• Congratulations to Rick Moreton, People's Choice in the July 2025 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Jaramiah Severns for "Stacked Forms II" being selected as Turning of the Week for August 4, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Using drill chucks in headstock

F

Frank F

Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
99
Likes
8
Location
Massachusetts
What are the applications using a Jacobs chuck in the headstock? I have a keyed JC with a 3MT that works great in the tail stock. I’m thinking about buying another chuck, keyless, with a 2MT to use in the headstock mainly to do small parts, finials, etc. I figured the drill chuck would also give me the flexibility to drill. At that point I thought, "Why?, Drill what?" Should I instead buy a collet set?

Can you turn using a JC as a turning chuck? Can a JC be a substitute for collet chuck?

What is everyone’s thoughts?
 
There are JC made to grab work, not sure what the difference is. Never felt the need to drill from the head stock... Never turn something so small that I felt I needed a JC, then again, I have a Stubby 750 lol I can do small work with a small chuck, even a big one... And you can't do anything big with a JC...
 
Not sure I would want to use one unless it had the tail stock up as well. Too much possibility of it working loose. I have a chuck with small jaws that will hold work down to about 10mm and never needed to have anything that hekd smaller even doing dolls house pieces.
 
I sometimes use Jacob's chuck in headstock to sand with.....especially on the bottom nib
 
Frank,

I see it as just another chuck in my set of tools. It is a very useful way for "chucking" small items like knobs or spindles.

Kind regards,
Rich
 
You can use it for turning small items.
Always use a drawbar.
That takes some of the 'quick and easy' out of the picture, but adds an important element of safety.
I prefer spigot jaws, or small step jaws in a real chuck.
 
Drawbar! That's what I was trying to remember. Thanks, Mark! Isn't there a chuck that is either designed for one or comes with the drawbar?
 
A Jacobs chuck can hold small turning but collet chucks do it better
Use adraw bolt.

I often drill tool handles that have been turned between centers using a spur drive.
I put the spur drive in the tailstock and a drill bit with a lead point in a Jacobs chuck in the head stock.
This does a pretty good centering the hole and keeping it on line for the tool.
Something I picked up from David Ellsworth 20'years ago.
I hold the handle against the drive spur as I crank the tail stock.
 
Last edited:
Yes, you should use a drawbar as mentioned above. Make sure you buy a #2 MT that is tapped to receive the bolt-- usually a 3/8"-16. Making a drawbar is pretty simple with a length of 3/8" threaded rod and a homemade wooden handle epoxied to one end it.

As for making tool handles, I also use a head stock mounted drill chuck, but I like to drill my wood billet first and then turn the handle on an appropriately sized jam chuck or pin chuck. That assures that my hole is centered in the finished handle.
 
John Torchick said:
Drawbar! That's what I was trying to remember. Thanks, Mark! Isn't there a chuck that is either designed for one or comes with the drawbar?
Click to expand...
That is a good question.
I looked through my #2 MT collection and found a real mixed bag.
One Jacobs chuck came with a threaded end, another did not.
Some of my #2 drives have a threaded end, most do not.
Some of the descriptions on the various suppliers sites ( Craft Supply, Packard, Woodcraft, etc ) either show a non threaded MT, a potentially threaded or specify that it is threaded.
If you cannot inspect the MT, call and ask.
 
As Mark says, not all Morse arbors are threaded for a draw bolt. In fact most are not threaded, of the 5 or 6 various tailstock chucks i have not a single one is threaded for a drawbar. For drilling from the headstock or light turning you don't really need a drawbar anyway.

A useful companion to a headstock drill chuck is a tailstock "crotch" center for accurately cross drilling round dowels and turnings. Haven't seen one advertised for years though.
 
Doug what is a crotch center. Haven't heard of that term before. The tang end of the Morse tapers aren't hardened so you can cut the tang off and drill and thread them yourself. Getting it centered to do this can be challenging however.
 
That's what I'll do Barry. Or I may make one out of a Nylon rod I have. I have a spare threaded Morse taper but as little as I would use one of those it's probably better to just build it out of wood.
 
Thanks to everyone for their input. I decided to hold off on the drill chuck for now, and I learned what a crotch chuck is! I think I want one but don't know why.
 
When I was making pens I used a Jacobs chuck in the headstock to hold gun cleaning brushes. It was a very easy way to clean out the inside of the tube after it had been glued into the blank.

I ran the lathe at 500 rpm.
pen-cleaning.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top