How to Remove a Stuck or Seized Chuck on a Lathe
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- Опубліковано 18 чер 2020
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In this video, I will be showing you how to remove a stuck or seized chuck on a lathe. Since I’ve purchased this lathe, I wasn’t able to remove it and I needed a bit of time to look into this a little more.
When doing this, disconnect the power on our lathe as a safety precaution. The last thing you want is accidentally hitting the switch and having the lathe turn on.
Place a block of wood over the ways, this provides protection when removing the chuck and a barrier if the allen wrench flips around.
Using an allen wrench, the larger the better, insert it into the chuck and tighten the jaws. Larger allen wrenches will be more durable and they’ll have less flex, allowing you to provide more force when shocking the threads.
As you can see, if that allen wrench flips around, the wood will stop it. Also make sure the drive is engaged, to provide a little more resistance.
Using a strap wrench, wrap it around the pulley on the headstock. With my model of South Bend, the gears can lock, however, that is not to be used for such a task. Doing so can risk breaking the gears and it can be hard to find replacement beyond having downtime on your lathe.
If you wish, a rag can be wrapped around the handle so it doesn’t accidentally cause damage.
Then using a hammer, for this I would prefer using a dead blow which will still provide great force without damaging the allen wrench.
I did find it wasn’t giving enough of a positive shock, so a led, brass, or ball-peen hammer can be used instead.
And as you can see the chuck is now loose.
Another option is using an impact, either electric or air. For this I have a large allen socket, make sure it’s an impact version. If you don’t have an allen socket, use a hex bar stock with the appropriate sized impact socket. And then remove the chuck.
As for a little preventative maintenance to prevent it from sticking. Make sure the threads are cleaned from any debris, even use a clean brush on the threads. Then apply lightweight gear oil.
And finally install the comment you’re switching over to. If you have any tips on removing a stuck chuck, please be sure to share it in the comment section below to help out fellow viewers. - Навчання та стиль
My 1921 Hendey saw me watching this, I can feel it laughing.
Holy, 100 years old and sounds like still in use! If machines could talk.
Great information Matt....cheers, Paul
Thank you so much Paul!
Very nice.
Thank you!
Hello Mat. What I have a similar to yours but mine says craftsman on it and there are no levers in front of the gearbox for thread cutting. Mine is older I'm assuming as there are no levers, you have to achieve the correct feed my changing gears supplied with the lathe. I really don't know how to set it up for thread cutting but then again I've not had a need for it. The other problem I have is my chuck is super stiff. I mean the T handle is almost unturnable by hand and I don't know what you would do to service it. I would assume it would be to simply disassemble it and clean everything but I really don't know that for sure.
Thanks 👍
You're welcome!
Hi - great video - my only concern with using oil on the spindle threads would be it will cause an over torque of the chuck during use? This over torque could cause the thread to stress and fail. I am not an engineer, only speculating my thoughts. For the same reason you want the threads to be lubricated for removal it will work against you also by over tightening and exceeding the allowable torque initially. What are your thoughts on this point of view?
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! You may have a slight amount of over-tightening, but due to the seize of thread there shouldn't be any issues with stress. A 3/4" (19mm) bolt can handle around 200ft lbs of torque, that's much smaller than the spindle thread and it shouldn't be seeing that much force when cutting.
Can you put the Allen wrench in there and then just turn the lathe on?
No, there is too much risk damaging the lathe.
Were you a commercial pilot at some point in life? I ask 'cause I'm getting a strong passenger pilot vibe from you...
Unfortunately no, but I would love to get my pilot's license if that counts lol.
It is ok after getting the chuck off to clean everything good the put some never seize on it
Oil would be better. If you run the lathe in reverse, the anti seize may allow the chuck to come off during operation.
That lath looks like what I have
Awesome to hear! They're definitely becoming rare and they're extremely well built.