Hello all-
While I have a chuck that is adequately serving my needs, and don't really need anything different right now, I've been mulling over various senarios for making a homebrew scroll chuck just for the challenge of it. Especially after making a bunch of the Longworth chucks, it seems like something that might be worth attempting.
The standard design that uses the plate with the raised spiral to move the jaws is neat, and probably the best solution, but beyond my capacity to make without endless hours of touchy hand-filing- for now, at least.
I've come up with a few vague ideas involving worm gears and other sort of Rube Goldberg-esque rigs, but nothing that is really worth pursuing.
What I've got availible for playing with is an old knee mill, a laser cutter, presses, punches, brakes, etc, and a selection of welders and grinders at work. At home, which is where I prefer to do the bulk of my fooling around, I've got a forge and anvil, a couple of good grinders, files, an electric shear and a 3/4 finished metal lathe for working metal, and at least one of just about anything a guy would want for working with wood.
The goal is to figure out a way to make a useable scrolling chuck that will self-center, tighten with a T-handle wrench, and is at least reasonably easy to change jaws on.
I am fully aware that by the time I've designed and built this thing, I will probably have spent far more time and effort that it would have taken to just go out and buy a really nice one- but that's not going to teach me much, and won't be nearly as satisfying to use. And, I'll only have one- but if I can *make* one, then I can have as many as I want.
So, anyone have any brilliant ideas? Or maybe a link to some chuck designs- dubious or otherwise? It's possible the Longworth two-plate design would be a good place to start, but I'm willing to entertain just about any idea as a starting point.