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Need help sourcing new lathe chuck.

Discussion in 'The DIY Room' started by Screwloose, Oct 13, 2021.

  1. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    Howdy all.
    I need a new lathe chuck and I haven't bought a new chuck in years.
    I currently have a swedish SCA steel chuck that is just plain worn out. I'd like to get another one but I can't seem to find the company or a rep.
    It's a forged 10" 4 jaw universal (scroll) with 2 pc jaws. D1-8 iirc camlock.
    So who makes a solid chuck now a days ?
    I see Bison has one for around $2500 but I can't seem to see where it states what it's made from.
    Seems like Cushman, Buck ect. aren't what they used to be.
    Hoping Eric Schamell , chris or Horkn , anyone... can point me in the right direction.
    Thanks Keith
     
  2. huskihl

    huskihl

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    Grizzly sells some on their site. Shars also. Believe Shars is Chinese though if’n it matters. Not certain about Grizzly
     
  3. Eric Wanderweg

    Eric Wanderweg

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    The last new Bison I was involved with in buying (back in 2007) worked great, just like the old Bison chucks. Pull the masters out once in a while, clean the scroll, keep it greased and they last a long time. I can’t really speak to their quality as of recently though. Seems almost everyone is outsourcing to cut costs, and quality suffers... My department bought a couple new Clausing engine lathes this year outfitted with several 3 jaw Pratt Burnerd chucks and they seem to repeat well and operate smoothly. We haven’t had them long though and one thing that bothered me was seeing how the sharp edges on it weren’t deburred from the factory... Schunk makes a solid product but they’re wicked expensive. One brand I’d steer clear of is Samchully. We had a 12” chuck from them that wouldn’t repeat better than 0.005” T.I.R. That and the jaws would flex outwards a few thousandths when clamped, so that you’d only be clamping with the very back of the jaws. The masters were really sloppy in the chuck body, and the chuck itself was only a couple years old before we chucked it in the ____ it bucket. If you’re okay going with a Japanese chuck, Kitagawa is decent.
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2021
  4. Eric Wanderweg

    Eric Wanderweg

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    I’m leaning towards Bison personally. I see in Wisconsin one company besides MSC is a distributor for them. I’d call them up and talk to a representative to pick their brain. See what kind of metal alloys they’re made of and where the parts are coming from. Dropping a couple grand on a chuck is well worth doing some digging first.
    D54662D7-F04A-4284-8032-5956E6233688.png
     
  5. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    Thanks for the replies. This is a bread n butter chuck. Hundreds and hundreds of 1"-3" square 304 stainless bars with relatively tight concentricity and diameter turned sections.
    I got about 30 years out of this swedish one with a good 25 before you had to start watching over it.
    It needs to be a solid one to laugh at the square stainless bars.
     
  6. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    Interesting, I wonder if shars reps Bison or ? We have a customer we deliver to down the road from Shars ...... And I've never once stopped in maybe nows the time.
     
  7. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    I think I will call them tomorrow, thanks for the info.
    Yeah it hurts to buy dollar wise but that pain will subside..... eventually. Dickin around with a fussy chuck just continues to suck.
     
  8. Eric Wanderweg

    Eric Wanderweg

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    I started seeing Shars brand around maybe 10 years ago and laughed at them for being imported junk (on top of the name reminding me of SARS) A buddy of mine even bought one of their dial indicators for laughs. Wouldn’t you know it, 10 years later he’s still using his “junk” indicator every day and it’s still accurate if you check it against gage blocks. Might as well check Shars out since they’re close by. If you can get the results you’re looking for with a more “economical” chuck, why not?
     
  9. Horkn

    Horkn

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  10. huskihl

    huskihl

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    I’ve seen Bison chucks advertised somewhere. May have been through Grizzly
     
  11. huskihl

    huskihl

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    My experience has been the same. 3 Shars indicators, a 4 jaw independent, and quick change tool post that get used daily. They’re flawless so far for what I do
     
  12. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    I'll look at grizzly although I'm sure it would be a special order.
     
    amateur cutter, Horkn and huskihl like this.
  13. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    I have 4 aloris posts and close to 100 holders all aloris. I was given 1 enco copy holder and it stood out like a red headed step child. I was asked if it would bother me if it disappeared. I'll admit I'm a tool snob and I don't mean to offend anyone.
    Now for instance we are making a batch of 99.9% pure silver parts at a ridiculous price. All at least 4 decimals.
    I have to much at stake to take chances. I am also an auction whore with purchases from 7 auctions this month so far and I don't mean eBay.
    In my late mother's papers I found some receipts from my childhood. Using my paper route (for you youngins the news was printed on paper and delivered to your door) money i bought a new Milwaukee drill at 8 years old, a Sawzall at 9 and a new powermatic 66 saw at 16.
    I still have those tools.
     
  14. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    Thanks for the link !! Chuck didn't pan out but I have a call in for this ! Screenshot_20211014-092413_Chrome.jpg
     
  15. Eric Wanderweg

    Eric Wanderweg

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    That looks like a nice furnace! You could do your heat treating in the upper chamber while you're annealing in the lower one, if you've got a high volume of parts to do. Or you could do what I do and heat up your lunch in it :cool:
     
  16. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    It's just want one for hobby use making tools ect. I bought a couple of tons (literally) of assorted virgin tool steel. A1, d2, o1, m2,s7 ect. from a closed electrical connector stamping company for less than $300.
    I have a Johnson programmable natural gas furnace with fire eye. Like new, bought from a school for fifty bucks ! Problem is that it takes a while to get down to annealing temps.
    The one I posted isn't happening as its $14500..... jeez it probably went for a grand or 2 at auction.
     
  17. Horkn

    Horkn

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    Hey, at least you found some usefulness out of that link!
     
  18. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    Thanks, but it came with a catch.
    Now my wife, son, daughter have it in for you !
    Like amateur cutter cutter said, I'd rather have stuff than money when the dollar goes.
    Stuff, I can survive with stuff. I will make Mad Max look like stoners in a high school shop.
     
  19. Horkn

    Horkn

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    I'll take the blame, as long as they are good with you.;) :handshake::thumbs:
     
  20. amateur cutter

    amateur cutter

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    Imma stealin that one Keith!:thumbs: