I need help on buying a drill chuck

[OCtoolguy]

There was a discussion going on regarding the tiny number drill bits and the subject of drill chucks came up. I think the chuck on my drill press is out of round and it also doesn't close down to zero opening. So I have decided to replace the chuck but when I go to doing my due diligence I'm overwhelmed at all the choices and price ranges of chucks. So, I'm turning to my more learned cohorts here on the Village. I know some of you have gone through this already so I'm asking where you bought your chucks, what brand, price range etc. I've found them from about $40 and up to over a hundred. Somebody on here said they bought theirs for about $30 but I couldn't find any for that price. Anyway, if anybody can point me in the right direction, I need a JT33 taper chuck. Brand could be either a Jacobs or a Jet or ?? Thanks in advance for any assistance. 

[Karl S]

littlemachineshop.com

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Karl S

[kmmcrafts]

Took me a while to find them so I put in the search bar JT33 on the site Karl mentioned.. Not sure why but his link wouldn't work for me.. even copy and paste to google search wouldn't bring it up so I searched just the name..

Here is the results from the JT33 search..

https://littlemachineshop.com/products/search.php?tabName=Products&term=jt33

[OCtoolguy]

Question--those chucks all say 1/32" to 1/2" or 5/8". Shouldn't they say zero closed? I want to be able to use the tiny number drill bits.

[preprius]

http://lmscnc.com/3668

This one shows zero. But it is 3x the price and you have some other adapter....

[preprius]

I guess it is worth a phone call tomorrow

[Wichman]

2 hours ago, OCtoolguy said:

There was a discussion going on regarding the tiny number drill bits and the subject of drill chucks came up. I think the chuck on my drill press is out of round and it also doesn't close down to zero opening. So I have decided to replace the chuck but when I go to doing my due diligence I'm overwhelmed at all the choices and price ranges of chucks. So, I'm turning to my more learned cohorts here on the Village. I know some of you have gone through this already so I'm asking where you bought your chucks, what brand, price range etc. I've found them from about $40 and up to over a hundred. Somebody on here said they bought theirs for about $30 but I couldn't find any for that price. Anyway, if anybody can point me in the right direction, I need a JT33 taper chuck. Brand could be either a Jacobs or a Jet or ?? Thanks in advance for any assistance. 

WARNING!

There are two tapers on the drill press chuck. One that goes into the chuck and one that goes into the drill press. They are not the same taper. Here is a picture of my old chuck and the double taper . The taper towards the chuck is a JT33 taper. The taper that fits into the drill press is a Morse taper #2

[Wichman]

Here is a link to the chuck I bought on Amazon it will tighten down on at least a #65 drill bit.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MS2RINK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[kmmcrafts]

7 hours ago, OCtoolguy said:

Question--those chucks all say 1/32" to 1/2" or 5/8". Shouldn't they say zero closed? I want to be able to use the tiny number drill bits.

This one is the one Karl posted a picture of ( I think ) and it says 0 - 3/8 which yeah it only goes to a 3/8" ... that wouldn't work for me as I need to use my forestner bits for the clock holes which are ( I think ) 1/2" 

https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1659&category=

[kmmcrafts]

Just curious since I know very little about drill press / drill chucks.. Is there any reason not to go with a keyless chuck? Got to admit I hate messing with having a keyed chuck on my drill press.. and it seems so nice to not have that key on my cordless drill.. I'm assuming that the keyed chuck probably holds better? I think if I was to replace the chuck on my press I'll be looking at keyless unless you all think there would be an issue with it holding my forestner bits.. Though I have used it in my cordless with no slippage issues.. 

[rash_powder]

I use an add-on chuck from the local big box store.  It goes to 0, and clamps into the existing chuck with the hex shape that all the screwdriver bits use.  They are about $7 and work well enough.  

Drill press chucks are replaceable, but as mentioned watch that you get the right taper on both ends.  Also, if you have a Harbor Freight press; your tapers may be metric or whatever they use and are not easy to source components for.  If a hand drill, you've got what you got.

When you change your chuck, be sure to keep that taper safe and clean.  A little bit of dirt, a nick, or a bit of skin oil or machine oil and it won't fit right or slip.  

[BadBob]

2 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Is there any reason not to go with a keyless chuck?

Maybe there is a keyless chuck that doesn't slip, but I have yet to see one. I had one for a few years, and I got rid of it because it would slip. The other thing I don't like about a keyless chuck is that inserting a new bit almost took three hands to get the bit mounted.

 

[Karl S]

Ray, The chuck that I sent a picture of is a zero to 3/8" from Little machine shop. 

 

I have never had a problem with the bit coming loose, or inserting a bit into the chuich. I guess I am lucky!

 

'

[Karl S]

Kevin, you get what you pay for, a cheap chuck will let the bit slip, a good one will not. I have never had mine let the bit slip at all. YMMV!

My chuck is 0 to 1/2" I don't  see it listed at this time .You might give them a call to see if it is available.

