New chuck problem.

[Captain Jerry]

Is this normal? My new 3 1/4" 4 jaw chuck arrived from Grizzly and I started out by disassembly, de-greasing, and de-burring. I didn't really do any de-burring until I started to put it back together. The jaws will not slide in the chuck body. They were very tight when removing them but I blamed that on the protective grease or debris but now all is clean and its a no-go. Two hours of filling and stoning, mostly stoning the side faces of the jaw, and one jaw now fits. With 8 jaws ( 4 inside 4 outside) it will be a week of drudgery and motrin before its usable.

I never had a new chuck before. Is this normal?

Jerry

 

[Lew Hartswick]

Sounds suspicious to me. If it came apart with crud on it should go back together
without the crud. You have done something else wrong.
...lew...

 

[Captain Jerry]

Lew

It came apart with considerable torque on the jack screws. I would expect the jaws to fit in the body and to slide smoothly with finger pressure only, no jack screws. Is this wrong?

Jerry

 

[lordedmond]

4 jaw normally only come with one set of jaws its the three jaw that has both

Have you put them back in the same slot as they came out of normally they are numbered but I do not know the quality of this chuck , If it was me it would be winging its way back asap

a new chuck should work out of the box at least mine did a 6 1/4 bison tho it cost about £300 so I guess it should be OK ( BTW it was purchased with a new lathe from my local manufacturer )

 

[Captain Jerry]

This is the 4 jaw recommended by Grizzly for use with the 4" rotary table. It comes with both inside and outside jaws and neither set fits. The Grizzly people aren't answering their phones this weekend due to their big tent sale so I tag them next week.

Jerry

 

[Artie]

I seriously think you now have a problem. The seller is within his rights to not honour the warranty if you have tried to rectify the problem before making him aware of it. He almost certainly wont get the factory to replace it if its been filed etc.

If he does replace it for you its most likely at his own expense. If somethings not right when you purchase it (locally) you really should talk to them before attacking it.

Cheers Artie (good luck!)

 

[tel]

I agree, something is seriously amiss there by the sound of things. I've bought a number of new chucks over the years, from expensive Pratt Burnerds down to the cheap and cheerful 'imports' and they have all worked from the get-go.

 

[BillTodd]

4 jaw normally only come with one set of jaws its the three jaw that has both

Is this a self-centring 4 jaw? (i.e. Does it have a spiral scroll and hence two sets of jaws? If, so check for scroll damage if one or more jaws has been fitted A*** about face!



Bill

 

[Captain Jerry]

Thanks for all you interest. After considerable time and effort, I have come to this conclusion:

THIS IS A CRAPPY CHUCK!!!

The attached drawing shows where the jaws are binding in the slots. The interference is considerable. There is no simple fix.

This is a four jaw independent chuck. The are two sets of jaws. The jaws have only one gripping face, non reversible. My best guess as to why there are two set is in an effort to extend capacity. Having never owned a four jaw independent chuck, I don't know if this is normal design or not. There are no partial threads on the bottom of the jaws to engage the threads on the jack screws. Instead there is a projecting leg that engages a non-threaded section of the screw. The screw moves in and out with the jaw. The screws are the same length as the jaws. This prevents the jaws from closing to less than about .375"!!! I repeat my previous statement:

THIS IS A CRAPPY CHUCK!!!!

Its going back where it came from!!!

I haven't been able to talk to Grizzly yet due to their big sale. If it turns out that I am wrong, I'll post a retraction.

Jerry


View attachment Crappy Chuck.pdf

 

[Tin Falcon]

Jerry: In all fairness to grizzly complain to them first and let them have an opportunity to correct the problem.
Tin

 

[Captain Jerry]

Don't get me wrong. I have no quarrel with Grizzly. They have been a pleasure to deal with in all previous encounters and I have no reason to think that they will treat this situation any differently. That doesn't change the fact that this is a crappy chuck. Even if it worked as smooth as a baby's butt, it still doesn't close to less than 3/8". Anyone considering the purchase of this item should be forewarned. I wish I had been.

Jerry

 

[Kermit]

I'm puzzled Jerry. I've followed your description of the problem and keep coming back to where you first received the chuck. In your first sentence you say you 'disassembled' the chuck, but the .pdf file you show clearly indicates that those jaws don't fit.

Do you follow me?

Was the chuck assembled when you got it? ???



Kermit

 

[Captain Jerry]

Kermit

In my second post, I said that It came apart with considerable torque on the jack screws. It was VERY hard to turn the chuck key. I didn't use a handle extension but it was VERY hard to drive the jaws out. The interference may be slightly exaggerated for emphasis. I could drive the jaws back in but before they get 1/4" in to the slot, the torque required to move the jaw is more than I would normally apply for final tightening on a part.

Jerry

 

[Maryak]

CJ,

Methinks you are somewhat peeved :-* :-*

Just part of life's rich tapestry :

I'm not sure if it's you or the company who's Grizzly.

Seriously, sorry about you chuck being a bummer and I hope you get a refund without any problems.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Captain Jerry]

After a little prompting, I decided to shut up and stop being a grumpy old f@@t and let the vendor have a chance to sort it out. Here is the result.

Monday: Called Grizzly and was really pleased with their response. The technical rep checked to see if they had a manual or parts diagram on-line. Nope, none in the box either. So they would pull a new chuck from stock, give it to a machinist to evaluate and call back within 24 hours. Good plan, good response, I'm a schlub for bitching.

Tuesday: No call by 4:00 PM (28 hours) so I called back. They had been really busy, and the machinist who had the ticket was on the phone but they would flag that I had called and if he didn't get back to me before the end of the day, I would hear the next day. Okay, everybody gets overworked and its hard to get everything done on time. They are trying, I'll wait.

Wednesday: No call by 3:00 PM so I called back. They checked the call back log. I was scheduled to get a call tomorrow, not sure what time. Okay, typical support, but they sound cheerful and willing, I'll wait.

Thursday: No call by 3:00 PM so I called back. The job has been assigned to a machinist, but he has made no note in the file and they cannot call him directly so there is another alternative. I can ship it back to them and they will have a machinist see what it needs. How long will that take? It depends on how busy he is!! OR... They can be sure that he will call me tomorrow. Is there a good time to reach me? How considerate!!! What great people!! Oh crap. I'm getting grumpy again.

To make matters worse, today my new rotary table arrived (from Grizzly) and while waiting for the call I was spending my time disassembling, de-greasing, cleaning grit, de-burring, de-rusting and listing the screws that I needed to replace. Soft, slotted heads, with irregular threads. I'll make it work but it will take some time. No problem, I've got nothing else to do but sit around waiting for a phone call.

Jerry

 

[rake60]

Jerry did they assign an incident number to your service issue?

If they did, PM it to me.
I can rattle a few chains that might speed up the response time.

Rick

 

[Captain Jerry]

Rick

Yes, there is an incident number assigned. I'll pm it tomorrow morning when I get to the shop. I'd get it now but my shop is in an outbuilding about 1/4 mile away and its raining.

Jerry

 

[rake60]

I'll be watching for it in the morning.
We'll get them off dead center.

Rick