chuck jaws

[Lewayne]

I have a old South Bend 9" lathe. it came with a Skinner 6" chuck and the jaws to hold work from the outside.
I don't have the other inside jaws. Can those be obtained somewhere?

[Russ Hanscom]

Probably not. Almost certainly not new. Try ebay and related. You may well need to buy a whole new chuck - which may not be much more expensive than just jaws.

[tornitore45]

Depending on what you do with your lathe you may consider
If you only have one chuck is should be a 4 jaws independent
If you rather have only one scroll chuck is better to swing for a two pieces jaws rather then reversible. It gives you the option of using soft jaws.
On the other hand a plain scroll with 2 sets of jaws may suite fine.

[LIALLEGHENY]

Lewayne, Take your outside jaws and get a good set of measurements off of them....then look on Ebay. Wait long enough and eventually a set of jaws will show up. I was able to do this and find a set of jaws for a 12" chuck I had. On the other hand you may want to just purchase a good chuck with 2 piece jaws. That would allow you to not only reverse the jaws, but also use machinable jaws, which would be much more versatile.

Nyle

[SteveM]

Make some measurements and put up some pictures, preferably with the measurements on the picture.

I MIGHT have a set. There were some outside jaws in my dad's toolbox, and he sold off the South Bend 15 years ago,

Steve

[earlgo]

Finding a small enough chuck with 2 piece jaws may be a real challenge. The 6" 4 jaw chuck that came with my 12" Atlas weighs 8# and the 6" SHAR chuck with 2 pc jaws weighs 26#. Way too heavy for the Atlas.
You might try Small Tools in Euclid Oh. Last summer they had a skid load of Chinese 5" chucks with 2 pc jaws. I didn't get the price.
Small Tools Inc
26470 Lakeland Blvd
Euclid, OH 44132
1-800-821-2674
www.smalltools.com

You might also ask them if they have the missing SB jaws you are looking for. Good Luck
--earlgo

[tornitore45]

You might try Small Tools in Euclid Oh. Last summer they had a skid load of Chinese 5" chucks with 2 pc jaws. I didn't get the price.

$185

[Lewayne]

SteveM check if you have a chance. I have a 7" chuck, set up for that operation, which I found on e bay cheap once. Its a bit big on my 9" lathe though.
I've been cleaning the rust off that one this weekend. It came that way and I never got around to cleaning it up. That one could use a new base plate as well.

[SteveM]

I have a 6" chuck with 2-piece jaws, and I don't think it's anywhere near 26 lbs. It works fine on my Atlas (as long as I don't hit reverse, then it can unscrew).

An option if you can't find the outside jaws is to find a chuck that is missing the INSIDE jaws.

As the outside jaws are generally used less, you will probably be able to get it cheap ("hey, I'll give you $50 for that chuck - it's missing the inside jaws!").

The nice thing is that you no longer will have to unscroll your chuck to swap jaws - you just need to swap chucks.

I have a chuck with only outside jaws just for that.

I have THREE four-jaw chucks, one with the jaws inside, one outside, and one with two of each. I haven't unscrolled a set of jaws in years.

Steve

[tornitore45]

I haven't unscrolled a set of jaws in years.

I do not mind swapping jaws, but I do not relish swapping chucks.
I made chuck socket drivers to fit all my chucks. The drivers fit the 1/4" hex of my power screw driver.
Swapping or reversing jaws is a snap.

[SteveM]

I haven't unscrolled a set of jaws in years.

I do not mind swapping jaws, but I do not relish swapping chucks.
I made chuck socket drivers to fit all my chucks. The drivers fit the 1/4" hex of my power screw driver.
Swapping or reversing jaws is a snap.

I'm going to make one out of one of those power screwdrivers one of these days. Just need to find a working one at a garage sale because I'm too cheap to buy a new one.

Steve

[Lewayne]

So I cleaned up the chuck I have with the inside jaws. It actually is a Japanese chuck and is 6 1/2". I thought it was 7" IT cleaned up really nice so I guess I have a separate chuck for each application. maybe a pain to use sometimes but I only paid about 50 bucks for the larger one. I have a little 4" 4 jaw that I found cheap one time.
So the 6 1/2" has a 6" backer plate and I guess the bolts need to go into the outer ring of the chuck. not anywhere inside the back? am I right?
Someone has placed the bolt holes right on the edge of the backer plate and done a very poor job of it. There's not much metal under the bolts. Only a thin shoulder. Not a full round hole either. My feeling is it could come off the backer plate and become a loose cannon, so to speak.
Can I easily find a raw blank with the hole already threaded for my south Bend? I think the end is 1 3/8' with 8 threads per inch. (thats from memory though). I saw some in a catalog on line, but it was too late to call and clarify what all their numbers meant. If the threads were right it looked like I could turn a larger one down to 6 1/2 and place new holes in the right place.