I am 86 years old and learned a long time ago when it comes to tools you buy the best that you can afford. I made my living for 46 years using tools and I never regretted buying GOOD tools.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Karl S

[OCtoolguy]

2 hours ago, rash_powder said:

I use an add-on chuck from the local big box store.  It goes to 0, and clamps into the existing chuck with the hex shape that all the screwdriver bits use.  They are about $7 and work well enough.  

Drill press chucks are replaceable, but as mentioned watch that you get the right taper on both ends.  Also, if you have a Harbor Freight press; your tapers may be metric or whatever they use and are not easy to source components for.  If a hand drill, you've got what you got.

When you change your chuck, be sure to keep that taper safe and clean.  A little bit of dirt, a nick, or a bit of skin oil or machine oil and it won't fit right or slip.  

I have one of those and it wobbles. I'm replacing the chuck to eliminate the need for it. I may also replace the bearings in the quill.

[OCtoolguy]

UPDATE!! I decided to call the Little Machine Shop and did get some info. But before pulling the trigger on a new chuck, I wanted to make sure that my problem was actually the chuck. Anyway, long story short, I took the chuck off the d/p and cleaned it up and oiled it so that it operated like it should. Then I mounted a dial indicator to the d/p table and did a runout check on the quill. About .003-.005. Not bad. So, I cleaned up the quill and the inside of the chuck and re-mounted it. I did another check and it is still in about that same range. The quill bearings are a little noisy. Or maybe it's the belt/pulleys that are making a bit of noise. I found that my factory chuck will tighten down on a number 58 bit and that seems to be what I use the most. So that problem is solved. Then I decided to take a good look at the keyless adapter that mounts in the chuck to accept all the number bits down to an 80. That's where my problem is. It has a lot of runout. I took it all apart and cleaned it and removed a few burrs that were on the inside of it where the 3 jaws slide. It's better but by no means close enough that I will use it for any fine work. I guess you get what you pay for in that category. If I recall it was under $10. I think my problem is solved. I will stick with what I have and see how it goes. I'm not sure I could make it better enough to warrant the $40 plus dollars it was going to cost for a new keyless chuck. Thanks to everybody once again for beint the fount of information that you all are. My family!

 

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, OCtoolguy said:

UPDATE!! I decided to call the Little Machine Shop and did get some info. But before pulling the trigger on a new chuck, I wanted to make sure that my problem was actually the chuck. Anyway, long story short, I took the chuck off the d/p and cleaned it up and oiled it so that it operated like it should. Then I mounted a dial indicator to the d/p table and did a runout check on the quill. About .003-.005. Not bad. So, I cleaned up the quill and the inside of the chuck and re-mounted it. I did another check and it is still in about that same range. The quill bearings are a little noisy. Or maybe it's the belt/pulleys that are making a bit of noise. I found that my factory chuck will tighten down on a number 58 bit and that seems to be what I use the most. So that problem is solved. Then I decided to take a good look at the keyless adapter that mounts in the chuck to accept all the number bits down to an 80. That's where my problem is. It has a lot of runout. I took it all apart and cleaned it and removed a few burrs that were on the inside of it where the 3 jaws slide. It's better but by no means close enough that I will use it for any fine work. I guess you get what you pay for in that category. If I recall it was under $10. I think my problem is solved. I will stick with what I have and see how it goes. I'm not sure I could make it better enough to warrant the $40 plus dollars it was going to cost for a new keyless chuck. Thanks to everybody once again for beint the fount of information that you all are. My family!

 

Glad you got things sorted out without having to spend money.. Is this on the little 8" Delta drill press? My bearings in mine have been noisy for a couple years.. it's probably worn enough that it may not be repairable... I've wanted to take it apart and repair / rebuild it but it lacks a few things I'd like to have on a drill press so I think I'm going to buy a new one at some point. What one I have no idea.. I've posted about them a couple times in the past and never have pulled the trigger.. Gotta say though.. I only paid $2 for this thing 13 years ago at a tractor swap meet, so I think I probably drilled enough holes to get my moneys worth from it.. I assume I could sell it as it is still working decent.. just a bit noisy bearing.. Might even be able to get my $2 back out of it if I list it on FB Marketplace, LOL 

Anyway, I'm glad you posted this as I learned a few things from this topic..

Oh, was also going to say.. This is weird but.. I have one of those little chuck inserts for the smaller bits.. and it also wobbles quite a lot, but I learned something about it maybe 10 years ago.. Why this happens I have no idea.. but it could be worth trying on your drill press.. Anyway, I learned that if I mount the small adapter in a certain way it smooths out the wobble big time.. so when I figured this out I took a marker and marked a line on the drill chuck and on the adapter.. If I line those to lines up I get hardly any wobble.. When I first discovered this I had it running very smooth and then went to drill a clock hole and then reinserted the adapter with the small drill still in it and it wobbled crazy.. Nothing changed in that 2 minutes other than the position that it was mounted in... so I took the adapter out turned it ( my adapter has a hex shank and probably where the issue lies ) so it clamped onto another portion of the shank.. still wobbled so did it once again and it worked great.. so that is when I made those marks.. now I look for the marks to line it up.. never had much trouble from it since then.. You might try this.. 

