Thanks to all. This newsgroup never ceases to amaze me. I'll try the
cleaning and checking for burrs. The quill and the morse taper don't come
apart. It is the chuck that comes off the taper.

Then it is probably a J33 taper and MUST be clean as a whistle, dry, and hit
on hard with either a really soft mallet (rubber or lead-filled plastic,
etc.) or with a piece of wood.

If the taper or the inner surface of the chuck's taper are dirty or marred
at all, it'll fall off over and over again - even if you put a brand new one
on.

Some folks take the morse taper out and use a hydraulic press to set the J33
taper then put the morse back in. Not suggested unless you are careful
enough not to bend something and caouse runout, etc.

BTW, I found a good site http://www.beautifuliron.com/mttaper.htm which
describes the morse taper and drill presses in general. I used his
instructions and used the 'handle' to lower the spindle, which forced the
chuck against a piece of wood on the top of the table. This seems to have
tightened things up, but if it comes off again, I know what to change.

(anyway I've had my eye on a nice keyless chuck in the King catalog)

If you want a J33 1/2" capacity key-type chuck, I know where to get brand
new ones for $74.00 plus shipping. Not a clue if that is a good price or
not, but we use them and they have never stopped working even with large
countersinking operations and a semi-dirty operating environment. They are
tough chucks and come with a free key! grin

Regards,
Joe Agro, Jr.
http://www.autodrill.com
http://www.multi-spindle-heads.com

V8013

My eBay: http://tinyurl.com/4hpnc