A little while ago I inquired here about an SPI keyless chuck. Comments
were favorable & I bought one.

I just got around to checking it with a dial indicator & I'm really
impressed. I put the SPI chuck (Swiss brand, but made in Taiwan) on the
Enco (Phase II) arbor (made in China) & mounted them on my HSM Delta
drill press (made in Taiwan). My indicator reads to .001, so I can't be
sure what the TIR is precisely - cause it's less than .001. Probably .0005!

Bob

Bob Engelhardt wrote:
A little while ago I inquired here about an SPI keyless chuck. Comments
were favorable & I bought one.

I just got around to checking it with a dial indicator & I'm really
impressed. I put the SPI chuck (Swiss brand, but made in Taiwan) on
the Enco (Phase II) arbor (made in China) & mounted them on my HSM
Delta drill press (made in Taiwan). My indicator reads to .001, so I
can't
be sure what the TIR is precisely - cause it's less than .001. Probably
.0005!

What did you have in the chuck? And how far below the chuck did you take the
readings?

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

Bob Engelhardt writes:

I just got around to checking it with a dial indicator & I'm really
impressed.

Glad to hear your experience is consistent with the others here.

Michael Koblic wrote:
What did you have in the chuck? And how far below the chuck did you take the
readings?


A piece of ground rod, 3/8 diam +-. Very close to chuck, 1/4" or so. Bob

On Dec 9, 8:02*pm, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
A little while ago I inquired here about an SPI keyless chuck. *Comments
were favorable & I bought one.

I just got around to checking it with a dial indicator & I'm really
impressed. *I put the SPI chuck (Swiss brand, but made in Taiwan) on the
Enco (Phase II) arbor (made in China) & mounted them on my HSM Delta
drill press (made in Taiwan). *My indicator reads to .001, so I can't be
sure what the TIR is precisely - cause it's less than .001. *Probably .0005!

Bob

Concentricity is important, but just as important is a chuck's ability
to hold a tool under heavy load. I find that's what seperates them the
most.

You should stick a 1/2" drill in the chuck and put it through some
mild steel. Lean on the feed handle (hard!) and see if the bit slips.
Run a gun tap into some steel (3/8" NC and larger) and see if the
chuck holds.

Regards,

Robin

wrote:
Concentricity is important, but just as important is a chuck's ability
to hold a tool under heavy load. I find that's what seperates them the
most.

You should stick a 1/2" drill in the chuck and put it through some
mild steel. Lean on the feed handle (hard!) and see if the bit slips.

OK, I did that. No slipping. Except by the belts 8-(

Run a gun tap into some steel (3/8" NC and larger) and see if the
chuck holds.

Did that too. 3/8 is largest I have in gun tap. No slip.

My ideal chuck would hold in reverse, too. This one doesn't unless
"locked" with a spanner. I use reverse for the back & forth tapping
with plain (non gun-type) taps. But that is seldom the case & I expect
that I'd had to have paid a lot more than the $65 that the SPI cost me,
to get one than would do reverse with hand tightening.


Thanks for the feedback,
Bob

On Tue, 9 Dec 2008 20:38:54 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Dec 9, 8:02*pm, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
A little while ago I inquired here about an SPI keyless chuck. *Comments
were favorable & I bought one.

I just got around to checking it with a dial indicator & I'm really
impressed. *I put the SPI chuck (Swiss brand, but made in Taiwan) on the
Enco (Phase II) arbor (made in China) & mounted them on my HSM Delta
drill press (made in Taiwan). *My indicator reads to .001, so I can't be
sure what the TIR is precisely - cause it's less than .001. *Probably .0005!

Bob

Concentricity is important, but just as important is a chuck's ability
to hold a tool under heavy load. I find that's what seperates them the
most.

You should stick a 1/2" drill in the chuck and put it through some
mild steel. Lean on the feed handle (hard!) and see if the bit slips.
Run a gun tap into some steel (3/8" NC and larger) and see if the
chuck holds.

Regards,

Robin


Good luck getting that gun tap back out though.. most keyless chucks
dont reverse worth a ****

Gunner

On 2008-12-10, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
wrote:

[ ... ]

Run a gun tap into some steel (3/8" NC and larger) and see if the
chuck holds.

Did that too. 3/8 is largest I have in gun tap. No slip.

My ideal chuck would hold in reverse, too. This one doesn't unless
"locked" with a spanner. I use reverse for the back & forth tapping
with plain (non gun-type) taps. But that is seldom the case & I expect
that I'd had to have paid a lot more than the $65 that the SPI cost me,
to get one than would do reverse with hand tightening.

Actually -- for tapping I prefer a tapping head. I've got two
sizes of TapMatic -- covering 0-80 up through 1/2". Feed down, it turns
clockwise. Stop feeding (e.g. hit a depth stop) and it stops turning
totally. Feed up and it runs at a slightly higher speed in reverse.
I've not tried using it with a non gun tap, but I would think that if
you can do it with a reverse switch and a chuck, you can do it with the
tap head more conveniently.

One (the smaller with torque limit) came from an eBay auction,
the other (larger with overtravel limit) from someone else at a local
metalworking club meeting.

The way the taps are held is interesting. There is a RubberFlex
style collet to hold it concentric with the spindle, and there are a
pair of steel plates which adjust to clamp on the square at the end of
the shank, so it *can't* slip.

Both of mine are mounted on MT-2 shanks to replace the arbor for
the drill chuck (which happens to be a 1/2" Jacobs version of the
keyless design started by Albrecht. I've got real Albrecht ones, and
one Polish (Bison, perhaps) on other tools, with the Polish being the
5/8" drill chuck in the tailstock of my 12x24" lathe.

Enjoy,
DoN.

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