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Drill Chuck

T

Tom Gibbons

Joined
Aug 13, 2022
Messages
57
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Location
Camp Douglas, WI
IM looking for a good drill Chuck that is keyless with mt2 and the end to be threaded so I can put a rod into it so it will hold into the tail stock/head stock
If you can point me in the right direction to find one thanks
 
 
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Tom - What's wrong with Curt's recommendation above? You can go to any machine shop supplier (Grainger, McMaster-Carr and similar) and find keyless chucks with same function as above. But you will likely pay substantially more than above. Go with Curt's cost effective recommendation and move on. - John
 
I'm running a Jacobs 31408 on my PM2014. At $300 it's very pricey precision (metal lathe) chuck with an advertised 0.016" runout. No real need for this level of precision on a wood lathe. I just happened to have this around the shop.
 
John King said:
Tom - What's wrong with Curt's recommendation above? You can go to any machine shop supplier (Grainger, McMaster-Carr and similar) and find keyless chucks with same function as above. But you will likely pay substantially more than above. Go with Curt's cost effective recommendation and move on. - John
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Nothing wrong with it I just like options
 
I spent a few hundred dollars on a Jacobs brand chuck for drill press. It's a different model from whst Monty shows. You can shop some options at Zoro.com and McMaster-Carr. But top level chucks are expensive.
 
Even Albrect chucks are rated light duty. Keyless chucks are not recommended for woodworking bits due to lack of holding power. Truth is I can get a Jacobs Super Chuck just as tight with my hands as I can an Albrecht. But then I add a key to the Jacobs and actually get it tight. The Albrecht is dedicated to the mill.
 
Tom Gibbons said:
IM looking for a good drill Chuck that is keyless with mt2 and the end to be threaded so I can put a rod into it so it will hold into the tail stock/head stock
If you can point me in the right direction to find one thanks
Click to expand...
Why? I had on on my Powermatic drill press and it was horrible. I drilled a hole using a Forstner bit and I couldn't open the chuck afterwards. Had to knock it out of the press and put it in a vise to release my bit. I replaced the chuck with a keyed Jacob's chuck.
 
I agree with Steven's reply. I have a coupe of Albrecht's which are $500 something and a bunch of Jacobs Super Chucks which are keyed. They are used on my milling machine and metal lathe. If I use a chuck on the wood lathe it will be a Jacobs Super Chuck tightened with a key.

A lot of times on the headstock I will use 3c collets in lieu of a chuck.
 
I use the keyless Albrecht chuck and Rhom keyless chuck. I disagree with above comments that you can’t use them for woodworking. I have used countless keyed chucks and would not go back to a keyed chuck for my lathe and glad keyed chucks are in my past.

I have never had and holding problem with either chuck as they self tightening.
 
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I tend to agree with William. While you can probably crank a keyed chuck tighter, in my experience my Jacobs keyless gets tight enough for all my drilling tasks. And they do tend to self tighten.

My typical drilling operation involves multiple bit changes so I certainly wouldn't want to give up the keyless convenience. And my press is direct drive, so no belts to slip. If I am over driving the drill it's either going slip at the bit or the Morse taper in the quill, and I would rather the former.

A tip, should your keyless chuck become too tight, a couple of inexpensive (rubber) strap wrenches may provide enough "persuasion" to release the bit.

Another tip, a half inch chuck will only just hold a bit with a half inch shank. If you are buying a chuck, a 5/8" chuck will have a much better grip on a half inch shank.
 
Albrecht keyless chucks are as well suited to woodworking as they are to metal working. An issue they have is they self tighten under load. So tight sometimes you can't loosen them by hand and out of frustration users are known to have to use a pipe wrench for loosening. The difficulty with the self tightening issue might outweigh the ease of keyless quick drill bit changing. Another issue is they loosen when the spindle is reversed so they aren't very useful to hold taps or when reversing a spindle to help back out a drill stuck in a hole. As drill chucks go they're expensive.

I don't have experience with off brand clones of the Albrechts. I expect like most things you get what you pay for.

IMO a Jacobs ball bearing super chuck would be a better all around choice of a quality chuck. They're also expensive.
 
My Jacobs keyless chucks work well on both the drill press and the lathe. (I wanted to buy the one with my name on it but they are too pricey!) I have a couple of no-name keyless chucks in my school shop, even though they are 1/2" cap, they have a much smaller overall diameter and that makes them difficult to grip and tighten.
 
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