South Bend Drill Press replacement Chuck

[Pago Cruiser]

Just purchased a South Bend 14" Bench Mount Drill Press. Relatively good condition, but terrible runout, and the taper itself has some slippage damage.

Having a devil of a time trying to find a Chuck part #.
This Spindle has a taper (no details in literature I can find) for a "Jacobs 34" Chuck.
Once I removed the Chuck (Jacobs 34, Hartford Conn, Made in USA), the Spindle Taper has dims of:
Big end = 0.658"
Small end = 0.631"
Length = 0.94" - with a dim of 1.055" that includes the distance allocated to insertion of separation wedges.

My best guess is a Jacobs 34-06:
Big end = 0.624"
Small end = 0.6241"
Length = 1.0"

These dims are close... close enough? I do not know.

Before I could remove the Chuck, I had read (somewhere) it was a Jacobs #2 Taper. So I found a NOS 34-02 USA made Chuck on ebay; then discovered it was not.
If anyone could confirm a replacement Chuck part #, it would be appreciated.
TIA

 

[SteveM]

I'm no expert, but Jacobs 34 chucks come in JT2, 6 and 33.

A Jacobs #6 has a big end of 0.6760 and a small end of 0.6241.

Those look the closest.

Some sources say that it's a JT33, which is:
big: 0.6240 small: 0.5605

Dimensions are from Little Machine Shop:

Dimensions of Standard Tapers

This page give the dimensions of Morse, Jacobs, Brown & Sharpe, and Jarno tapers.

www.littlemachineshop.com

Steve

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[Pago Cruiser]

Steve,
Thanks for the response. This was my take on the size as well - that it appears closest to the #6 - along with another gent over on the Garage Journal forum.

I do see however that I buggered the dim; read from the wrong line on the Jacobs Tech Info. Your indicated 0.676 is correct. Does not change the decision thought that the #6 is closest.

But with the...almost plethora of SB drill press threads on this site, I would have thought that this question would have had a simple answer; Like "Yeah, it's a #6". Replaced mine a few years ago. For some reason SB never published the exact taper. Good luck".
Yet to date, no SB owner has chimed in - or maybe I'm just the first person to ever replace the Chuck on a SB DP...
Regards.

 

[texasgeartrain]

Not sure what era the drill press is from, but this 1950 brochure shows one option at mt2, and the others as "short taper for #34 Jacobs":


From this brochure:

South Bend Lathe Works - Publication Reprints - 14" Economy Model Drill Press | VintageMachinery.org

The pdf:

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1617/26172.pdf

A whole ton of literature I didn't sift through here:

South Bend Lathe Works - Publication Reprints | VintageMachinery.org

Maybe from Steve Wells too:

The SBL Workshop

documentation and information on South Bend Lathes

www.wswells.com

 

[Pago Cruiser]

texasgeartrain - I believe mine is a 57 or 58, based upon pics compared with catalog data and others. Thanks for posting those links - they are an amazing resource; but I have plowed thru the Vintage Machinery site data several times over the last couple months - so much that I am feeling indebted enough to make a financial contribution. I had not seen the Steve wells site; but from looking at it this am it appears lathe-centric.

For whatever reason, other than stating "short taper for #34 jacobs chuck" (as you indicated) within their literature, SB just did not publish the taper size of the "Jacobs Spindle". Maybe it was just a means to lock customers into ONLY purchasing the "Jacobs 34" chuck from SB; or maybe it was just deemed unimportant at the time. At any rate, it does appear that the closest dims are for a #6.

I sent some pics to a spindle repair house (Hammerscale, in NC) and (short version) he indicated that the taper damage appears significant enough that my options are to a) regrind down to a #33, if there is enough material un-galled, b) build up the taper with weld and then regrind, or c) make a new spindle. The least likely option would appear to be sourcing a NOS or used spindle; like searching for a unicorn...

