Thanks for the reply.

The rotational freeplay in the hand wheel would appear to be for
loosening the collets (combination of freeplay & handwheel inertia) to
"hammer" the threaded joint loose.

To try to better clarify the issue in hopes that others will respond,
the locking ring when pushed up against the handweel does in fact
eliminate the freeplay. The problem is that the locking ring does not
stay locked - as soon as the lathe spindle begins to rotate, the
locking ring pops out of its (very weak) detents and the handwheel
once again has rotational freeplay.




(DoN. Nichols) wrote in message

I've not had a chance to work with such a chuck, but I have a
suggestion to something which you might be missing. If it has that much
free travel, it is probably there for a purpose. The purpose might be
to allow you to rotate the handwheel until the locking ring pins line up
with holes in the handwheel.

So -- try holding the locking ring pressed towards the
handwheel, while rotating the wheel. I suspect that you will find a
point at which the locking ring will suddenly move a bit more, and at
that point, there will be very little free play in the handwheel.

Sort of like engaging the locking pin when going from back gear
to direct drive on a belt-drive lathe. You have to rotate the bull gear
relative to the pulley to find one of the points at which it will
engage.

Good Luck,
DoN.