Removing A Drill Press Chuck

Sometimes they are a press fit. I know that sounds like it would slip under drilling pressure. It is either held in place by a screw inside the chuck or it is a press fit. The 2 other holes for the key should be sufficient to tighten the drill properly.

Many do not understand that all 3 holes should be used when tightening a drill in a keyed chuck.

Is this helpful? Give the video a few seconds, the important part you can hear.

i found one video that had a set of flat wedges that he made that seemed to work. i may try that, though i'm still wondering what that nut is just above the chuck.


but boy that wiring.... the base had a 2 prong cord, wire nutted to a 3 prong wire. inside the switch was the hot lead, loosely twisted, with a little bit of electrical tape on that. and the grounds were just floating in there. so many ways to die with that thing. yet again i'm glad the seller plugged it in for me.

---Mike Savad

i think i found the video above, but i'm too tired to comprehend anything right now, i'll have to check again tomorrow when i'm a bit more lucid. thanks

---Mike Savad

Found this too, of course there are lots of google hits for this...this looked explained very nicely.

http://woodworking.about.com/od/woodworkingpowertooltips/p/How-To-Repair-And-Replace-A-Drill-Press-Chuck.htm

Mike,

If it does have a slot that you can see the end of the chuck, it sounds as though the tapered steel wedge is what you need. Just about every [large] industrial drill press we used at the shore-based ship repair facilities and aboard ship had that "style" of drill chuck. From what I've gathered about your background, you can manufacture the needed steel wedge yourself. Measure the width of the slot, and construct a wedge from some plate steel. You could probably find a piece of short flat bar, 1'8" - 3/16" thick maybe and use that. Round the edges off afterwards so you don't cut your hands using it. All of our wedges were attached to the drill press using a length of small chain so that the wedge was not misplaced.

Also, what Jeffrey mentioned about using all 3 drill chuck holes for tightening is good advice.

I'm sorry. I was under the impression that this forum was for art related topics. Am I wrong?

your wrong walter, it's about anything you want to talk about, because the forum is mixed. i'm sure you've been here long enough to know we talk about other things over art. and for all you know i make sculptures and this tool is a part of that process.


---Mike Savad

i'm wishing it did have a slot. i have a number of bits and collets it would fit, and up till now i didn't know what they were for. which means my search is still on to find another that does have that slot, though i don't have the space for it.

i'll have to look for some plate steel and make wedges, i have an angle grinder so that should work pretty well. i think it's worth making just to have and now have to keep an eye out at sales. i finally got those internal wrenches i've been looking for.



i have to take a better look at that thing, it's a broken head, on a spindle, and there is a nut right above that. i think it's an anticlockwise nut, and i can't figure out what that's for. because nothing gets loose when the nut comes off. wish i could find instructions on this tool, usually i can find them.


---Mike Savad

I misunderstood you and thought it had a slot for a wedge. Sorry bout that. You're probably correct concerning the left-handed thread nut. Can you take a shot of the assembly and post it? Not that that will help with your predicament, but you have my curiosity up as to what it looks like.



Walter, the topic is a welcome change from the usual copyright, watermark, etc. threads. :)

http://auction.repocast.com/details.cfm?ID=1405707#photos kind of useless without the motor and tensioning assembly, but it has it's height adjustment mine doesn't. unless that's what the nut is for. can't see the nut in those shots though. and i'm missing too handle pieces which i have to make. but the rust is almost identical.


http://www.auctionflex.com/showlot.ap?co=1&weiid=5428566&lang=En

http://www.kikoauctions.com/shared/auction_photos/1/2012/2450/IMG_0355.JPG

looking at some of these pictures, i'm thinking that nut holds the assembly for the ruler stop thing. if i can get it apart, i should be able to make a plate for that myself.


