Thread: Looking for Miniature Boring Mill / Face Plate Jaws

Looking for a miniature/smaller version of Boring Mill or Face Plate jaws.

Like these, only smaller.



The problem is that I want them to be the size of jaws one might find normally on a 6" chuck. I've searched and searched, but don't find small sizes of these. I am hoping that someone has seen them before and knows where to get them.

Thanks.

ZK, you will hate this, but if nothing else one of these could be cut up as the bodies are from a solid, making it possibly good fodder for your purpose-

https://www.ebay.com/i/254238391387?...408196fffb399f

I've never seen them really small, and think iwananew`10K 's idea is a goodun, ….not to mention probably the cheapest.

Originally Posted by iwananew10K

ZK, you will hate this, but if nothing else one of these could be cut up as the bodies are from a solid, making it possibly good fodder for your purpose-

https://www.ebay.com/i/254238391387?...408196fffb399f

Why would I hate that? I think it is a wonderful idea and I positively love the thought process! I'm not sure that it will work for what I intend, but I love the thinking and idea.

My concern is that the chuck body itself does not have enough meat to adapt to the bases that will be needed. But for the money, it's certainly a good donor for the jaws and screws. We may just end up using one... Thanks.

Originally Posted by Zahnrad Kopf

Why would I hate that? I think it is a wonderful idea and I positively love the thought process! I'm not sure that it will work for what I intend, but I love thinking and idea.

My concern is that the chuck body itself does not have enough meat to adapt to the bases that will be needed. But for the money, it's certainly a good donor for the jaws and screws. We may just end up using one... Thanks.

I have 4" (nominal) and 5" (nominal) San Ou chucks. Fair value-for-money at about $90 IIRC. They are "passable" for my infrequent use, given I have several much BETTER chucks in 6" and up but...

One can do better, and noo there isn't going to be much meat for a mounting base once sliced-up.

If you are to avoid the pricey custom-builts from the usual suspects among "modular" makers, (Gerardi & easily a dozen others..) you'll probably have to do enough milling &such you may be ahead to make your own bases from the solid.

Page two:

I have the nagging feeling I've SEEN these goods - "store bought" somewhere.

Just NOT with tall "conventional" lathe-chuck-style jaws.

Anybody else recall something like this with a low/no rise notched or serrated "master" jaw that was meant to take standard or custom TOPS?

Ya could buy two and cut them up giving you four pair with two mounting holes in each one. Then find a tiny Bullard to put them on!

hmmm, seems there is also a version with the mounting holes on the perimeter where they would be cut away anyhow..

SHARS 6" 4 JAW INDEPENDENT LATHE CHUCK WITH CERTIFICATE NEW | eBay

I'll go,hide and pay my penance now...

Is there anything in the realm of high-production tombstone fixturing that would work? Carr-Lane, Destaco, Jergens, Abbott???

Originally Posted by rklopp

Is there anything in the realm of high-production tombstone fixturing that would work? Carr-Lane, Destaco, Jergens, Abbott???

$urely. There$ lot$ of $uch $tuff $old a$ $tock or cu$tom $olution$.

But mebbe he ha$ already mortgaged his $oul and his fir$tborn child?

Killer is that "the right guy" probably has what is wanted sitting idle in his no-longer-needed tooling heap.

(such as my own good fortune, finding - on PM of course - five Gerardi modular 6" vises @ a mere $200 each...)

Zahnrad,

Closest thing I have to a small boring mill jaw are in the photos below. Full size jaw for reference. The middle unit has a face of 4.5" and the smallest has a face of 2.5".

All were sourced from Ebay over the years.





Chuck
Burbank, CA

These are probably 2 to 4 times too large (10 pounds). Also are in India.

Welcome to Bonet Chuck

Originally Posted by Chuck Evans

Zahnrad,
Closest thing I have to a full size boring mill jaw are in the photos below. Full size jaw on left for reference. The middle unit has a face of 4.5" and the smallest has a face of 2.5".
All were sourced from Ebay over the years.
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Chuck
Burbank, CA

No pics...

Originally Posted by David_M

These are probably 2 to 4 times too large (10 pounds). Also are in India.
Welcome to Bonet Chuck

Hi David,

Hope you are well. Yes, too large.

Originally Posted by Dan from Oakland

Ya could buy two and cut them up giving you four pair with two mounting holes in each one. Then find a tiny Bullard to put them on!

LOL. The mental picture of that keeps popping into my head and making me giggle.

Originally Posted by rklopp

Is there anything in the realm of high-production tombstone fixturing that would work? Carr-Lane, Destaco, Jergens, Abbott???

Was thinking that myself. Without knowing the intended application and constraints, I'm reluctant to offer too much. Do you need full size 6" chuck jaws for the job? Mitee Bite has some really neat stuff that's not commonly seen outside of their catalog, Like



and


Also some toe clamps with Vees on the end

I have some of these Amrok clamps, they are more intended for castings

Originally Posted by Mud

Was thinking that myself. Without knowing the intended application and constraints, I'm reluctant to offer too much. Do you need full size 6" chuck jaws for the job?

I know... it's always a toss up or gamble as to how much detail to offer when starting out, here. Not enough information or background, and it is unhelpful in soliciting input. Too much information and people start veering off offering anecdotal comment relating to that one time in band camp...

