switching from a jacobs chuck to tapered collet.

atakach

atakach

Joined
Jan 17, 2008
Messages
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Hey all,

i have this drill press that i really like, but it has just a jacobs chuck on it. i have about 40-50 tapered bits, and 4-5 tapered shank jacobs chucks. i wanted to find out how i change the drill press over from a keyed chuck, to a morse taper chuck.

i know it prob. very easy, but im no machinist, and don't know what the part i need is called,:confused:

can someone point me in the right direction?

ive looked at enco,i.p.s., grizzley, and im sure they all carry what i need but i just dont know what it is.

thanks

andrew
 
Usually the normal drill chuck is retained by a taper. With the machine turned off, pull the handle like you are drilling into something and look at the quill tube above the chuck. Is there a slot in it? If there is, you should be able to see the top of the drill chuck taper. The drill press should have came with a tapered wedge that you tap into the slot to release the chuck from the taper. They you can insert your tapered bit directly into the taper on the quill tube.

Brad
www.AndersonKnives.ca
 
You need to find out for certain if you have a machine with an Morse taper (female) spindle or a fixed Jacobs taper (male) spindle.

If you're lucky, your press has a Morse taper spindle (probably 2MT or 3MT) In that case, you can swap tooling by knocking the tooling down out of the spindle by tapping a drift through the slot in the quill as Teknition described. If that's the case, you can use most any tooling with the same Morse Taper in that machine- tapered shank drills, chucks w/ integrated MT shanks, chucks mounted on MT arbors, etc.- just fix the matching male MT tooling up into the female MT machine spindle.

A lot of smaller drill presses, though, have spindles with a solid male #33 Jacobs taper on the end, and in this case, you can't do much. The press will hold tools with a matching female JT socket in them, and that usually means chucks and tapping heads.

Most portable tooling uses threaded-back chucks, but there's always exceptions.
 
well this isn't a portable, it's a homeade job, i bought off of another maker last year, and it works fine , it's just that i have all this tapered chucks and bits, from another press i had, man i loved that thing but had to retire it for now,

i was using it with some sanding drums, and had a little mishap,:eek: and ended up bending the tapered collet, and the shaft that drove the pully.

it was before i had a belt sander, was using a 3'' drum to contour a handle and got the knife caught between drum and the neck of the press:eek:, well lets just say im very luck i still have all the digits on my hand:D

i just want to be able to utilize all the stuff i have from that press, i think i have like a 1/4'', 5/16'',3/8'', and a 1/2'' chuck with a tapered shank, as well as a pile of high qualitity bits. and i also want to beable to do some light milling with it, and i have a couple mills, that wont go into the reg. style chuck.

here's a pic of it.
DCP_3439.JPG



im gonna check out that head on my new press and see if it is tapered or threaded.


thanks for the help
 
well i just looked and from what i can see, it's threaded on, so im gonna have to find if theres something that i can thread on that will accept tapered bits.
 
That press looks like a '50s Buffalo, with a locking-collar JT33 spindle. If that's the case, it's got the collar that you unscrew, and then you separate the chuck from the JT33 spindle with some light wedging action. (They make wedge pairs for this purpose, but gentle use of a screwdriver can do the same job.) I have a '48 Buffalo Forge 15 that I love- it's got the spindle I'm describing. A side shot would tell me for sure...

Collared chucks/spindles are slightly unusual, and I don't use a collared chuck on my machine (the modern collared Jacobs chucks use a different threading than the older machines use.) I just rely on the JT, like lots of other presses do, and it's fine. I use mine only for a drill, though, and as soon as you start using side forces (as the slide tables indicate) you want the collar to lock that chuck on.

Most drill presses are not capable of withstanding side forces found in milling applications, and it's a dangerous thing to do, so be careful. The old Buffalos (if that's what you have) are strongly built in the bearing/spindle housing, but drill chucks aren't good at radial (sideways) forces...
 
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i seem to recall the name ATLAS on it, it's sort of a homeade job, the base and table are off a k.o. lee tool grindeg, someone removed it, and added the drill press body.

i know what you mean about the danger, i just wanted to be able to mill maybe 1/8''-1/4'' stock, just to square up the shoulders on tangs, and slot guards.

im gonna check it out good here in a bit and ill see for sure
 
Hopefully, some mill guys will jump in here, but I'd say that milling even 1/8" stock is well beyond the capacity of that machine... The only side-force I'm willing to put on mine is an abrasive flap wheel, for instance...
 
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