Chuck Jaws for Flexispeed Chuck

[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

This is probably the wrong place to ask, but:

The 3-jaw chuck on my Flexispeed came with the illustrated set of jaws (internal?). Other than keeping an eye out on E-bay, can anyone suggest where I may be able to get a set of external jaws that may fit it?

Thank you.

James.

[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

James Is ther a manufacturers name anywhere ?

Roy

[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

Roy,

It just says Flexispeed on the chuck, unfortunately.

Regards,

James.

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

Many Flexispeed Meteors had chucks made by Burnerd , might be worth a shot ?

I shall be selling/swapping my old Meteor MkII soon.

[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

John,

Thank you for the information about Burnerd having made some chucks for these lathes. I shall look to see what I may able to learn.

When you come to sell your Meteor, I shall be very interested in any accessories that you have for if you are willing to consider selling them separately. I currently have the chuck as shown, a dead centre, the compound slide and a tailstock chuck, but nothing else yet. Anything else would be a bonus and of interest.

Regards,

JAmes.

[Mark P.Participant @markp]

I’ve been looking for a 3 jaw chuck for my simat101/flexyspeed any ideas where I could get one. I seem to think it has 14×1.25 threaded nose.
Mark P.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

The3y don't look reversible, but I assume you have checked? Many lever-scroll chucks have reversible jaws (recognisable by long thin oval teeth instead of curved ones on the jaws).

Neil

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by Mark P. on 12/07/2015 17:22:36:
I've been looking for a 3 jaw chuck for my simat101/flexyspeed any ideas where I could get one. I seem to think it has 14×1.25 threaded nose.
Mark P.

My "middle period" Flexispeed has a 1/2" BSF nose. I, too, would like to find a nice (but not TOO expensive) SC 3 jaw for it.

Rod

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

It might be worth asking Rotagrip for jaws if they are Burnerd chucks. They may know which ones they used. They have a large range of soft jaws but on some chucks they can need a bit of fitting.

Cheap decent scroll chuck – Peatol. 3/4in by some TPI I can't remember UN fitting. It uses a short 3/4 dia register at the end of the thread. The 4 jaw is rather good too as is the vertical slide as Neil I suspect knows.

John

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[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

Neil: I have just checked again and, regrettably, they are not reversible.

Roderick: mine also has the 1/2" thread.

John: the Peatol chuck may be worth considering if I can get an adaptor made up to convert between the 1/2" Flexispeed spindle and the 3/4" Peatol thread.

Regards,

 

James.

Edited By James Alford on 12/07/2015 22:55:05

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

You will probably get what you want from around this part of rotagrips site. The are other chuck jaws in their index section

**LINK**

There is a downloadable pdf at the top of this page giving dimensions. As I mentioned they sometimes need a bit of fitting. Nothing complicated. If they are too tight just make sure which aspect is causing the problem. It will usually be the part that fits round the face of the chuck. Just file it with a 6in pillar file with a safe edge. The safe edge will help keep it square. It will only be thou's that may need removing – easy if done slowly. Best sit at and work on a table or bench at or a bit below elbow height. The other aspect that might be tight is the width in the slot in the jaws – just use the cutting edge of the same file. Or the actual width of the jaw itself. For this sort of thing it's usually easier to lay the file on the bench and rub the jaw on it, turning over to take little of each side.

These are soft jaws so they are just machined to what ever type you want on the lathe. The hard jaws were extremely expensive last time I asked.

The last ones I fitted were a little to thick and the slot in the jaws was a little too narrow. Probably done to cater for worn chucks.

With luck they may know what type you need.

John

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[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

John,

I contacted Rotagrip,but they say that they cannot help, referring me to RDG instead to look for a replacement chuck.

Never mind: at the right time, I shall look out for something like the Peatol chuck, or perhaps one for a Unimat, and make an adaptor to fit it to the Flexispeed.

Thank you all for the suggestions.

Regards,

James.

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi James,
As a last resort you could try making some. Have a look at this page on Harold Hall's website.

Les.

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

Looking on the web the Taig / Peatol spindle nose is 3/4-16tpi UNF so you could make the adapter on the lathe if you have 1/2in BSF taps and a 3/4 UNF die.

