Stupid cheap drill press....

J

JoshEarl

Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
197
I have a cheap drill press--a Ryobi from Home Depot. It's worked reasonably well until the last week or so. Now, it seems like there's something wrong with the chuck.

When I press a bit into steel, even annealed steel, the bit slips back into the chuck instead of drilling. This happens even when I crank the chuck down as tight as I can. I've also noticed that it won't hold 1/16" bits at all anymore--they fall right out.

From what I can see, the jaws look to be even when the chuck is closed all the way. But I suspect something is out of alignment in there.

Besides getting a better press, which I plan to do eventually :D, any suggestions? I would like to fix this chuck if possible. Has anyone else had something like this happen?

Thanks,
Josh
 
Just replace the chuck, tighten a hex wrench inside where ya put the drill bit in, give it a whack in the opposite direction and thread a new one back on, as long as the thread dimensions are the same you can either up size or downsize your chuck (within reason )

A cheaper way and maybe even the fix, open it up all the way and spray it with alcohol, grease turns into a thick hard paste after a while, manipulate it open and closed by hand then lightly oil and hopefully you can dislodge something so it can re-align its "bite"
 
Can you take the head off, maybe they will replace it. mine i can with the help of the pin that came with it, and i forget the name of the type off bits that will replace the head shaft. but you mite look into that.
or it may be that the bits have spun so many times that every thing is slick. rough one up and see if thats it.
out of ideas.
vern
 
Might be crud in the chuck. WD-40 may clean it out.
 
Thanks, guys. I am hoping that it's just dirty or something. It has functioned well up to this point.

It does sit right next to my grinder, so it gets lots of dirt thrown at it all the time.

The chuck should come off--I had to install it when I bought the thing. I'll try taking it off and cleaning it up.

Josh
 
If you end up replacing it, get a keyless chuck. They are on sale all the time for $30 to $45 and are worth every penny. I have them on all 3 of my bench top drill presses. They rock.
 
Its the cheap chuck that they supply ,if you take it out you will see the jaws have deformed inside,go for a Jacobs chuck to replace it.

Richard
 
+1 on the keyless chuck!

I got lucky and found one that goes from 1/32" up to 5/8". Tried to get one that was 0" to 5/8 but had to settle. Oh well, it's still one of the best investments I ever made.
 
also you could grind a slight flat on one side of the top of your bit, some bits come with this already, it prevends slippage within the chuck.
 
I took the chuck off and cleaned it out. I was hopeful, because there was some gunk on the jaws. But no, it's definitely a case of stripped jaws. I even tried roughing up the shank of my 1/8" bit, but that didn't do it. If I use my 1/4" bit, which has a triangular shank, it works fine.

So I want to replace the chuck. My drill has a straight shaft--no threads or anything. The shaft is 15mm. Any suggestions on which chuck I should get? Do they make them in metric sizes?

Josh
 
I was wondering about this. I think that most are a press fit, but past that I don't know anything really. I would like to know more about keyless chucks too.
 
Arg! I want to pitch this thing out of the window. Or maybe drag it behind my car... I ruined several drill bits tonight and wasn't able to finish a project because of this stupid chuck.

I really want to get a replacement. Can someone help me out with selecting a replacement? I don't know which Jacobs chucks might fit. My drill has a straight shaft that is 15 mm wide.

It seems like most of the replacements have a tapered or threaded shaft, so I have no idea where to start.

Josh
 
are you sure it's a straight shaft, not a short slight taper?
when you extend your quill all the way out are there two oval slots on opposing sides of the quill?

=Page
 
Ah ha! Thank you for making me confirm that. It actually does have a slight taper--from 9/16" at the bottom to 10/16" at the top. I measured it in the middle, which is how I came up with that 15 mm measurement. It fell between the 1/16" marks on my calipers, so I assumed it was metric. Doh.

What size spindle is this, then?

Thanks again,
Josh
 
It should be a Jacobs taper. That's a standard mount for a drill chuck. I don't have my Machinery's Handbook in front of me, but I'd lay a guess it's JT33.

However, being cheap Chinese import crap, that taper could be anything closely approximating a Jacobs' taper. It's actually sadly all too common for machinists to buy an import arbor to take a chuck they already have (say, to adapt it to a small mill-drill, or to a larger drill press, etc.) and the taper is just slightly off. It only takes a small fraction of a degree on the taper, and all of a sudden the chuck only makes contact at a thin ring at the base of the arbor.

If it were me, I'd skip it and get a better press, but for the moment, a decent Jacobs ball-bearing chuck should cost you less than $50 and should- disclaimers all around- plug right in.

Doc.
 
A new chuck is the best option but, another option is go get a 3/8 chuck from an old drill and mount it with a straight shaft. Then when you want to use small drills you chuck that in your bigger chuck. Lots of old drills around with good chucks. Not the best because of the 2 connections but, it will work and your setup doesn't sound like a precision rig anyway. I have a keyless setup like that I mount in a quick change collet in my milling machine. Works well for me and saves me taking out my collet holder arbor and installing the chuck arbor. If I something better I change chucks but, most bits of any size I have a collet that will fit.
 
Thanks for all the help, everyone. I ordered a replacement chuck--just a $20 off-brand one to get me by until I can get a better press. I bought a JT33 taper 1/2" chuck.

It arrived today--what a difference! This thing is huge compared to the flimsy POS that came with my press. It fit perfectly. I haven't tried drilling anything yet, but I have no doubt that it'll work well.

I appreciate the help.

Josh
 
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