Hi all,
I goofed up. I was parting some 2.5" OD aluminum stock in my lathe with a 1/8" HSS tool. Got about halfway in and it climbed up the tool, snapping the tool and getting the material loose in the chuck. I've had this happen once before, and while frightening, nothing happened other than a broken tool.
However it seems that this time, since the jaws were extended so far out, it managed to bend one of the channels in the chuck body. The chuck was still able to be opened & closed by hand, but was very stiff. I deduced this by using an indicator and dragging it along the length of the channel. The other 2 jaws slide freely in and out with about .0005" wiggle, but this one jams once it's halfway in.
The jaws are hardened pretty well, my files don't really touch them. But the body is softer. Do you have any suggestions for how I might fix this and still have a usable chuck? I could file away .002-.003 of material on the underside of the channel, but I'm wary of removing material and how to even do this accurately.
Thanks for any tips.
I goofed up. I was parting some 2.5" OD aluminum stock in my lathe with a 1/8" HSS tool. Got about halfway in and it climbed up the tool, snapping the tool and getting the material loose in the chuck. I've had this happen once before, and while frightening, nothing happened other than a broken tool.
However it seems that this time, since the jaws were extended so far out, it managed to bend one of the channels in the chuck body. The chuck was still able to be opened & closed by hand, but was very stiff. I deduced this by using an indicator and dragging it along the length of the channel. The other 2 jaws slide freely in and out with about .0005" wiggle, but this one jams once it's halfway in.
The jaws are hardened pretty well, my files don't really touch them. But the body is softer. Do you have any suggestions for how I might fix this and still have a usable chuck? I could file away .002-.003 of material on the underside of the channel, but I'm wary of removing material and how to even do this accurately.
Thanks for any tips.