# Pillar drill chuck wrench hack request



## Ttrees (25 Feb 2021)

Hello folks
I seen a fella make a wrench for a broken chuck key/missing one, on youtube, but can't seem to find it now.

No credit card for buying a new one so will have to make something for this chuck key.
The stubby bit of the key is like a mushroom, and the teeth look like that 'trick' with a drill bit and flathead screwdriver was used on it. (now I understand why the teeth looked like this)
Can't complain for 40 pounds though

Today was the last straw for using the chuck in a reasonable fashion, the 3 holes on the chuck are not round anymore, might need to be fixed for the new wrench to work, I can't remember exactly how the hack wrench worked, so cannot get away with doing that.

From what I understand this is a 'hack' tool, but it might suffice for quite a long while.
I will get around to getting a decent chuck for my naeroK pillar drill, but can't go anywhere at the moment, and have some steel bits, grinders, a welder, and plenty of toasty rods over the stove.

Hope you have seen this video, and can give a linky.
Thanks folks
Tom


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## Ttrees (25 Feb 2021)

Still looking, the closest thing I found was a spanner wrench...
The idea being that the hole doesn't need to be perfect.
This is about the closest thing I've found to the tool in question.
Surely this isn't that strange of a tool to come across, with people making daft things
on youtube all the time, many involving pillar drills, or should I say 'drill presses'
I would have expected that to be a popular 'hack'
Back to searching I suppose

Tom


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## Dee J (25 Feb 2021)

The mechanical advantage / leverage on a chuck key is considerable, and any work-around that doesn't use the key's operating principle isn't going to be very effective. But most workshop folks tend to accumulate a variety of chuck keys anyway. Best I could imagine is a couple of Footprint pipe wrenches on the two parts of the chuck. Hth








Footprint Pipe Wrench 9


Order online at Screwfix.com. Heavy duty all-purpose pipe wrench. The design is popular with plumbers and engineers the world over and has a well deserved reputation for being able to shift the most stubborn of fittings. Drop-forged hook and a pressed-steel frame with forged wedge construction...



www.screwfix.com


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## Ttrees (25 Feb 2021)

Thanks for your time Dee J
I imagine that whilst a set of proper pipe wrenches would be effective, I would have to buy them for probably about half the price of ordering a new chuck at the local shop.
This tool seemed effective though, or at least could have been made effective with a little extra work.
I had a good look on youtube last night, and found nothing, not to say the video doesn't exist in what's now an abyss of growing uselessness, but I must say with some annoyance
it looks like you might be onto something.
The fact that someone hasn't copied it, might suggest it wasn't the very best idea, and possibly the 'content creator' has removed the video.
If so, a loss as I would have seen where it could have been improved on.

Still a good grip on this old chuck, pity to throw it in the bin and go through the hassle of sending a postal order to some other company.
Alas I might be better with my time to admit defeat, and have a look at Caulfield industrial tooling.
It would have been nice to make a tool and also help some other bodger in need at the same time.

All the best
Tom


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## Ttrees (25 Feb 2021)

Just for fun, I tried to do that bodge with the screwdriver and chuck key.
Didn't budge and looked a good way of getting a nice slice whilst damaging your flathead.
I didn't realise the hole was so deep, so it seems I might get some more time out of the chuck if I fix the key with a bit of weld later on.

Tom


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## Ttrees (4 Mar 2021)

Hack job I know, but its been sound, got some heavy use for the last few days
We welder saved the day again





Grind the little sprig off nearly and was making neat work, until I caught a wee flash and thought I was where I wasn't 




Made a load of work for myself fixing that with a wee file
Was going to be easy going before that




I should make a jig for doing this, it would be handy being able to have a bracket for the hand drill that could be tapped closer, that way the drill would less follow the humps and valleys.
Is it worth that for a one time deal though, since I'm always chasing the edges to be somewhere near crisp again.

Held the drill up on some blocks and only a little bit of that saying...
"Tighten her up till you hear the crack, then back it off a quarter of a turn" applied!
Not as nice as it could be but it'll do the job for now.





Going through some check ups, aligning the motor pulley to the quill pulley with hacksaw winding sticks made the drill quieter, as well as some panel beating dents out , and making some clearance for the motor was done.
Could be improved with some shims under the belt guard.
Made this wee tool as I don't have a dial indicator to get the table level.
Was likely going to make a complicated thing, but this was knocking about already




Works better than you might think.
I knew I had some difficult drilling to do, and got some fancy drill bits so didn't want to break them.

Thanks for looking
Tom


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## Robbo3 (5 Mar 2021)

Which chuck are you talking about? One photo shows a chuck with a 'C' spanner, another an electric drill & another a drill press.
There are a number of videos on Youtube if you look for Jacobs chuck key or drill chuck key.
I have several spare chucks. You are welcome to one but I need to know what it fits onto.


