Assembling a chuck

[JimM]

My new (to me at least) lathe came with a couple of spare chucks and out of curiosity I've taken one apart to see how it works. It all seems pretty simple so I've also taken the opportunity to give it a good clean. On reassembly should I be using any oil or grease on the rear of the scroll, back plate etc ?


Thanks

Jim

 

[Blogwitch]

No grease, but a film of light oil would be fine.

Swarf has a bad habit of sticking to grease, and most modern chucks over a certain size usually come with an oiling point anyway. But ensure the recess for your spindle backplate is perfectly clean and dry.

Bogs

 

[Stan]

The teeth on the back of the scroll plate get coated with a good quality grease, as well as the pinion gears and bearing area. There is nothing on the back plate that moves so no lubrication is required unless you want to apply some form of rust preventative. If it is a threaded chuck put some light oil on the threads.

 

[Andrew_D]

I put some white lithium grease on the scroll and pinions of my 12" Pratt...Why you ask?? Well, there was remnants of white grease there when I took it apart, so I figured why not.... When I slide the jaws in, I give them a wipe with an oil-soaked (clean) rag. The chuck->backplate connection, as mentioned, is dry and clean. The threaded spindle gets a shot of oil before I spin the chuck on.

However, on my mini-lathe, I leave everything dry...swarf gets in there like crazy. It's not nearly as tight and swarf-resistant as the 12" P-B!!!

Andrew