In article ,
Randal O'Brian wrote:
I took mine apart, mainly out of curiosity. It was 8 or 10 years ago, but I
don't remember any real problem taking it apart other than magnetic
attraction trying to keep it together. The sliding parts are grease lubed
and it may be that the grease in yours has dried up and hardened.

It depends on the type of permanent magnet in there. Unless it
is one of the modern rare-earth magnets, the assembly acts as a
"keeper", and with it apart, the field strength of the permanent magnet
will drop significantly, and it will need to be re-polled once it is
reassembled.

So -- generally, I would suggest *not* disassembling it unless
it is so bad as to be useless.

If you do disassemble it, first lock it onto some object of a
known size and measure the force needed to pull it straight off. Then
after you have it cleaned and reassembled, repeat the test. This will
tell you whether you have lost field strength.

I understand that some places offer the service of re-polling
the chucks -- but I have never tried to find someone who will do it, so
I don't know what your luck will be.

Good Luck,
DoN.
--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---