3 jaw chuck or 4 jaw chuck? I do not think I can get the accuracy I want with a 3 jaw. That and a good lever runout gauge...
Lathe
- Thread starter B_Regal Racing
- Start date
I made my fixtures for turning wheels in a 3-jaw chuck. When turning wheels I mount those fixtures in an ER 32 collet chuck and test with a dial test indicator for runout. I can get an accuracy of .0001 with very little work. You could do the same with an independent 4-jaw. It just takes more fiddling .
With axles I do the initial machining of the blanks from raw stock in a 3-jaw. Once the blank is cut free I do the final machining in the ER 32 as well.
3-jaw self aligning chucks are great for initial machining from raw stock. It is very difficult to maintain concentricity of parts and fixtures with a 3-jaw once they have been removed and reinserted in the chuck.... I'm sure it can be done, and I'm sure someone out there does it all the time. yadda yadda yadda.... But from my experience, a collet chuck is the way to go.
With axles I do the initial machining of the blanks from raw stock in a 3-jaw. Once the blank is cut free I do the final machining in the ER 32 as well.
3-jaw self aligning chucks are great for initial machining from raw stock. It is very difficult to maintain concentricity of parts and fixtures with a 3-jaw once they have been removed and reinserted in the chuck.... I'm sure it can be done, and I'm sure someone out there does it all the time. yadda yadda yadda.... But from my experience, a collet chuck is the way to go.
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I think both ace and darkside have good points. If you cut the fixture on the lathe and leave it in there it will provide very little runout. If you are wanting to make a fixture and then use that same one multiple times then a collet chuck would be a little easier. You can still use 3 jaw if you want to reuse fixture though. I use a 3 jaw at work and pretty much anything I put in there I have to indicate in. Sometimes this is quick and sometimes it fights me but you can get it dead nuts too.
Inner hub i hit with fine sand paper double side taped to a 3/16 X 1/2 piece of aluminum stock and cone it down while its still mounted for tread turning....the outter hub? ( dont pomel me guys) i use derby works outter hub tool....buuuut ive reworked the tool so that its sharp and actually cuts.....straight out of the box that tool is useless
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I have this tool and agree. What did you do to rework it? Just grind/sharpen it?
Yes...i dressed the face with a surface grinder using a cupped wheel and stoned irregularities out of the cutting edge by hand under heavy magnification
Your Wisconsin neighbor has not been on the forums for more than a year, but I did find the post when he was selling it. It was a Central Machinery. I'm sure it is OK, but I was looking for either a Sherline or a Taig. There is a Unimat SL (DB200) for sale near me which looks to be in great condition (comes with a bunch of tools, accessories, etc.), but I have read mixed reviews on the Unimats. I do not have any idea what I'm doing / buying, but I rather buy the right tool the first time.
I rolled the dice due to space and money limitations and bought the central machinery (aka harbor freight ) 7 x 12 mini lathe. I'll admit I was stressed when I bought it, but I've been more than pleasantly surprised with the quality. When properly set up and maintained it's a great little machine especially for the light weight stuff we use it for.
Just keep in mind that no matter what you buy you'll probably double the purchase price in tooling and accessories.
I own one of these myself...and also was very surprised at its quality. Even though i work with industrial cnc and manual equiptment i dont hesitate to use the little lathe i have at home...i give it a thumbs up ...especially for its price
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