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## Ttrees (5 Mar 2021)

Thanks for your offer Robbo
No need as the chuck and key on the pillar drill will be fine for a wee while yet.
I won't be getting into undoing the chuck as that can be a a rabbet hole to go down, checking these things.
The drill works with little runout as it is, and happy with it for the moment.

I have watched a few of those Jacobs chuck removals and more interestingly disassembly, and it looks like I might as well try finding parts to fix mine,
Something to look up to see if it could be cheaper than old stock on the bay.
Cheers
Tom


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## Robbo3 (6 Mar 2021)

Jacobs chuck keys are quite cheap.
It's finding the right match that can be difficult when it's an old chuck without any markings.
The drill press looks to be a Morse 2 taper. Just in case you, or others, don't know, your chuck will have a taper in the rear to take an arbor with a morse taper which fits into the quill of the press ie the arbor has 2 different tapers.
- MT2 Drill Chuck Arbors with Drawbar Thread - Arc Euro Trade

Chucks on battery & electric drills are threaded & don't have a taper in the rear.

To remove the chuck & arbor from the drill press lower the chuck to reveal a slot into which you tap a drift
- Drill Drifts - Arc Euro Trade


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## Ttrees (23 Sep 2021)

Thought I'd do an update on my naeroK pillar drill.
Got a wee vice for holding work, and leveled up it's base to make the jaw parallel, and to stop it rocking about.
Been waiting for ages for a vice, so thought I'd put a bit more attention to me auld drill.

Was using an upside down drill for a depth gauge, but since made something better for the job
with some scrap round stock, so no need to be as careful chucking it up.





The handles were always falling out, and in effort to keep things tidy, as I don't want to drop the vice, I decided the boss needed fixing next.
Was a bit worried about it melting, but I got there with me wee 40 pound middle isle bargain.





Lots of burning many bits of masking tape, got a nice big blob laid down.








Two big blobs, minor melt as I was chasing getting a nice transition





Bit of rough grinding, keeping a bit of extra meat to make it easier to stay flat whilst filing.
Both sizes seemed to have hardened a bit, one side more than the other , needed a bit of a touch with a coasting disc and file, repeat.
Bit of scraping with the end of the file after.





Minor bit of deformation of the face, but not on the important geared part.
Might have been a bit like that before, I didn't check.
Good enough.






Got the dividers out to mark out an equilateral triangle from the circle.
Tough work with the drilling, definitely not a job to do for one who doesn't sharpen their drills.





Have the holes drilled undersized to 8mm as my 8.5 drill and good taps are at me folks.
Wondering how they would do in hardened steel, don't really want to damage them.
Have some taps here from a cheap set, from which I've tried making threads without success so far, so don't think I'll chance them.
Just ground a bit of round stock to make a nice fitting handle, probably do the job as it's tighter than the remaining handle.





Have to buy some grease for the gears now I've cleaned it off, unless lithium grease might do the job?

Thanks for reading 
Tom


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## Ttrees (1 Oct 2021)

Still have to grease my pillar drill gears sometime, 
I wonder if the lithium grease is OK for the job?

I thought I'd post some more piccys of my NaeroK pillar drill restoration.
Couldn't leave it alone once I started, and thought to make it even nicer to use for the next wee job, _Especially,_ since I had this wee bit of metal for ages, didn't get lost, and somehow dodged the welder for a long time until now.
It must have wanted to be part of the drill, or maybe one in a previous incarnation 
for it was nearly the shape already.

Dragged out the anvil, and made the curve more pronounced with the help of a big'ammer and a blunt cold chisel, yes I will get around to grinding those mushrooms off, 
(possibly the most frugal way to dress the bench grinder wheels?)








I must say the cheapo wee welding clamp was a good fix, only came off a few times.





Grub screw needs replacing





Waiting to cool after a bit bevel work gives one time to ponder and finesse





Noticed that at least one of my f clamps wern't keen on gripping the left of the vice, and walking off when synching down, and pleased to say the G clamp stays put, even a wee one
Now to take my new machining vice off the bench and away from the splatter.





Had a go with my regular 2.5mm rods from the middle of liddle





Didn't go well seemingly, thinking this must be cast or some alloy, no surprise as it was quite soft when grinding.




Tried what I think was a half used rod for cast iron, and my wee welder struggled. 
Got a tack with it, but I welded it arseways, so had a go at stress testing using the hardy hole and broke one side after a bit of grinding
Sorry no pictures of that, picture below is the next rod I tried, as it was either that, or the first ones I tried.
So ground all the metal back and started again as you do..
It's a skinner rod again from the middle isle, and I had a feeling it might work after using them for other disimilar metals before, and notably after the drill boss.
It seems to make a harder weld, but thats just a guess from a newbie.
Piccys of this rod





Seems to have worked


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## Ttrees (1 Oct 2021)

Only had time to make a few more beads, just adding some meat there so I can tap it, as it seems most designs have a removable handle, so better to play it safe.
I am going to make an adjustable base plate for the vice, but haven't thought about it yet, apart from wanting to be able mount it to the bench, possibly in multiple locations,
so will have an hours mocking it up before I ask what ye think about that.