The spindle nose starts as 1" AF hex which is 7/32" thick but no real reason why that shouldn't be 1/4" really. Bit more for a spanner if a chuck gets stuck. Or made from round. Then there is a plain diameter register 0.750" dia and 3/32" long The spindle length from the face of the hex is 1/2" long and threaded up to the register. The o/d of the thread is 0.748"

It's usually possible to keep taps axial and square with a centre in the tailstock and dies with the nose of the tailstock. So you would start by drilling and taping for the flexispeed nose. Just tap far enough for that as this might turn out to be handy later. The screw it onto the spindle and turn the od to 0.750 up to the shoulder.

Get a split die if you can and check the size of the die holder. Just past WW II these stopped being made slightly over sized. If they are very close to the right size which they usually are they benefit from being opened out by 0.010in so that the die can open up a touch when the screw that goes into the split is firmly tightened. It's a mistake to open them up too much as the die might break. The screw on the holder should have a point on it to match the die and the handles can usually be unscrewed so that the central part can be held in the lathe. With a bit of care this allows a bit of adjustment and as many dies now cut undersized the thread may well turn out to be correct when the die is wide open.

When dies are used like this it's better to use the nose of the tailstock to square them up rather than a tailstock holder as opened up they aren't central any more. Just keep the tailstock hard on it while cutting and backed off when it's reversed to break the chip. Sane with the tap and centre.

You might be able to machine the adapter out to take Peatol / Taig collets. The taper for them starts at 1/2" dia but I'd guess that the flexispeed thread is too long to allow that to be done on an adapter for the chuck. A longer adapter could be made though. The taper is about 5/16 ~~ 3/8 deep. Best way to do that is get one and use blue to set the taper. A DTI on the compound slide edge helps see how much they are being adjusted.

Unimat ? I did have one. Parts are rather over priced in my view and quality no better but it's another option. Rather more expensive if 3 and 4 jaw, face plates and collets are added. Blank collets are even available for a Taig which can be sized to suit and split with a hacksaw.

Some might not like the aluminium jaws on the 3 jaw but I found them to be fine and easy to machine. They can be trued up enough to make collets a bit pointless really. Have a suitably sized thin penny washer handy and machine a shallow recess at the very back of the internal face of the jaws. Grip the washer in it and press it home and square from the back of the spindle and firmly tighten the chuck. Then lightly skim bore the jaws. Remove the washer and skim off the slight step that will be left just past the recess. Main problem is that the lathe needs to be turning dead parallel. If the inside grip of the usual 3 jaw chucks is turned that's not so important as they can only be used to grip short things or longer things with a centre or something in the end. Same when they are reversed.

I tapped the washer and screwed a bit of bar in so that it could be pulled up against the recess from the front and then unscrewed. If I remember correctly the washer was about 1" od.

John

PS I think I saw a broken flexispeed on ebay with a 4 jaw fitted – casting broken by over tightening one of the bearing clamp screws after a lot of wear. The painful aspect of that design where they are just split on one side.

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[James AParticipant @jamesalford67616]

Les,

That is an interresting suggestion, but with the limitations in my current abilities (ie nearly zero), I shall forgo making my own jaws for some while yet to come.

John,

Thank you for such a comprehensive and detailed response. I shall keep my eyes open for a suitable chuck and go from there.

Regards,

James.

[Andrei BalajParticipant @andreibalaj53813]

Hey guys I am new to this site and new in this art of metal lathes and i have a question to you all, i have a flexispeed lathe with the smallest chuck jaw i ever seen and i want to swap to a bigger chuck jaw but i don’t know witch one will fit in my lathe.i don’t know the size of threaded nose.I’m not that good in english and if i did a mistake please sorry., and thank you

[Andrei BalajParticipant @andreibalaj53813]

I forgot to tell you my chuck jaw look like the one in picture, i don’t know how to add photos. Thank you

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

**LINK**Thame Engineering make chuck jaws, if the chucks were made by PB they may have used one of their standard jaws rather than tool up for a special. If you measure up you may get lucky.

Mike

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