With all the lathe owners on this site, and general machinery expertise, I find it odd that some enterprising individual(s) have not started creating replacement spindles. Broaching the almost 6" spline length - and supporting the slender shaft - is probably the trickiest part. But literally thousands of these spindles - for South Bend and the several other manufacturers of the time - were made with technology 70-80 years ago. Surely we (collectively) have not forgotten how things were made in the past - sounds like the well-worn plot from a dystopian movie....
Sigh.

I next need to pull the spindle and quill and send to Hammerscale, hopefully next week.

Unless maybe some member on here would have a used "South Bend Jacobs Spindle" in good condition???

 

[texasgeartrain]

If your current option does not work out, Id try Brian Miller of Miller Machine and Fabrication. Call 1 618 946-0793. Leave a message, he'll call back. He's a one man show. He does the South Bend proprietary tapers for lathes, for test bars, spindle adaptets, etc. Same for Monarch 10ee stuff. Precision grinding, specialty parts, etc.

If anyone, I'd expect him to handle such a thing. Does excellent work. Does charge like a professional though.

Anyway, might try him for a quote if the need arises.

 

[Pago Cruiser]

Thanks for the contact info.
I fully understand about the professional costs. I work - well worked, as I am now officially retired - as a Mechanical Designer, designing HVAC and Med Gas systems for hospitals, for almost 40 years.

(Some) people outside the industry freak when they see our billing rate of $160/hr. In actuality, I think that rate is too low. Heck, my Jeep Dealership has a shop rate of $140/hour, for 20 somethings with a high school education turning wrenches. And they do not have to deal with the un-ending professional liability of an engineer; at least in AZ, pretty sure still in CA, and (apparently) MN. It continues, until. you. are. dead.

One of our Principal Engineers retired a few years ago at 72. He is now 76, and still has to carry liability insurance on all the past projects he had signed off on. Remember the I35 bridge collapse in MN? It was built in 1967. Apparently, the original Engineering Firm ended up being an unhappy participant in the subsequent legal proceedings. I do not think carrying a lifetime of liability for designs is worth the extra $20/hour...

But I digress; I'll contact Brian if my other source does not work out, and post back.

Regards.

 

[OMshopNC]

did you get your spindle sorted out? I am working on the same problem with my south bend drill press. I have the MT2 version which to my knowledge cant just be reground.

 

[nbk31hk]

Hello all, keep in kind there looks to be 3 quill spindles on eBay at moment (I’m not affiliated with all) - and they range from 59.99 to 79.99 if you need to get up and running. I’m in middle or restoration at moment too (kiddos love helping)! Cheers, Aaron

One add shown below.

South Bend Precision 14” Drill Press Quill Pinion | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for South Bend Precision 14” Drill Press Quill Pinion at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[packrat2]

Good little helpers, I see on the wall one of the South Bend blueprints, I was able to get a few of those at a sale
years ago I need to put one up like you did...

 

[nbk31hk]

Good little helpers, I see on the wall one of the South Bend blueprints, I was able to get a few of those at a sale
years ago I need to put one up like you did...

Yes, looks to be new old stock…and I have a SB16 so it looks the part

 

[OMshopNC]

Hello all, keep in kind there looks to be 3 quill spindles on eBay at moment (I’m not affiliated with all) - and they range from 59.99 to 79.99 if you need to get up and running. I’m in middle or restoration at moment too (kiddos love helping)! Cheers, Aaron

One add shown below.

South Bend Precision 14” Drill Press Quill Pinion | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for South Bend Precision 14” Drill Press Quill Pinion at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

my quill is in great shape.. the spindle was the problem. I was able to hammer mine back into shape a good bit. I also used a rough them finish taper reamer on the MT socket. See the picture below - at the end of this 12" test bar i am only getting 2/1000 of runout.. I am gonna live with that.

 

[nbk31hk]

Ok, sounds great! Can’t wait to see finished product!