A while back I picked up an import 1440 lathe, and over all I have been
pretty happy with it. I wasn't 100% on the 4 jaw that came with it so the
vendor offered me a below market price new old stock Bison to replace it,
and also gave me enough trade in on the stock 4 jaw to be worth shipping it
back to him. I damaged an oil port and he sent me a bag of them. The cam
that locks the tail stock to the bed had roll a pin in it that was a little
to short, and I replaced it with a longer one. My plan has been to replace
that with a solid tapered pin, but the longer roll pin has been adequate.
The gear and pulley cover made a vibrating noise when snugged down tight so
I put spacers on the mounting studs, and snugged it down against those. No
more noise. I'm listing its deficiencies because really that's all of them.
Well except for this last one.

I'm not 100% on the drill chuck that came with it. Oh, don't get me wrong.
I've used the heck out of it, and its pretty concentric... for a drill
chuck, but I've slipped a few drills in the chuck. If I recall its either a
0-1/2 or a 0-5/8 chuck on an MT4 taper. Its tough. The chuck shows no sign
of wear even though I have used a cheater bar on the chuck key a few times.
I have worn a couple chuck keys. Ruined one when I welded on a permanent
cheater bar. It just doesn't seem to hold as well as I would like when I am
pushing the drilling capabilities of the machine. The lathe is only 3HP.
3HP isn't much for a lathe, but it is a lot for drilling I think. Anyway, I
am wondering if there is a better drill chuck out there for this
applications. Something that can grip those 1/2" shank stubby silver and
deming bits with authority. Maybe a keyless chuck, and then use pin
spanners in the holes. I have a 1/2" keyless for one of my smaller lathes
and another in my larger (drill press) and they seem to both work pretty
good, but neither machine is 3 HP. I think the little 8.5 x 18 lathe has a
1hp motor, and I am sure the drill press is only 3/4.

Anyway...

******

Looking at maybe the 1/32-5/8 MT4 integral shank South Bend at the bottom
left on this page.

http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2018/main/666?p=666

The price seems pretty reasonable for the name, but I am aware that SB might
not be the same as they once were. I have never needed grip range smaller
than 1/32. I do drill some small holes on the lathe, but I tend towards
carbide drills with an 1/8 shank for that type of work.

On Fri, 27 Jul 2018 08:49:44 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:

A while back I picked up an import 1440 lathe, and over all I have been
pretty happy with it. I wasn't 100% on the 4 jaw that came with it so the
vendor offered me a below market price new old stock Bison to replace it,
and also gave me enough trade in on the stock 4 jaw to be worth shipping it
back to him. I damaged an oil port and he sent me a bag of them. The cam
that locks the tail stock to the bed had roll a pin in it that was a little
to short, and I replaced it with a longer one. My plan has been to replace
that with a solid tapered pin, but the longer roll pin has been adequate.
The gear and pulley cover made a vibrating noise when snugged down tight so
I put spacers on the mounting studs, and snugged it down against those. No
more noise. I'm listing its deficiencies because really that's all of them.
Well except for this last one.

I'm not 100% on the drill chuck that came with it. Oh, don't get me wrong.
I've used the heck out of it, and its pretty concentric... for a drill
chuck, but I've slipped a few drills in the chuck. If I recall its either a
0-1/2 or a 0-5/8 chuck on an MT4 taper. Its tough. The chuck shows no sign
of wear even though I have used a cheater bar on the chuck key a few times.
I have worn a couple chuck keys. Ruined one when I welded on a permanent
cheater bar. It just doesn't seem to hold as well as I would like when I am
pushing the drilling capabilities of the machine. The lathe is only 3HP.
3HP isn't much for a lathe, but it is a lot for drilling I think. Anyway, I
am wondering if there is a better drill chuck out there for this
applications. Something that can grip those 1/2" shank stubby silver and
deming bits with authority. Maybe a keyless chuck, and then use pin
spanners in the holes. I have a 1/2" keyless for one of my smaller lathes
and another in my larger (drill press) and they seem to both work pretty
good, but neither machine is 3 HP. I think the little 8.5 x 18 lathe has a
1hp motor, and I am sure the drill press is only 3/4.

Anyway...
I have a lot of drill chucks. For keyless I like my Albrecht chucks
the best. They far out-perform any other keyless drill chuck I have
used. For keyed chucks I like the Jacobs ball bearing chucks. They can
often be tightened enough by hand when using smaller drills. I also
have a Wahlstrom chuck that gets used in the mill and in the drill
presses. It is a bit odd in that it has 4 jaws. But its real claim to
fame is that it can only be opened while spinning. So drills are
changed without stopping the spindle. It has a collar that you grip
and pull down to open the chuck. So if you need to center drill or
spot drill before drilling, or if more than one size drill needs to ge
into the same hole it is a real time saver.
Eric

I also like Jacobs ball bearing chucks. But like to buy them used. They are not cheap. Might feel different if I was doing a lot of machining. The ball bearing Asian drill press chucks are also pretty good. Some of the Asian non ball bearing chucks are terrible. I bought a large floor model Harbor Freight drill press second hand. I think the owner sold it because the chuck was so bad. I replaced the chuck with a ball bearing Asian chuck and it is a pretty good drill press now.

