Drill Press Chucks & Tapers

[watercrawl]

I'm wanting to replace my stock keyed chuck with a keyless chuck. The press has a JT#3 chuck.

Question, is there really a big difference between the chucks? They vary wildly in price from $25 to $175.

I'm not planning on precision work...drilling tang holes in metal and pin/bolt holes in wood scales....and the stock press works admirably for those tasks. I can't imagine that the stock chuck is anything real fancy or of super high quality.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm not against spending on the higher side if it's worth it, but don't want to unnecessarily waste money either.

Thanks!

 

[12345678910]

I'm wanting to replace my stock keyed chuck with a keyless chuck. The press has a JT#3 chuck.

Question, is there really a big difference between the chucks? They vary wildly in price from $25 to $175.

I'm not planning on precision work...drilling tang holes in metal and pin/bolt holes in wood scales....and the stock press works admirably for those tasks. I can't imagine that the stock chuck is anything real fancy or of super high quality.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm not against spending on the higher side if it's worth it, but don't want to unnecessarily waste money either.

Thanks!

Which ones ?

We could comment much better if we had a clue what you are referring to.



One comment I have is on the JT#3 taper

Have a look here.
http://www.tools-n-gizmos.com/specs/Tapers.html

JT# is just the taper on the short end.
The drill press likely has a female # 2 Morse taper and replaceable arbour.

You don't need to buy a JT#3 chuck.
You get whatever chuck you want and then the arbour to match.
The arbours are available in every combination and are cheap $5 ish

 

[watercrawl]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by your initial question.....but here are a few that I found:

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=319-3126

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=240-2883

http://www.amazon.com/Woodstock-D2741-32-Inch-8-Inch-Keyless/dp/B0000DD6H9

http://www.grizzly.com/products/3-4-x-JT3-Keyless-Drill-Chuck/H8012

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Keyless-Chuck-3-16-3-4-JT3/SB1377

However, my question is more generic in nature.....are there big differences in function/wobble/runout/etc. Unless of course someone has specific knowledge about a specific JT#3 chuck.

I, somewhat, understand the ability to switch chuck configuration. However, I don't particularly want to unless someone has a particular reason to.

My drill press has MT2 spindle taper. It's made, or at least branded, as a Porter Cable.

 

[12345678910]

On your first one,
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=319-3126

the minimum size is .197, but it takes a very large drill


For large drills, you can always use a Deming type drill with reduced shank size,

or a Morse tapered shank

If you are doing the upgrade,
I'd skip that and look for ones that have a a 1/32, or zero minimum size so you can handle the tiny number drills.




I've heard lots of good things about a ROHM

Check this listing at Enco, very decent prices, but this is where you may need to change the arbour.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=240-3043&PMPXNO=4839732&PARTPG=INLMK32

 

[Astrowood]

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I can't help with much specifics - but I can tell you what I did. My old Craftsman has the same chuck size, and I was getting to much "wobble" and wanted to upgrade to a keyless as well. Some Googles searches pulled up some woodworking forum discussions about slop in the quill, so I fixed that. Much better, but the chuck still had to go. Busy Bee had a sale on some Chinese stuff, and as I did not have the money for the keyless that I was looking at from Woodcraft - I bought one for $15. I have to say, that its not to bad - would I highly recommend it ? Probably not. But the combination of the two fixes sure made a difference, and its good enough for now.

So, you asked for "thoughts" that's my 2 cents worth....