Advice - 3 or 4 Jaw Engineering Chuck for wood lathe?

[bobblezard]

Hi, wondering if anyone can help me.
I don't know much about metal/engineering lathes but was hoping to find a traditional 3 or 4 jaw chuck to fit my Maxi 1 Spindle - 1 1/4" 8tpi.
Don't seem to be able to locate such a thing on ebay, google etc.
Could anyone give me any advice about how I could go about getting one either direct threaded or with a back plate?
I have wood turning chucks but want to be able to hold and turn brass and aluminium rod
Thanks

 

[CHJ]

Axminster have two sets of standard engineering jaws (internal & external) that fit their 4 Jaw chucks.

The Toolpost Versa Chuck also has them as an option.

 

[bobblezard]

Hi Chas thanks for the reply,

I've just looked at the Axminster Jaws and, not owning an Axminster chuck, they seem an expensive option as I'd have to buy the chuck + jaw set - I am also unsure how much faffing is involved changing the jaw slides not having done this before. I'll have a look at the Versachuck now. Was hoping for a more traditional chuck but this might be the way to go if I can't find one - thanks again, Bob

 

[bobblezard]

Just checked the Versachuck and this is cheaper - Chuck £60, Back Plate £25, Jaws £40 = £125, compared to around £165 for the Axminster Clubman with Engineering Jaws

Might do this if I can't find a better/cheaper option, Thanks Bob

 

[CHJ]

Changing the jaws is a matter of about two minutes at most.
On a conventionally configured wood chuck you have a set of four jaw carriers that you then attach a set of auxiliary jaws to dependant upon the type of fixing required.

To fit the engineering jaws it is just a case of unwinding the chuck scroll until the jaw carriers are free and re-inserting the complete engineering style jaws.

The only critical part is fitting the four jaws in the correct sequence, 1-2-3-4 as the rear scroll gear teeth are spaced to match the scroll in the chuck, failure to fit them in the correct order results in a mis-alignment of the jaws so that the won't close up correctly. But you no doubt are fully aware of all that with using the wood jaws anyway.


What ever you do, do not be tempted to mix and match jaws between the two brands mentioned above, they will not fit, the scroll dimensions are different, the Versa chuck being slightly finer thread than the Axminster.