MT2 Collet Chuck (entire shipment flawed?)

[GuyO]

I've purchased one from a local supplier -- the chuck was pressed togther from two pieces, the inner threaded component and the chrome outer component. The inner threaded component was mis-drilled and was off center by about 3/8". Three others in this store had the same problem.

I happened to be a town about 150 miles north of the original purchase location, stopped into a store from the same franchised chain - they had 4 of them all with the exact same error.

This is the $79 chuck that was recently on sale for $72.00 -- was the whole boat load from China bad?

Has anyone gotten a good MT2 colllet chuck that wasn't an Axismaster or a Beall?

 

[GeorgeH]

Who did you say made this incredibly inaccurate chuck????

 

[Bob Hadley]

That is one thing about mass production... they should be all the same.

 

[GuyO]

I've seen it available from several retailers -- it comes packed in a 4x6 grey blowmold case.

 

[TEK]

Actually

Actually they are made that way on purpose. The inner hole of the collar fits in a grove in the collet. You have to insert the collet at an angle into the outer collar piece then slide it into the taper and then screw the collar on. The outside hole on the collar will line up with the hole in the collet and it will run true. The oblong inside hole of the collar fits in the groove on the collet and extracts the collet from the taper when you unscrew the collar. If you don't put the collet in the collar right it will not run true or extract the collet from the tapered hole. They don't include instructions unfortunately. I figured out the problem because sometimes my collet lined up and sometimes it didn't. I had to examine it to find out why. I guess they assume we know how the product works. I got mine from Woodcraft Supply if that helps.

 

[GuyO]

Thanks for the explanation -- I'm not sure that even if those directions had bee included, the translated from Mandrin to English would not have helped anyway

Now I'm going to have to yet a third woodcraft store to buy the chuck so I will not look like a chump, but they didn't know either...

Funny though, I don't recall the Beall version of the function equivalent having the offset inner hole.

 

[TEK]

worked for me

I'm just passing on what worked for me, and what I observed. I have no experience with the beal chuck and balked at the price. Now I'm sorry I didn't go for the beal chuck. Not because my chuck doesn't run true, because it runs as true as any of my other chucks. I would like the beal because it threads on the spindle and I could run part of a long dowel back into my hollow lathe spindle. On the chuck you are looking at, it is a good idea to make a draw bar out of some threaded rod to make sure the morse taper stays seated. You don't need the draw bar if you are using the tail stock to hold the other end of the stock. One more pointer: Don’t' expect a shoulder on a piece of stock register against the front of the chuck and help stabilize/align the work. As you tighten the collar it threads away from the tailstock, and leaves a gap between the collet and the shoulder. I do find the chuck useful for some small projects though.