[Joe W.]

5 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

Anyway, I learned that if I mount the small adapter in a certain way it smooths out the wobble big time.. so when I figured this out I took a marker and marked a line on the drill chuck and on the adapter.. If I line those to lines up I get hardly any wobble..

This is one of those little tidbits of information you just can't find anywhere else.

Thanks for sharing!

[OCtoolguy]

25 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

Glad you got things sorted out without having to spend money.. Is this on the little 8" Delta drill press? My bearings in mine have been noisy for a couple years.. it's probably worn enough that it may not be repairable... I've wanted to take it apart and repair / rebuild it but it lacks a few things I'd like to have on a drill press so I think I'm going to buy a new one at some point. What one I have no idea.. I've posted about them a couple times in the past and never have pulled the trigger.. Gotta say though.. I only paid $2 for this thing 13 years ago at a tractor swap meet, so I think I probably drilled enough holes to get my moneys worth from it.. I assume I could sell it as it is still working decent.. just a bit noisy bearing.. Might even be able to get my $2 back out of it if I list it on FB Marketplace, LOL 

Anyway, I'm glad you posted this as I learned a few things from this topic..

Oh, was also going to say.. This is weird but.. I have one of those little chuck inserts for the smaller bits.. and it also wobbles quite a lot, but I learned something about it maybe 10 years ago.. Why this happens I have no idea.. but it could be worth trying on your drill press.. Anyway, I learned that if I mount the small adapter in a certain way it smooths out the wobble big time.. so when I figured this out I took a marker and marked a line on the drill chuck and on the adapter.. If I line those to lines up I get hardly any wobble.. When I first discovered this I had it running very smooth and then went to drill a clock hole and then reinserted the adapter with the small drill still in it and it wobbled crazy.. Nothing changed in that 2 minutes other than the position that it was mounted in... so I took the adapter out turned it ( my adapter has a hex shank and probably where the issue lies ) so it clamped onto another portion of the shank.. still wobbled so did it once again and it worked great.. so that is when I made those marks.. now I look for the marks to line it up.. never had much trouble from it since then.. You might try this.. 

Thanks Kevin. That's great advice and I will try it tomorrow. The little 8" press went a while back. I bought a 10" one for $125 with a stand. Then I put my little 8" one on C/L for $125 and sold it right away. I only had $45 in the 8" one. So, once again, I'm ahead. This d/p is in very good shape and I'm happy with it now that I know everything is good on it.

[preprius]

It happends that my hex shank chuck started wobbling really bad.  

so i ordered a non hex shank chuck from Mcmaster carr.  Max size is #60 ga. == 0.04".

See pics.

Then i was playing with hex shank bit to see if re-positioning is reduced wobble.   Nope.  But the hex shank portion is a press fit.  If I take the hex shank off then I can find a position that has less wobble. 

I tried re pressing the hex shank on but wobbles alot.   I'm throwing away the hex shank portion.  

I also bought longer bits.  Since I stack drill to inlay I wanted longer bits.  Especially when drilling at 45deg.

Yes.  I had to have something better. one of my drill bits broke in the wood.  Can not grab it to pull it out. When making bowls. It is better to drill 2nd hole then carefull scroll saw up to the broken drill bit. Try to saw it free.  

I also got better quality drill bits.  Colbalt.

 

[preprius]

in previous pics...  the top hex chuck went bad. Press fit into hollow tube. wobbles bad.

the bottom 2 are new chucks.  No wobble. solid shank.  $12.00 ea.

My previous bits measured 1 inch total. New bits are 1 5/8".  Also I bought 2.25 inch bits. 

For 1 inch thick wood at 45 deg angle you need at least 1.41" drill bit. So a 2.25" should cover it.  They also have 6" but I did not get that.

Hope this clears up some confusion.  

If @OCtoolguy gets confused then others will be confused also. 

[Wichman]

2 hours ago, preprius said:

in previous pics...  the top hex chuck went bad. Press fit into hollow tube. wobbles bad.

the bottom 2 are new chucks.  No wobble. solid shank.  $12.00 ea.

My previous bits measured 1 inch total. New bits are 1 5/8".  Also I bought 2.25 inch bits. 

For 1 inch thick wood at 45 deg angle you need at least 1.41" drill bit. So a 2.25" should cover it.  They also have 6" but I did not get that.

Hope this clears up some confusion.  

If @OCtoolguy gets confused then others will be confused also. 

Where did you get the longer bits? I checked the Mcmaster site but didn't see long bits in the #65 size.

[preprius]

here is pic from my order.  I ordered #60 drill bits...the part numbers are shown..    I did not get #68.  you might use keywords for extended.

After I recieved my order I found this place with cheaper cost for colbalt 1 5/8" jobber size.   But not extended length. 

https://www.drillbitwarehouse.com/store/p/31--60-m42-cobalt-wire-gauge-sizes-packs-of-12

 

[OCtoolguy]

Where'd you find those chucks? They look good.

[preprius]

item 4.... mcmaster carr.