I have taken my Vicmark chucks apart a couple of times. I doubt if it
would be worth the effort for you to make one. The main gear (the one
that moves the jaws in and out) is spiraled and the bottoms of the jaws
have matching spirals. Getting the geometry of it and the jaws right
would be a real challenge, better for mass production, not one of a
kind things. I guess it depends on how much of a machinist you are. The
rest of the chuck is fairly simple.
robo hippy
Prometheus wrote:
Hi guys,

Well, my never-ending quest for increased self-sufficiency regarding
my tools got a really big shot in the arm today.

I was talking with one of the guys I work with a couple of days ago
about making some turning tools- a subject he was very interested in
as well, as I just sold him my Midi lathe. He pointed out a 5-gallon
pail in the corner, and asked if I could use the scrap for it.

So, I took a look- and sure enough, it was full right to the top with
HSS industrial punch tooling that had been discarded for one reason or
another. Since the owner was coming back to town for the annual
Christmas party (he's mostly retired,) the folks in the office were
starting to get a little nervous about how they could discard it
without him stumbling across it in a dumpster or tucked away in a dark
corner. It wasn't worth much to them, and was actually sort of a
liability (in that the owner would have a fit if he saw it, even
though broken tooling is something that can't be totally prevented)-
so I asked the VP if I could help them out by making it quietly go
away. Didn't have anything to do with me, but I figured it couldn't
hurt to ask.

So, I'm now the proud owner of about 200# of HSS that has been smacked
through steel plates about a million times. Not all of it will be
good for turning-related projects, but there are at least 30 HSS rods
in there ranging from about 1/2" to 1" in diameter and about 8-9
inches long that are going to turn into one heck of a set of tools one
way or the other- whether I can manage to forge them into gouges and
skews, or simply mill or grind cutting profiles into them, it's a heck
of a score.

Cost me nothing, and even scored a few points with the boss, for
making a potential problem go away nice and quietly.

There is a question in here, though- some of that material would be
perfect for machining a couple of really nice chucks and assorted
jaws, if I can manage to figure out how a scroll chuck works. Any
chance someone has a link to some plans or diagrams of the internal
works in one of those beasts? I figure I can work it out, but it's
one of those things where re-inventing the wheel is probably not
necessary.