Repair cast iron?

[HMEL]

I think its a bad idea to fix that part. Its not worth the risk you take when you use it. Its broken once under use and the probability is high it will break again. Its not a bad idea to repair the chuck but use another part. There are few things worse then seeing something flying across the room. You might want to consider replacing all the jaws.


Its looks like its something someone with a good milling machine could make.

 

[Tim Wescott]

... You might want to consider replacing all the jaws ...

I really should have thought of that -- whatever I've done to it I've probably done to all four jaws.

Taig actually answered my email, although I'm not sure the person on the other end has their head wrapped around "it's a 40 year old chuck" yet -- they were asking me which part number it is. There's a wee possibility that I've misplaced the paperwork! I have reiterated that I bought it in the late 1970's or early 1980's. So maybe I can buy new parts.

In writing the above I realized that this chuck is a bit of a nostalgia piece for me -- I went halves on an Enco lathe with my brother when I was in high school. It only came with a 3-jaw. I bought the Taig chuck (which is a bit big for the Enco), and a good friend of my father -- who owned a machine shop -- made an adapter out of a 3/4" bolt to mount the thing onto the Enco.

I still have the Enco, and the adapter, although I've been using the chuck on my Smithy.

 

[CFLBob]

Tim - I'm a Sherline owner and I've read of people using Sherline chucks on Taigs and vice versa. If I remember correctly they both use the same thread, 3/4-16, but there's a difference in how they fit on each other; which I guess means one is thinner front to back or has fewer threads engaged?

All of which means that if the guys at Taig aren't helpful, Sherline might be.

The website of all things related to Taig that I have is:
http://www.cartertools.com/It says last updated in January of this year.

Sherline tool sales is:
https://www.sherline.com/buy/
Hope that's useful!


Bob

 

[Tim Wescott]

I just got an email from them this morning. They're being very helpful, all for what will end up being a $24 sale. They've just been bumped way up on my list of folks to buy a micro-mill from, if that's the way I go.

 

[SmithDoor]

You may want make jaw

Dave

These are two of the four jaws from an old Taig (I think) 4-jaw chuck that I've been abusing by using it on a much larger lathe than it was intended for. As you can see, I broke the tab off of one.

I've got a new four-jaw chuck on order, but before I repurpose the chuck adaptor for that chuck -- is this jaw really all the way broken, or is there hope for it? I'm thinking that someone really talented could maybe braze that jaw back together and put it back into service after some fettling.

Mostly, I'd hate to chuck that chuck and then find out that there was a reasonable way of fixing it.

 

[Tim Wescott]

You may want make jaw

Not right now -- for the moment, my milling machine just doesn't cut it.

 

[SmithDoor]

What size mill do you have?
Good time to upgrade mill or do welding.

Dave

Not right now -- for the moment, my milling machine just doesn't cut it.

 

[HMEL]

I really should have thought of that -- whatever I've done to it I've probably done to all four jaws.

Taig actually answered my email, although I'm not sure the person on the other end has their head wrapped around "it's a 40 year old chuck" yet -- they were asking me which part number it is. There's a wee possibility that I've misplaced the paperwork! I have reiterated that I bought it in the late 1970's or early 1980's. So maybe I can buy new parts.

In writing the above I realized that this chuck is a bit of a nostalgia piece for me -- I went halves on an Enco lathe with my brother when I was in high school. It only came with a 3-jaw. I bought the Taig chuck (which is a bit big for the Enco), and a good friend of my father -- who owned a machine shop -- made an adapter out of a 3/4" bolt to mount the thing onto the Enco.

I still have the Enco, and the adapter, although I've been using the chuck on my Smithy.

I know the feeling. When my father passed my brothers and I split all of his tools. Then we came across a rare punch. Not of much monetary value but I gambled with my brothers for that punch. I won. It sits in one of my tool boxes. Its amazing how valuable a memory can be. Good luck with that chuck.

 

[Tim Wescott]

What size mill do you have?
Good time to upgrade mill or do welding.

I have the lame excuse for a mill on a Smithy Midas 1220 "3-in-1" machine. I shop for milling machines occasionally, but I've never had that much mad money all in one spot.

Besides -- the jaw is obviously precision ground as a last operation, and I definitely don't have the resources for that.

 

[SmithDoor]

It looks like great Lathe/Mill
It will do everything you need for engines.

It will make the jaw but I would blank out on saw first also hand grinding. Then finish on mill.

The mill looks great it is even set up for single belts. It sound like you low hours doing machine work.

Dave

I have the lame excuse for a mill on a Smithy Midas 1220 "3-in-1" machine. I shop for milling machines occasionally, but I've never had that much mad money all in one spot.

Besides -- the jaw is obviously precision ground as a last operation, and I definitely don't have the resources for that.

 

[Tim Wescott]

Not quite on topic -- I ordered a 5" 4-jaw chuck from Little Machine Shop. I reworked the back for my Taig chuck into a back for the new chuck. It fits. I messed up the interface to the lathe slightly -- the cavity in the adapter is about 0.001" too big, so it won't go back on perfectly repeatably. I refuse to care, since it's a 4-jaw and I'll be dialing stuff in anyway.

I'm going to miss getting the annual award for Best Home Shop Machining yet again -- but this should work. Certainly the test piece I turned came out as expected.

 

[Wizard69]

Honestly I wouldn't feel comfortable using a chuck with a "repaired" jaw like this. The last thing I would want is to be hit in the head with a chunk of iron.

So if Taig doesn't have a replacement part I really think your best bet it to make one yourself. Most likely the jaws are steel or should be. Actually I'd make a set of 4 so that they are all on the same page so to speak. Generally you want these jaws to be hard unless you specifically need soft jaws, so a good quality steel is in order.