In article ,
"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2009-02-13, Joseph Gwinn wrote:
In article ,
"Harold and Susan Vordos" wrote:

"Joseph Gwinn" wrote in message
...
I'd like to get some soft jaws for the 3-jaw chuck on the Clausing 5914
lathe. This appears to be the chuck that came with the lathe. The jaws
are two-piece, and can be removed and installed the other way.

The chuck body is marked "BP71/6206", and is 8" in diameter.

No way for me to tell what fits that lathe. I'm using a Bison
6-1/4" chuck with two-piece jaws.

Apparently these jaws are the "American standard tongue-and-groove"
type. The lengthwise groove is 0.31" wide, the crosswise tongue is
0.501 wide, and the centers of the screw holes are 1.75" apart.

There seem to be a lot of people making chuck jaws, none of which I
know anything about.

[ ... ]

They're easy to make if you have a mill, Joe. I've never purchased soft
jaws in my life! The best choice is mild steel, so the jaw can be rebuilt
by adding new metal after they're served a long and useful life. I
have
also used both 7075-T6 and 6061-T6 aluminum.

I see that they would be easy to make, but first I want to know the
price if purchased, to be sure making them myself is worth the trouble.

IIRC, the price for a set of soft jaws for my Bison was about
$60.00. I would say that it is worth while making your own. :-)

A datapoint.

And I do have a mill, which has been feeling neglected since the
Clausing 5914 lathe arrived and was so in need of doctoring to cure its
severe case of the chatters.


You might dig through the MSC catalog to see what they charge
for sets to fit your measurements.

That's what I'll do. The general lack of opinions on the matter tells
me that soft jaws are a commodity. It's not like they have to be made
by watchmakers and hand-polished by virgins. On the other hand, hard
jaws ....

Joe Gwinn