---Mike Savad

Hard to tell in the photos, but that nut on the left side is for the depth gauge setting, if that's the one you're talking about. You might have to disassemble the top part of the machine to see/get to what holds the chuck in place. Could be a set screw up in there somewhere. I'm not a machinery repair guy, just guessing at the moment.

usually i'm pretty good at this stuff. i know how to take chucks off of most things, but this one is a bit of a mystery. if i use the wedge idea, and it's not wedges, now i'll have wedges forced in there. wish there was a way to tell. i do know it's a jacobs chuck, but i think they make them that way as well.


this one is the most conclusive though wordy.


and this looks like an idea i will do, they seem to work with other tools as well.


---Mike Savad

I watched the first video (pausing it to fix some breakfast), and as you say, it is a bit wordy. If you can make those wedges, might as well give it a try, unless you disassemble the head of the drill press and see if there are any set screws, etc. up in there. Good luck, and hope you figure it out, as I'm sure you will.

for anyone wondering, i did get that chuck off, i worked on the wedges more and got a combo that worked. also replaced the stop.

i was making those new golf ball handles and i learned something new. some golf balls are filled with pressurized liquid. while each ball had it's own core. one looked like EVA sneaker foam. another looked like a super ball. this one like, popped and sprayed me. i was quite surprised and running into the sink to get it off my face. luckily i was wearing glasses, it got the most spray. it was like a spitting cobra. all i heard was a sudden his and i couldn't see anything.

i later found out that titlelist will fill the older balls with salt water mixed with corn syrup.... but what a surprise. i can't do anything with that ball now because it's hollow inside.

i bored it out about half way. and used two nuts, threaded to a screw so they will line up, and pressed it in a vise. done.


i just got like 3-4 dozen balls for $5.00 at a garage sale. now i can make a bunch of handles for my files.

---Mike Savad

I had to help a lot of people when I worked at Harbor Freight. I hope this helps.
(1) Look inside the chuck, is that a screw or an allen, or star? What you think is a screw could be an allen or a star bit for removing the screw.
(2) The allen on the side could be stripped out, especially if they broke teeth in it. You may have to drill it out for an easy-out, and retap it for a new screw. Be very careful if this is the answer, because if you drill it out to much you'll never get a new chuck in it.
(3) Look above the chuck. There are some that use an locking nut to remove them, especially some of the older small presses. It should be about a 5/8 or a 16mm.

Damn, I just noticed you got it... Sorry.

do easy outs work on that kind of screw, i thought it was anti clockwise. or is that just on saws?

there is a nut on that press, that doesn't seem to do anything. when loose, that's all it does. it doesn't seem to press down on anything. i may never figure that one out. but eventually i got it off. i just wanted to update the thread should anyone be wondering.


---Mike Savad

There are two types of Easy-outs, most of your plumbing ones, and a lot of your machinist types as well are for left handed threads. They also cost a bit more, but they work. Is the nut on top of the press, or the chuck?
If it is on top of the chuck and spins, it could be a tension nut that was striped out when they did what ever they did. Normally is you had both, you would have had to loosen the nut, then you would be able to turn the screw to remove it. Some of the older home use presses had issues with their chucks, so they went both ways, just a nut, or a tension nut and screw. I don't know which one worked better, sd I have only used the large commercial presses, and rebuilt a few of them as a Maint. Tech in factories. It was cheaper to spend 17.00 an hour for a two to three hour job, and 50.00 to 200.00 on parts for a Press than to spend 5k to 10k on a new one.
I would say they really abused that press from what you are describing. You might also want to check the brushes and drive as well.

the nut is on the axle that rotates with the head. it doesn't seem to tension or tighten anything but itself. from bottom up it's chuck, then nut, then the other drill stuff. my other press doesn't have that, seems isolated to this one. both are harbor freight in quality.

right now the only theory i have is, it allowed me to give the wedges something to push against, otherwise the space would have been too wide.

i think the motor is sealed, i didn't look for brushes to be honest. it runs well enough though, and it does what its supposed to do. i made new parts for it. it's not industrial by any means. it's more like a toy. but it will drill holes.


---Mike Savad