Chuck and Morse taper question

"BobMac" wrote: (clip) When I mount it in the tailstock, it just spins freely, (clip)? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You have something like a Jacobs chuck on a live center. That's really weird, and should not even exist. Take it back where you got it and ask them what the h... is going on. They should take it back and give you something that makes sense, i.e., a Jacobs chuck solidly supported on a Morse taper (no rotation.)

I would be really intrigued with their explanation. Or did you put this together yourself, out of pieces that were meant for other uses. A Jacobs chuck usually mounts on a Jacobs taper. Possibly you got hold of a Morse taper with a live center that takes interchangeable tips. If these attach by means of a Jacobs taper, I can see how you could possibly put together the useless combination you have.

Could be your morse taper's too long, your tail stock too dirty, or it might be something more bizarre, as others have intimated. I'll trust your good sense and assume Jacobs is the brand of chuck, whether or not it threads on or seats in its own taper.

I'd clean both taper and socket, make sure the quill is not retracted and ejecting my taper, and try again. Snug is a tap sometimes.

Hope you haven't messed up the taper with the spinning.

I got a #2 adaptor to hold a Jacobs taper #33 chuck in the tail stock of my Delta midi lathe but the joker kept turning kinda like you described. Then I diagnosticated that the adaptor had a "tab" on the end which prevented the taper from seating all the way in the tailstock recess. After cutting off the tab, it worked perfectly. So I will echo what has already be said already and ask you to scrutinize your problem again and if need be report back to the group. This is really a great place to glean information and get answers.

My guess with the current info would be either the wrong size Morse taper for your lathe (#1 #2?) or a dirty taper on your tail stock..

With a proper size and good fit, the chuck should only spin in the taper (ass-u-me-ing that's what's spinning) if you bind the drill bit or didn't seat the Morse taper well.. YMWV

mac

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I had exactly the same problem with some #1 to #2 adaptors. With the tab they would not seat properly in either the headstock or tailstock.

Don't think you're missing any parts Bob, ;-)))))))

The answers you got, pretty well cover the whole gamut of possible problems you could have. My first thought would be you have a morse taper for a drill press, and those have a tang (flattened end) on them and this will not fit in a lathe, you will have to cut or grind the tang off, or return and trade for a morse taper without a tang. Next possibility is that your tail stock will eject your morse taper when retracted all the way back (a good thing to have), in which case you only have to crank the barrel out a little and then your morse taper should fit, the way to install a morse taper is by inserting it with a swift flick of the wrist. And yes all mating surfaces should be clean, that counts for tapers, spurs and chucks etc. Smaller MT ??? well that should be obvious, as there's a large size difference, would not fit anywhere close.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

you do know that the purpose of that tab is to keep the taper from rotating - a better solution would be to mill the missing slot into the back of the quill

The Delta Midi tail stock is short (I had one)

I have a General - Midi-Lathe 25-200, I almost bought a very nice set of chuck at Woodcraft store. But my General lathe tail stock and head stock are very short and it will not take a #2 MT chuck. A normal chuck will work in a Delta or Ricon mini lathe (forgot which one) and cutting it shorter may damage the bores, so I decided not to buy.

I guess I'm lucky, Leo... My 1442 has the eject feature and my drill chuck came with the taper with flattened end that you mention, but they work well together..

mac

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Well I grabbed a couple of minutes to mess around with it, and the likely problem seems to be the grease on the taper. I'll probably get a chance to mess about with it this weekend, and I'll know more then.

Thanks for all the thought and ideas.

BobMac

"BobMac" wrote:(clip) the likely problem seems to be the grease on the taper. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I feel sort of vindicated, even though my answer was MILES off. Kuz, so was everyone else's. Grease on the taper? Not in a million years would that have occurred to me.

Hi Leo, Not trying to 'disvindicate' you or divert BobMac's thread, but just to mildly 'microargue'. A revolving Jacobs chuck held _firmly in a tail spindle might not be totally useless. I'm wondering about using it to gently stretch or at least not compress a super thin axial grain spindle turned between chucks.

Of course there are other methods to keep a skinny spindle from whipping.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

hmm... me either... Maybe it was shipped with cosmoline or whatever on it?

mac

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"Arch" wrote: (clip) A revolving Jacobs chuck held _firmly in a tail spindle might not be totally useless. I'm wondering about using it to gently stretch or at least not compress a super thin axial grain spindle turned between chucks. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You are absolutely right, Arch. Now that you mention it, I recall threads which discussed how to attach a Jacobs chuck to a revolving tailstock mount, for that very purpose.

I also recall that once the spindle is turned "super-thin," the job MUST be turned to comletion without stopping--else on restart, the piece would just twist in two.

Hi there other Leo

Sorry to blow your bubble there other Leo ;-*)))

I did cover that with ..........."all mating surfaces should be clean".

I would guess though that most anyone would know that things that are not supposed to turn, shouldn't have oil or grease/lubricants on them, then again .....?????

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

wrote: Sorry to blow your bubble there other Leo ;-*)))

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Well, Other Other Leo--one thing this proves: there is no better search engine than a person who is mis-quoted or who fails to get credit for an idea. In this case it is you. I would have had to re-read the entire thread, and still might have missed the relevant line. You brought it immediately to my attention.

Y'know there was another post early in the chain that recommended cleaning.

"Could be your Morse taper's too long, your tail stock too dirty, or it might be something more bizarre, as others have intimated."

"I'd clean both taper and socket, make sure the quill is not retracted and ejecting my taper, and try again. "

Must have been a pretty good answer, what?