Drill Press Chuck Help Please

Michael J. Spangler

Michael J. Spangler

Joined
Oct 8, 2003
Messages
2,181
OK so i wanna get a jacobs chuck to help steady up my drill press. what do i need to know when purchasing a chuck? what type of chuck should i get? the key type or the keyless? whats the diference? pros and cons? what do i need to measure to know what size i need to buy? etc. etc. etc. thanks!
 
I wouldn't get a keyless chuck. Never tried one on a drill press but all of my hand drills came with them and they just don't have the bite for drilling steel or other tough materials. The bit slips way to easy. You really have to have hex shanked bits, and I kind of doubt that the cheap ones turn as true as a cheap round shanked bit. There definitely aren't as many sizes to choose from.
 
I would go with the keyless.
I put one on a Taiwan drill press a few years ago, and it's like a new machine.
They're nothing like the keyless chucks on a hand drill.

I got mine from Grizzly, and have been very pleased. No runout, like most of the stock chucks on the Taiwan presses.

If you need the part number, let me know, and I'll dig out the old invoice.:D
 
OK, Mike, you got me looking, so now I need your help....:D

I do not understand tapers real well. I figger if I'm gonna get a chuck, I may as well change the arbor and get it as good as posible.

Now, the problem:

On the chuck, it is clearly marked that the taper is Jacobsen 3.

On the freakin' drillpress plate, it says that the spindle taper is JT 2-1/2! I haven't found a book yet that acknowlegdes a Jac. taper of that number, and it sure as heck looks like a standard Morse taper to me. This is a "Cummins-Mack", read "Taiwan", so I wonder if this is some of that Chinese machine gibberish???

So, Dear Abby, can you help me with this dilemma? :)

Confused in drillpressland......
 
The spindle is part of the machine, I think, the inner, moving column that holds an ARBOR, which connects spindle to chuck. Some chucks are just screwed onto the end of the spindle. Or there are arbors that terminate in a thread instead of a taper. Have you taken it apart, yet? On mine, there's a setscrew that secures the arbor in the spindle, just to keep it from dropping onto your hand. (Don't ask why I know this):). This can't be real tight, or it can "unround" the arbor travel. Boy, I said that silly-sounding, but I don't know how else to put it. :) One would only need to replace the arbor if it is not a snug fit, or there is indication it is out of round.

I'd say take your chuck and arbor off and give em a peek..... You can also use a dial indicator and mag base to indicate the arbor and make sure it runs true.
 
I replaced both the chuck, and the arbor.
What I had was a big 5/8" JT3 chuck with a morse taper2 arbor.

I replaced all that with a JT6 chuck, Grizzly #G1651, and an adapter arbor from MT2 to JT6, Grizzly #G1434.

You probably have the same thing I had Mike.:)
 
The good quality keyless chucks are great, but a keyless chuck can be expensive. If you are unable to buy a good quality keyless chuck I would buy a Jacobs Super Chuck and be happy. The keyless chucks just speed things up, and you never have to look for the lost chuck key.
Tom
 
Hrmmm, sound slike something I should do. Always planned on upping my cordless to a 1/2", never did. Believe drill press has 1/2", but definitely wouldn't be hurt by a new one.

bah, always something new to buy
 
Was about to say ALWAYS go for 1/2", just cuz I was thinkikng hand drilss, as when I saw it was in 1/8ths, assumed it was 3/8. But a 5/8, taht'd be nice. hrmmm

That was abou8t only thing I learned on drills from my dad. Always go with 1/2" chuck on a hand drill(besides the standard buy best you can bit about all power tools)
 
2nd vote for a nice keyless chuck. Makes things so much easier at the press. I always lose keys, or strip 'em...
 
ok my arbor just slips into the spindle and i think turn clockwise to secure.... then the arbor just tapers down and fits into the chuck.... from what i can see there is visible wobblynes in this machine.... just seems very far fr4om true. so how would i go about fiting a new arbor and chuck? do i just find an abor that fits? and then get a chuck that fits the arbor? there's a local store with some old merchandise to sell they have a dozen or so chucks, i think all jacobs some keyless and a whole lot of arbors should i find an arbor that matches then just get the appropriate chuck or am i missing something?
 
Most arbors are just a tapered press fit.
The part that goes into the spindle(upwards), is called the morse taper, the part that the chuck fits on is called the jacobs taper.

If it doesn't tell you somewhere on your press, or in an instruction manual, what you have, then you will have to resort to measuring it, and hope you find someone in the tools trade that knows about such things.

Ahh! I just found the measurements for those cursed things.
http://www.loganact.com/tips/tapers.htm

DON'T lube the arbor when installing. It must be very clean, also clean the inside spindle that the MT fits in.
 
Originally posted by Matt Shade
I wouldn't get a keyless chuck. Never tried one on a drill press but all of my hand drills came with them and they just don't have the bite for drilling steel or other tough materials.
Click to expand...

Hey Matt, the chucks you find on the hand power tools will spin, but the ones available for machine tools are great! Even the cheap ones are good, IMO. I have a $300 Albrecht and a $25 import (yes, only $25). I can tell no difference between the two.
 
ok so this is how i see it.... i found a 1/4" super chuck all i need is a jacobs arbor from MSC, anything else i'm missing to sturdy this drill press?
 
1/4" sounds pretty small. I would go 1/2", at least.

It just occured to me that maybe we're not talking about the same thing here.
What exactly do you have? :confused:
 
Hey Hammer...

What kind of drill press do you have? What is the JT designation? You shouldn't need anything other than the chuck as long as its the correct size to your quill. Hint: Just look at your old chuck. It should say JT-something. That would be your Jacobs Taper size.
 
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