below).

Give it a clump with a big hammer.







You're ''less likely'' to damage the chuck this way.


----------



## Phil Pascoe (4 Dec 2017)

If it's a 28 40 unscrew the spindle stop button before you start, and put a bar right through the spindle. If you use the button you are likely to break it.


----------



## Arnold9801 (4 Dec 2017)

Eureka! 

An experienced woodturner came to help me today and even he had real issue s releasing it. By engaging the lock8ng pin and using brut fo4ce it was no surprise the locking pin snapped. 

We opened the lathe up and used a strong bar to lock the spindle and eventually the chuck came free. 

What a pain, but I’m using leather washers from now on! 

Thanks for your advice.


----------



## Retire2004 (4 Dec 2017)

Just a thought, some chucks/faceplates have an optional dual cut LH/RH thread (Graduate lathe to mention one). This means that the thread contact area can be quite low (probably only 30-40% at a guess, or even less!). This can apply considerable pressure on the thread flanks and cause binding. This happened to me recently on my Graduate. I have never used washers (yet) but would not use milk bottles as the plastic is blow moulded and thickness can vary considerably (so the washer can be tapered).

Tudor


----------



## Phil Pascoe (4 Dec 2017)

Arnold9801":1y8gs4xz said:


> Eureka!
> 
> An experienced woodturner came to help me today and even he had real issue s releasing it. By engaging the lock8ng pin and using brut fo4ce it was no surprise the locking pin snapped.
> 
> ...



:lol:


----------



## Phil Pascoe (4 Dec 2017)

Retire2004":3loex8lt said:


> Just a thought, some chucks/faceplates have an optional dual cut LH/RH thread (Graduate lathe to mention one). This means that the thread contact area can be quite low (probably only 30-40% at a guess, or even less!). This can apply considerable pressure on the thread flanks and cause binding. This happened to me recently on my Graduate. I have never used washers (yet) but would not use milk bottles as the plastic is blow moulded and thickness can vary considerably (so the washer can be tapered).
> 
> Tudor



I've always cut mine from the centre panels of six pint cartons, so the there is very little variation in the thickness. It might be measurable on a metal lathe but I very much doubt it's anything like enough to matter on a wood lathe.


----------



## donwatson (5 Dec 2017)

I have only used a washer made from the shiny paper backing from the sheet of white sticky labels.
After I have used the sticky labels I keep the sheet handy in the shed.
It is a simple matter cutting out a 3/4" bore hole to fit over the nose, the outside diameter can be what you want but I use 1 1/4".
I reckon I have used 3 of these in 12 years and never had a chuck stick yet.
Cheap and reliable.

Don W


----------



## NazNomad (5 Dec 2017)

phil.p":1htxn5nd said:


> I've always cut mine from the centre panels of six pint cartons, so the there is very little variation in the thickness. It might be measurable on a metal lathe but I very much doubt it's anything like enough to matter on a wood lathe.




Dammit, I was hoping to use the 'wobbly washer method' to straighten out some of my dodgy bowls. :-D


----------

