new chuck jaws for drilling

[Aaron at Wingerts Woodworks]

I've always used a set of Pin jaws for drilling small blanks for whistles, turkey strikers and other small diameter turnings on the lathe, but the pin jaws had real limitations on the diameter they could handle.  I'd often have to turn squares round to get the blank chucked up.  Plus they were pretty short and would sometimes allow some wiggle in the blank if the tool bit in very hard. 

Today I scored a set of these:

They're Nova's new pen drilling jaws.  They're a lot longer than pin jaws, there are only two of them and boy do they hold the blank secure!  I'm really excited about them, as they'll save me a couple steps every now and then. 


They'll hold round stuff too.  Based on the description I read on them I had expected that they'd hold 1-1/2" acrylic.  They won't.  Actually I think they would if 1-1/2" acrylic was actually 1-1/2"....But all the stuff I have is about 25/1000'ths larger than 1-1/2.  That was pretty frustrating, because it is so close to working.


I'm wondering if I could take them to a machinist and have them chamfer about 1/16" off the corners.  I don't think it would affect the jaws' ability to grab rounds or squares but it would give me the clearance to be able to hold 1-1/2" round stock for drilling.

These jaws won't hold 1-1/2" square stock, but that wasn't a big deal to me because I have jaws that'll do that. 

[jcz]

Looks like a nice addition to your tool line up. Could you hit the edges of the jaws on a belt sander to get the acrylic to fit.

I hate changing out those jaws so I bought an extra chuck.

[FS Custom Calls]

Big G, my dad who was a machinist for  50 years, told me long ago how to fix chucks if they run out of true or not big enough...  Chuck a piece of metal stock in and drill with a slightly larger bit, center drilling first.  It will drill out the jaws perfectly centered and in your case to the size you want.  Other than that, all I remember.  If you need more info ill hit him up in the AM.  Just PM me

[Aaron at Wingerts Woodworks]

Big G, my dad who was a machinist for  50 years, told me long ago how to fix chucks if they run out of true or not big enough...  Chuck a piece of metal stock in and drill with a slightly larger bit, center drilling first.  It will drill out the jaws perfectly centered and in your case to the size you want.  Other than that, all I remember.  If you need more info ill hit him up in the AM.  Just PM me

That would work awesome....If I had a 1-5/8" diameter drill bit that would cut steel!     Thanks though!  I'm thinking that a machine shop could probably remove a little metal from them for me, so I may look into that in the coming days.

I did spin up a piece of 1-1/2" acrylic between centers tonight and nipped about 1/16" off of its width and it slid in these jaws beautifully.  And the drilling went very, very well.  Pretty sure these jaws will see a lot of use, as I can afford a tiny reduction in width on most of my duck and goose calls.  Might have to paint them orange because talk about dangerous knuckle-busters!!!!!

[BigB]

Aaron, if you close the jaws down smaller, you won't need such a large drill bit.

Brian

[FS Custom Calls]

Aaron, if you close the jaws down smaller, you won't need such a large drill bit.

Brian

Funny thing is I thought the same as Aaron when he told me to do it.  He then told me not to quit my day job.  All you need is enough to keep the bit from chattering and just cutting what you want off the jaws and it will run perfectly centered no matter if your lathe runs that way or not.

[Aaron at Wingerts Woodworks]

Aaron, if you close the jaws down smaller, you won't need such a large drill bit.

Brian

It is so obvious, yet I failed to realize it.   

[VECtor Calls]

Could you take them off that little bit with sandpaper attached to a 1 1/4" acrylic rod????

What a bunch of goofs!  Shows how much research they did to produce something that is actually useful to their customers.

Vince