Ultimately, it's for holding round parts ranging in diameter from 1.125" - 6"ish diameter. 99.99% of the time it would be used for shaft type parts. There are a number of drawbacks to actually using a chuck, here. One of the largest ones being the amount of daylight/work space that a chuck would occupy. A standard 8" chuck is typically ~ 5.5" in height. I'm investigating how to retain as much of that space as possible. It occurred to me that a face plate would do wonders, and I immediately thought of work that I've done on face plates in lathes, in the past. Too, Vertical Turret Lathes popped into my head for the way their chucks work and that seems a really good idea for use if it could be small enough.

The two largest issues are bore size and space. I'm thinking about purchasing on the 6" 4 jaws and seeing just how much of it I can machine off from it before cutting it up. I could bore it out, too...

< with a wink and a nudge > Mud, this is for the machine we were recently discussing during the last telephone call.

Originally Posted by Zahnrad Kopf

Ultimately, it's for holding round parts ranging in diameter from 1.125" - 6"ish diameter. 99.99% of the time it would be used for shaft type parts. There are a number of drawbacks to actually using a chuck, here. One of the largest ones being the amount of daylight/work space that a chuck would occupy. A standard 8" chuck is typically ~ 5.5" in height. I'm investigating how to retain as much of that space as possible. It occurred to me that a face plate would do wonders, and I immediately thought of work that I've done on face plates in lathes, in the past. Too, Vertical Turret Lathes popped into my head for the way their chucks work and that seems a really good idea for use if it could be small enough.

The two largest issues are bore size and space.

I submit you are overly-optimistic on the amount of "daylight" you'll actually save with your initial faceplate + clamps approach.

A faceplate needs to be stout enough to manage the clamping stresses, after all. Read, "deep, ribbed, or both". Then your clamps are fully atop it, not embedded.

A "chuck" typically buries the operating screws and guides in the body rather than stacking <whatever> on TOP. The alternatives - on large lathes as well as VTL/VBM - use some seriously deep "faceplates", at the very least as to enshrouding rim structures. Those I've used on large lathes had locking ribs backside of their "jaw" slots so fewer bolts were needed, too.

A larger diameter, but short-bodied 10" or 12" chuck with 2-piece / lower-rise jaws similar to a 6" might get you there cheaper and faster?

Or a 6" 2, 3, 4, or 6-Jaw with master + custom top-jaws?

Zahnrad,

Pic links fixed, let me know if you still have a problem.

Chuck
Burbank, CA

Hey, Zahnrad.

With a few different length socket cap screws and a couple of jaw designs...

For inside clamping, the screws could push out if the jaws were counter bored from the inside (there is already a hole for wrench access) or have a set tapped and pull from the outside.

Of course this is too much work if you can buy something.


thin.jpg photo - David photos at pbase.com

thin.jpg photo - David photos at pbase.com

Best regards,

--david

edit: After reading your post #16 (Should have read it sooner) I realize this isn't what you're are looking for. Removing as much material as you dare from the front (and back mounting surface) of an existing chuck (steel if you can get one) sounds like your best option.

Originally Posted by thermite

I submit you are overly-optimistic on the amount of "daylight" you'll actually save with your initial faceplate + clamps approach.

A faceplate needs to be stout enough to manage the clamping stresses, after all. Read, "deep, ribbed, or both". Then your clamps are fully atop it, not embedded.

No. Not at all. It isn't subject to optimism. It's a matter of numbers. An average 8" scroll chuck will be an average of 5.5" - 5.75" tall/thick/what-have-you. For all intents and purposes, assume that it will be mounted with its back to a table, so I refer to the dimension as "height". There is approximately 8" of envelope space/height. Losing 5.75" of that 8" is undesirable to me.

A face plate can EASILY be 0.750" and clamps 2.5" would mean I save/regain/avoid consuming 2.50". That's a 43% savings. And a big deal.

It is entirely possible that we could even get away with a 0.50" thick face plate. And, if we consider the "jaws" that I modeled being 2.0" tall, we save SIGNIFICANT amount of work envelope.

Originally Posted by Chuck Evans

Zahnrad,
Pic links fixed, let me know if you still have a problem.

Thanks. I have clamps like that. They would be great if they could be made to work, correctly. I am curious/dubious/cautious that the sliding wedge type jaws would hold a shaft well enough to prevent movement while also doing so accurately enough as well as not causing misalignment...

Originally Posted by David_M

Hey, Zahnrad.
With a few different length socket cap screws and a couple of jaw designs...
For inside clamping, the screws could push out if the jaws were counter bored from the inside (there is already a hole for wrench access) or have a set tapped and pull from the outside.
Of course this is too much work if you can buy something.
thin.jpg photo - David photos at pbase.com
thin.jpg photo - David photos at pbase.com
Best regards,
--david

edit: After reading your post #16 (Should have read it sooner) I realize this isn't what you're are looking for. Removing as much material as you dare from the front (and back mounting surface) of an existing chuck (steel if you can get one) sounds like your best option.

Thanks. Your design is not too far from what I had designed. I'm not fully happy with the "jaws" yet, but I am very much considering purchasing an independent jaw chuck and machining it as much as possible to see just what we can obtain...

The reason for the 8" was the through hole. But by using an independent jaw chuck, we can use a 6" chuck and bore out the ID to the desired clearance diameter. The slightly smaller jaws are an added benefit, too. And, if we can get it down to a small enough height, it might just work. I remain cautious, though.

Thanks, all. I appreciate the input. Still looking and evaluating.