On Fri, 4 Jan 2013 15:35:52 -0800 (PST), d32
wrote:

Anyone else had trouble with the $150 three jaw chuck?

About 4 years ago I bought a used 13 X 40 Jet lathe. Sweet machine compared to the Smithy 3in 1 I had. It came two three jaw chucks and each of them had 20 mill run out. I bought a new cheap 3 jaw and was thrilled to see it had about 2 mill run out until the 2" diam Al rod jammed when I was parting it out. Now I have 3 cheap 3 jaw chucks with 20 mill run out.

The new chuck (Christmas present) is arriving in a day or two and it is supposed to be a step up from the cheap ones. I am also going to be way more carful doing cut off operations.

Anyone have some rule of thumb for cut off operations?
I can't see how a chuck can go from .002" runout to .02" and can't
be adjusted back to the original .002" I don't know what your chuck
looks like but it probably mounts to a backplate that in turn mounts
to the lathe spindle. If this is the case then loosening the bolts
that attach the chuck to the backplate and tapping the chuck with a
soft hammer or similar back to center is the solution. Make sure to
re-tighten the bolts. Do you have a link to a picture of your chuck? I
have more than once converted standard chucks to adjustable chucks. It
is pretty easy.
Eric