Restoring a rusty drill press : chuck problems.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I have spent the last few days restoring a Trademaster drill press which had a lot of rust on the main shaft. It also turns out that the chuck is both jammed (it will not turn) and it was stuck on . I managed to get it off the spindle after many attempts (bloody thing always use to fall off when I didn’t want it to. )

I think I will need a new chuck. What is that taper on the spindle in the photo ? The chuck is marked B16 1.5-13mm.

What would you soak a jammed chuck in for 24 hours to try to get it moving ? I was quoted $80 for a new one.

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

B16 is the taper. It’s a very common size so you should have no bother finding one.

Chinese ones start at about £15, For something a bit nicer try Accupro, Porta, Rohm etc

[Brian John]

On 24 December 2025 at 05:59 Brian John Said:

 

What would you soak a jammed chuck in for 24 hours to try to get it moving?

Put it in a ziplok bag full of diesel. Put the bag into your ultrasonic cleaner filled with hot water and run it through a few cycles.

There are many YT videos on how to dismantle a Jacobs chuck for servicing.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

Evaporust.

Robert.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Strikes me that an ultrasonic cleaner or chemicals would cost more than a new imported chuck and no knowing if the old check will be free or has been B*****ed in a past life.

maybe treat yourself to a keyless chuck while you are at it.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

Yes, I have watched the youtube videos on how to dismantle a Jacobs chuck but it is NOT coming apart….yet !

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

YET ! you need a bigger/ more powerful press. Drop it a container(not glass ) of warm diesel first. Noel.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

..but wasn’t it only a generic chuck anyway? ..use it for a fishing weight and buy another..

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

How are you trying to press the chuck apart?

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

You need to be careful when dismantling a Jacobs chuck. I have had two of them split the outer sleeve. I used the correct technique (as described by Tubal Cain) and a decent press. I only found out after reassembly!

I simply made up an outer sleeve that I pressed over the original. So both chucks are now working fine. Has anyone else had this happen, or was I just doubly unlucky?

Andrew.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I was quoted $80 for a new chuck by the shop which sold me this drill press. The bench drill is worth about $350  but if a generic chuck from ebay will fit for $25 then I will buy that.

Today is Christmas and I will have to go to work (double time !) so I will not have enough time to have another go at getting the chuck apart. I am off work on Friday so I will try again then.

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

After all that work it seems silly to cheap out on a generic import of unknown quality. The chuck is probably the second most important part after a straight spindle so worth pushing the boat out a bit. Chuck quality is one area where the otherwise OK and decently performing value for money imports, not the too cheap thruppence three farthing ones, trim costs bit too far rather letting the side down.

My limited experience is that no name low end imports can be all over the place for quality in both run out and gripping power. Varying from near enough brand name quality to naked eye visible run out and barely able to hold a drill well enough to make a hole in hard cheese. OK that one was particularly bad which totally annoyed me after I’d made a special adapter to fit the half way between B16 and Jacobs taper in the body so it would stay in a friends drill. Man buys a Fobco 7-8 and shoves a £25 knock off Rohm, the name copy was the most accurate part by far, on it! Some people.

From a decent generic I’d expect good pistol drill quality, like the old Jacobs range used on Back & Decker back in the day. So perfectly useable. Heck 3 of the old Jacobs screw ones do just fine on my tailstock turret. But you can never be sure with a no-name.

Clive

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

As the drill press is of the Clarke/Naerok import quality it may be a waste of money to put anything better on than original. Must say all my no name far easter chucks have as good a runout as brand name ones even superprecision.

[john fletcher 1Participant @johnfletcher1]

Strangely enough, I have before me a copy of the real “Model Engineer”  March 17th. 2002 on page 352/353 “Dismantling a Drill Chuck”. A nice picture of pressing OFF the outer casing using a face plate and a open circular block below. Pressing the drill end downwards into the open ended circular steel block. I’ve done several in the past. I also drill and tap the blank end, so that I can press out the arbor if necessary, in the future.  Ted

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

As the drill press is of the Clarke/Naerok import quality it may be a waste of money to put anything better on than original. Must say all my no name far easter chucks have as good a runout as brand name ones even superprecision.

Yes this was what I was thinking.

– the ‘cheap end’ branded products rarely (in my experience) come close to the industrial lines – Rohm were capable of producing some pretty mediocre chucks..

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

When I bought a Taiwanese drill press, second-hand over forty-years ago, from a local tool merchant, because I couldn’t afford anything else at the time, I was told by several ‘more knowledgeable’ people that I had wasted my money and should have steered clear of such ‘far-eastern’ garbage. Better to have saved a little longer and bought a ‘proper’ British-made machine, Startrite, Meddings, Elliott, Union etc.

Well after all these years, and ‘millions’ of holes later, that ‘far-eastern’ garbage is still running as sweet and drilling as true as it ever did and probably will for the next owner after I have shuffled off this mortal coil. And where are all the supposedly far superior British machine makers these days? Long gone!

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

As the drill press is of the Clarke/Naerok import quality it may be a waste of money to put anything better on than original. Must say all my no name far easter chucks have as good a runout as brand name ones even superprecision.

I had a Naerok milling machind for a long while. Apart from thd limitations of all round column machines, it was pretty good

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I’ve still got the naerok drill press my father bought probably in the early ’80s with it’s original chuck.

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