Chuck keys

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

I often have to change my chuck jaws to accommodate different sized and shaped jobs.I find it extremely tedious winding a jaw out to reverse it (4 jaw) or exchanging for inside/outside (3 jaw). I even have two of each chucks with the jaws set differently but I still end up having to change the jaws. I have seen the idea of making a carpenters brace type of tool to speed things up but it has never appealed to me as it seems to be a lot of work to make a simple tool. This is my solution, sorry if it has been invented before but I have never seen it. As I have multiple chucks the chuck keys are different sizes, so I took a piece of 12mm diameter bar and spent ten minutes to file it square at each end. Now I can use it in my cordless drill, what a difference it makes! What used to be a pain in the neck is now no problem at all.

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

[peak4Participant @peak4]

I appreciate you're sorted now Norman, but for others; socket set speed braces are available in 1/4", 3/8" & 1/2"
When I picked up my 5C collet chuck, I modified a 1/2" one to suit.
OK, the retaining ball fell out, but that's not needed anyway.

Bill

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

But you have to buy the speed brace, most people would have a bit of round bar in stock.

[egaParticipant @ega]

Some such arrangement has two additional advantages: the key is not going to be left in the chuck and the ease of removal and replacement facilitates cleaning chips out of the scroll, etc.

But you do have to guard against the jaws dropping out before you are ready to catch them!

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by ega on 22/06/2021 15:42:38:

Some such arrangement has two additional advantages: the key is not going to be left in the chuck and the ease of removal and replacement facilitates cleaning chips out of the scroll, etc.

But you do have to guard against the jaws dropping out before you are ready to catch them!

And you have to know where the gremlins put your cordless drill…

[Author]

Posts