Dan

On Fri, 27 Jul 2018 11:12:24 -0700, etpm wrote:

On Fri, 27 Jul 2018 08:49:44 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:

A while back I picked up an import 1440 lathe, and over all I have been
pretty happy with it. I wasn't 100% on the 4 jaw that came with it so
the vendor offered me a below market price new old stock Bison to
replace it, and also gave me enough trade in on the stock 4 jaw to be
worth shipping it back to him. I damaged an oil port and he sent me a
bag of them. The cam that locks the tail stock to the bed had roll a
pin in it that was a little to short, and I replaced it with a longer
one. My plan has been to replace that with a solid tapered pin, but the
longer roll pin has been adequate. The gear and pulley cover made a
vibrating noise when snugged down tight so I put spacers on the mounting
studs, and snugged it down against those. No more noise. I'm listing
its deficiencies because really that's all of them.
Well except for this last one.

I'm not 100% on the drill chuck that came with it. Oh, don't get me
wrong. I've used the heck out of it, and its pretty concentric... for a
drill chuck, but I've slipped a few drills in the chuck. If I recall
its either a 0-1/2 or a 0-5/8 chuck on an MT4 taper. Its tough. The
chuck shows no sign of wear even though I have used a cheater bar on the
chuck key a few times. I have worn a couple chuck keys. Ruined one when
I welded on a permanent cheater bar. It just doesn't seem to hold as
well as I would like when I am pushing the drilling capabilities of the
machine. The lathe is only 3HP. 3HP isn't much for a lathe, but it is a
lot for drilling I think. Anyway, I am wondering if there is a better
drill chuck out there for this applications. Something that can grip
those 1/2" shank stubby silver and deming bits with authority. Maybe a
keyless chuck, and then use pin spanners in the holes. I have a 1/2"
keyless for one of my smaller lathes and another in my larger (drill
press) and they seem to both work pretty good, but neither machine is 3
HP. I think the little 8.5 x 18 lathe has a 1hp motor, and I am sure
the drill press is only 3/4.

Anyway...
I have a lot of drill chucks. For keyless I like my Albrecht chucks the
best. They far out-perform any other keyless drill chuck I have used.
For keyed chucks I like the Jacobs ball bearing chucks. They can often
be tightened enough by hand when using smaller drills. I also have a
Wahlstrom chuck that gets used in the mill and in the drill presses. It
is a bit odd in that it has 4 jaws. But its real claim to fame is that
it can only be opened while spinning. So drills are changed without
stopping the spindle. It has a collar that you grip and pull down to
open the chuck. So if you need to center drill or spot drill before
drilling, or if more than one size drill needs to ge into the same hole
it is a real time saver.
Eric


That's a cool chuck - must get one.

On 27/07/18 16:49, Bob La Londe wrote:
A while back I picked up an import 1440 lathe, and over all I have
been pretty happy with it.Â* I wasn't 100% on the 4 jaw that came with
it so the vendor offered me a below market price new old stock Bison
to replace it, and also gave me enough trade in on the stock 4 jaw to
be worth shipping it back to him.Â* I damaged an oil port and he sent
me a bag of them.Â* The cam that locks the tail stock to the bed had
roll a pin in it that was a little to short, and I replaced it with a
longer one.Â* My plan has been to replace that with a solid tapered
pin, but the longer roll pin has been adequate. The gear and pulley
cover made a vibrating noise when snugged down tight so I put spacers
on the mounting studs, and snugged it down against those.Â* No more
noise.Â* I'm listing its deficiencies because really that's all of
them. Well except for this last one.

I'm not 100% on the drill chuck that came with it.Â* Oh, don't get me
wrong. I've used the heck out of it, and its pretty concentric... for
a drill chuck, but I've slipped a few drills in the chuck.Â* If I
recall its either a 0-1/2 or a 0-5/8 chuck on an MT4 taper.Â* Its
tough.Â* The chuck shows no sign of wear even though I have used a
cheater bar on the chuck key a few times. I have worn a couple chuck
keys.Â* Ruined one when I welded on a permanent cheater bar.Â* It just
doesn't seem to hold as well as I would like when I am pushing the
drilling capabilities of the machine.Â* The lathe is only 3HP. 3HP
isn't much for a lathe, but it is a lot for drilling I think.Â* Anyway,
I am wondering if there is a better drill chuck out there for this
applications. Something that can grip those 1/2" shank stubby silver
and deming bits with authority.Â* Maybe a keyless chuck, and then use
pin spanners in the holes.Â* I have a 1/2" keyless for one of my
smaller lathes and another in my larger (drill press) and they seem to
both work pretty good, but neither machine is 3 HP.Â* I think the
little 8.5 x 18 lathe has a 1hp motor, and I am sure the drill press
is only 3/4.

Anyway...

I use a lot of rotabroach type cutters these days for drilling shallow
holes as they use less power to drive and I use them in the BP mill with
a 3/4" collet and on the lathe, Harrison M300 3hp, with a modified MT3
to MT2 adaptor although I think you can buy holders for them. They work
great and seem cheap compared to drills and the slug from the centre may
be useful. I made the adaptor as when using larger rotabroach cutters in
an adaptor in a 16mm max keyless chuck the torque would often jam the
jaws and needed freeing, the modified MT3 adaptor precludes that problem
as it has 2 grub screws that fit the Weldon flats.