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Keeping Drill Chuck in the Drive Center.

T

Tony Dentino

Joined
Oct 18, 2005
Messages
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Location
New Jersey
I have been having a problem keeping the drill chuck from wandering out of the Morse Taper after removing the tail center (as when turning bottle stoppers). I tried tapping it in but it still comes out as soon as I apply a tool.

The Morse taper did have some rust on it that I removed with sandpaper. Should I just buy a new chuck?

Tony
 
Tony,

Sounds like its not seating properly in the quill's taper. Either the TS "ejector" is interfering, or you've got dirt or a gall in there preventing the taper from matching up. Have you tried extending the TS quill? How about cleaning and checking the female taper?

M

Opps,

Here I'm talking about the tailstock quill and your asking about the spindle's drive taper. 😱 Never mind. Listen to John. 😉
 
Last edited:
As I understand.............

your post, you are using a drill chuck to turn bottle stoppers? If that is correct you have two options 1) don't remove the tail stock.This may require making your blanks a little longer so you can part off ahead of the marks left from the tail center. 2) Drill and tap your MT to accept a threaded rod. The rod goes through the head stock and with a nut and washer holds the MT in the headstock. Others may have better or different fixes.
 
Tony You will always have trouble with a drill chuck coming out of the lathe without a drawbar to keep it in. The vibrations from the turning eventually cause it to come out. I've tried this on 4 different lathes and they all work loose sooner or lather. I got around it by buying a #2 morse taper to 3/8" collet from a metal supplier and then making my own drawbar to keep it in.
The Beal Collet system works well for this.
 
John,
So THAT'S what the tapped hole in the end of the MT on my drill chuck is for. Whowouldathunkit? Just need some allthread, nut, washer, and lockwasher to make a drawbar. Amazing what one can learn just by paying attention.
 
ER...

If I have a screw chuck that I want to use in a similar fashion, do I need a draw bar to hold it in? And it there are no holes for a drawbar, do I need to drill/tap one?

And if my Drill Chuck has a tang on the end (it's doing double duty on my drill press) how do I keep it in without cutting off the tang and drill/tapping it?
 
Jim, can you drill and tap the end of the tang? I don't have a MT shank in front of me, but I think the flat tang is at least 1/4" thick, and you could put a 3/16" threaded hole into it. Maybe even 1/4"?
 
I'm not a machinist or engineer but I believe Morse tapers were designed to hole with pressure from the end, like drilling downward on the drill press. If you notice that milling machines use collets because the mill is subjected to sideways force.
I would think anything with a morse taper that is used for sideways forces would be subject to coming loose. I do use my drill chuck with a sanding pad in it to finish the bottom of bowls, but this force is pushing in.
I have used a deadblow hammer with moderate taps to put a jacobs chuck in for wire brushing a bowl. It stays in really well doing this but I don't like to do it. I am worried about the damage I might do to the bearing by hitting the chuck.
 
Tony I don't think a vacuum will hold. It holds by atmospheric pressure pushing on the piece. This is 14lbs pers square inch. With a #2 morse taper you don't even have one square inch so you wouldn't have very much holding pressure. At least that's what I think but I've been wrong before.
 
underdog said:
ER...

If I have a screw chuck that I want to use in a similar fashion, do I need a draw bar to hold it in? And it there are no holes for a drawbar, do I need to drill/tap one?

And if my Drill Chuck has a tang on the end (it's doing double duty on my drill press) how do I keep it in without cutting off the tang and drill/tapping it?
Click to expand...


Underdog,
Many MT's are hardened so drilling and tapping can be difficult. They are also available in non-hardened, no tang, predrilled and tapped, etc.MT's are fairly cheap and any on-line or local machine supply house will have them. So before you grind off a tang see if it might not be easier to change the taper.
 
What I ws referring to isn't really a tang like they use on machinists drills. Many MT2's have a round extension that may extend 1/4 to 1/2" beyont the actual MT. If you have a smaller spindle bore like on a Delta Midi, it is necessary to remove the extension so it doesn't run into the sides of spindle bore.

JimQ
 
The tang i'm talking about is a tang. It's a flat area used for driving the MT out with a drift in my drill press. I'm guessing it's hardened also...

There's no sense in grinding it off either. I wouldn't be able to get it out of the drill press any more.

I'll just have to see if it will stay in when using it...
 
I has the same problem, I think it is just a bad idea, but I found the biggest problem was dirt in the tailstock. Take an old rag and pour some DNA or lacquer thinner on it. Stuff it in the taper of the tailstock and twist, poke, wiggle, etc. Do whatever it takes to clean all the decosmoline, sawdust, shavings, old gum, etc. out of there. Tapers only stick if both surfaces are clean and free of any grease, it has to be metal to metal. This application is still a little scary at best but without a drawbar (or with it) this will really make a difference in the holding of the chuck.

I tried to use the tailstock until it ready to sand and then I parted off the end, but then on sanding was when I had problems. Now I use a 4-jaw chuck that works so much better.

BTW- They make and sell a commercial product that is a plastic reamer to clean the headstock but I have found the rag works great for me.
 
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