Hopefully get back at this tomorrow.


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## Jameshow (1 Oct 2021)

Ttrees said:


> Hack job I know, but its been sound, got some heavy use for the last few days
> We welder saved the day again
> View attachment 105098
> 
> ...


Nice I have the same drill I love it! 

Cheers James


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## Ttrees (1 Oct 2021)

Aye James, it's a good yoke for what I need it to do.
Be interesting to see how I get on with the vice, as I'll likely be asking a bit more of it.

I noted a drill that you linked before, and was intrigued at the collar with the jubilee clip.
What is the advantage to this, as I always hand turn the bit backwards to center it after dropping and raising the table.
Is there something I'm missing I wonder?






Another thing which would be nice is to either make some improvements to the depth stop,
as it does slip, or just making a new system altogether.
A fella on youtube has made a DRO for his, (Bobby's place) but I think a manual setup would suit me far better, with some fancy spring action nut like on a router.

Realistically I think the original depth stop might be made good enough possibly?
as I've more important tasks to do.

Thanks for reading
Tom


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## Ttrees (5 Oct 2021)

Hello again
Had to wait for some paint to dry, so thought I'd post the result.
Very nice to have a vice that won't slip




Missed an opportunity to take a few piccys here, it was fun to do a bit of curve work smoothing off the facets and whatnot with the piece unobstructed as was held by a bit of threadbar.

Made a bolt for the handle, corners knocked off a nut, and turned on the grinder using some threadbar, flipping over the threadbar after every stroke, as the nut winds to the left.
Nearly circular, wanted to keep the width for a nice big cheese head screw.
Ready to weld onto the threads.






Might have made the handle a little long, can trim it later if so.
Hard to get an impression yet, as it's still wet from the linseed oil.










Made a swing arm for the angle poise lamp, as the lamp was mounted on the block before that.
It wasn't over far enough to see, especially so regarding the grinder, something had to be done.

I didn't intend to make it adjustable, and glad I made it from scrap U channel, and thin angle iron,
as a whole length of u channel would have been too heavy,
I just chopped the end off and drilled a line of holes, and welded a bit of thread on the box.

(Tip) those wee vitamin boxes or fish oil from Lidl make great containers for paint brushes.





Took a photo of this wee eBay lamp just to show the size difference but deleted it, 
OK I suppose for this application, but no good for a bench.
I was wanting to get the other good lamp out of the way, but it would've been in the way really.






Three wee tools to help setting the machine up.
might make a magnetic block for underneath the vice jaw, instead of an offcut sometime.

I was meant to ponder a bit about a plate for the vice, but haven't messed around with it yet.
Be interesting to even mount it to some thin ply just to see what makes sense.
I don't want to waste this 8mm plate, as I don't have much of it.





Not sure there's much more I can do on this.
Love to know more about possibly improving this specific depth stop design, if there's a thread about them I'd love to read, couldn't find any in the archives with a quick look.
I have to take it apart anyway to grease the gears, so might have a better look to get an understanding of it fully.

All the best

Tom


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## Ttrees (12 Oct 2021)

Thought I'd update my post, now I'm pretty much sorted to put this to work.
Was going to ask for suggestions about making a base plate, but mucked about with a sheet of ply, and realised I was overthinking things.

Chopped a wee section off this plate and had a go at flattening it after.





Took a bit of trial and error as there was a twist, had me chasing my tail quite a few times.





It's nice and sturdy on the drill now, was going to buy allen head bolts, but just a slot in the threadbar seems adequate.





Should be a bit handier for the bench too, as those g clamps are always going missing.
Not tried vertical mounting but should be just about do-able.
This vice needs a tiny bit of fettling, as the jaws aren't closing evenly, could be a bit of paint under the jaws, as it's only a sheet of paper out, but enough to notice if holding two of the same objects like nuts for instance.
Must rig up something to check against the milled sides of the column or whatever you call it.






Should be more than enough space to stick some clamps on, 
I know, I know... I'm bound to find it in the way and need drill and maybe also tap some more holes.
I made the edges quite accurateish and parallel, so can mark out more holes for it easily..
The vice is tiny a bit out, as I didn't plan on filing the holes of it, (that much) to suit m10 bolts,
but after finding some adequate threadbar, turns out I needed those holes larger than what the old worn bolt was telling me.

I should have found that threadbar first, and filed it accurate in the first place, instead of drilling it off by a smidge.







Now a good clean up and get back at what I should be doing


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