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Any info. on L. W. Chuck Co?

reggie_obe

Diamond
Joined
Jul 11, 2004
Location
Reddington, N.J., U.S.A.
Anyone have an information on this company? The chuck is marked Toledo Ohio. Didn't find anything on the web. I have a 12" four jaw in need of repair. One of the screws which drives a jaw has its wrench socket broken out and one of the thread sements is sheared off. Anyone have one these that is incomplete, that they might part out?
 
L-W Chuck went out of business in the early 90's. At the end it was one guy in the shop and a crazy old buzzard -the owner - in the office. I called on them a couple of times. Word I got was that the owner packed his stuff one night, threw it into his 280Z and ran for Florida. I went to the auction...what a load of junk they had. Newest machine in the shop was a non-running MAHO that they couldn't afford to fix.

There was a guy named Dick Harris that had been their financial guy who decided to go into the vise business and compete with them in the late 70's. Owner of the shop I was at then was a buddy of Dick's. I wound up building a few fixtures for the Harris vise. Dick wound up going big-time with a lot of CNC equipment, and ended up going broke. Haven't heard of him for years. I don't think I've ever seen a Harris vise at any of the auctions I have gone to.

How's THAT for background?
OMcG
 
Interesting story about the L-W Chuck Co. I have an L-W dividing head. I feel lucky I was able to pick it up complete w/ extra plates, centers, tailstock and other goodies. It is a fine unit. Was able to get a copy of some original literature from someone on this board. I've used it a couple of times and it has been a nice unit to work with. I believe they made an excellent DH at a popular pricepoint.

Mark
 
I have an L-W DH also, a small one with about a 6" or 7" swing. I got it pretty cheap, but missing a couple plates and center. After getting a center from a board member, and plates and tailstock elsewhere, it seems to be a nice unit. Has worked well so far.

Got it with a chuck, but the chuck wa NOT an L-W. At least it was not so marked.

The one-sided support is a bit odd. I don't know why that would have been considered better, or desirable, but that's how they are.
 
Coincidence, was digging around in my storage area yesterday and came across a small LW dividing head complete with plates and tailstock. They are a nice well made DH's
 
I've got an LW dividing head also. I made a replacement spindle for it, with B&S #11 female taper in it, etc. Difference is, I made this dividing head spindle so I could use the chucks off my smaller lathe that has an L00 nose on it.

Tapers abounded on this project. Spindle was an unidentified taper that fit into dividing head body. Then the B&S #11 in the nose, and lastly the taper for the L00 chuck mount.

Mounting it up to cut the keys for the worm gear to go on, then the key for the L-type mount was interesting. Centering up the key was a challenge, as there was nothing to work from because everything was tapered........let's see, I guess I forgot how I did it, bit I did!


It's really handy being able to put a Jacobs rubberflex collet on the dividing head, or make a workpiece on the lathe, then remove chuck and all and mount directly onto the dividing head. It also doesn't back off like the original thread-on chuck would. Spoiling a workpiece from a loosened chuck is not a way to spend the day!

Richard
 
I have a 4" LW milling machine vise. It's OK, but no match for a Kurt. It uses a round rod below and parallel to the screw as the guide. The rod is not stiff enough to prevent jaw lift. Also, it only opens, like 2.9999999999", so it's a real PITA, because lots of my work just happens to be 3.000000000" and won't fit. Argh! It's a good thing the vise was part of a bigger deal. At least a Kurt advertised at a 3" vise fits 3" work!
 
we've got a 12' swing L&W universal deviding head at work. Takes two men and a boy to lift it, but it's a very nice unit, even has all the gearing to hook it up to a bridgeport leadscrew. HA Rklopp, I know the feeling, we've got one old Brown and Sharpe vise like that. That outfit did NOT make their reputation on vises lol.
 
My 6 1/2" L&W vise has similar jaw lift issues, maybe worse, I've measured on the order of .005 with the jaws at 2" open. Plus the jaw mounting holes are on something like 4.090 centers- and definitely not 4.100.

Argh also!

Gregm
 
R.R.:

I see that on bigger ones they put a support boss under the "unsupported" side. The smaller ones, like my 3 1/2" swing do not have that.
 
Called Worldwide Chuck as advised. They had not even heard of LW Chuck. Their sage advice, junk it, buy a new Bison from us ($500 approx.) Didn't like that answer. Anyone have a old LW Chuck 12" four jaw with good screws, that is un-repairable in some other way and will part with them?
 
Ya know they might be right. I have never seen or heard of a real L-W "chuck" until your post. They made gobs of div hds, they are fairly easy to find if you want one, and they perform well. They may have started out with chucks, but figured they made a better DH, and that was their clame to fame.

I really don't know that for a fact. But from what I've seen, I think the above statement holds some merit.
 
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I just bought a surface grinder with the electro magnetic chuck made this company and live in toledo ohio so thought it would be cool to save this machine but good luck finding any parts for it since they no longer exist hopefully I'll be able to make what I need to do a full restoration
 
Interesting story about the L-W Chuck Co. I have an L-W dividing head. I feel lucky I was able to pick it up complete w/ extra plates, centers, tailstock and other goodies. It is a fine unit. Was able to get a copy of some original literature from someone on this board. I've used it a couple of times and it has been a nice unit to work with. I believe they made an excellent DH at a popular pricepoint.

Mark
Hello Mark,

I know it's been a few years since you made this post, but I also have an LW DH. It hasn't been used in maybe 40+ years.
Would like to take it completely apart, clean all the (very) old grease out of the innards, re-grease the innards, then reassemble. Before I do something I will regret, is there anything that I should be aware of, when reassembling it ?
Additionally, are there only 2 plates for this unit, or are there more ? I have the 37 thru 49, and 15 thru 20 plates.
Thanks for your, or anyone else's comments.
Regards,

Peter
 
Hello Mark,

I know it's been a few years since you made this post, but I also have an LW DH. It hasn't been used in maybe 40+ years.
Would like to take it completely apart, clean all the (very) old grease out of the innards, re-grease the innards, then reassemble. Before I do something I will regret, is there anything that I should be aware of, when reassembling it ?
Additionally, are there only 2 plates for this unit, or are there more ? I have the 37 thru 49, and 15 thru 20 plates.
Thanks for your, or anyone else's comments.
Regards,

Peter

I no longer own an LW dividing head, sold it 10 or 15 yrs ago. I did take it apart at one point and freshen it up, if I remember correctly, it's a simple device, nothing tricky IIRC - note that mine was a "plain" dividing head. There are links to some documentation and other info in this thread you may find helpful. See links in post #10 as earlier posts have broken links.

 
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Just for giggles, I’ll throw this in. I recently picked up an atlas 3996 with a 6’’ 3 jaw LW chuck on it. Seems ok. I will probably strip it down and clean it out. I’m assuming the lathe is 70’s vintage from the serial number 103461. Used and not maintained all that well, but it’s all there and cleaning up nicely. The lead screw and half nut are worn out. I have a 50’’ screw coming but will need to slot it. That will be fun.
 








 
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