Saturday 5 January 2013

Lathe Chuck Jaws

Lathe Chuck Jaws

A 4-jaw chuck is a great, almost essential, accessory for any serious lathe worker. While it lacks the self-centering convenience of the the 3-jaw chuck, it has other capabilities. Some things you can do with the 4-jaw are...Grip rectangular and other non-cylindrical shapes for turning or facingForm rectangular shaped objects
Precisely center cylindrical stock to within the limits of the lathe's accuracyHold stock off-center for turning cams or drilling off-center holesA 4-jaw chuck is a great, almost essential, accessory for any serious lathe worker. While it lacks the self-centering convenience of the the 3-jaw chuck, it has other capabilities. Some things you can do with the 4-jaw are...Grip rectangular and other non-cylindrical shapes for turning or facingForm rectangular shaped objectsPrecisely center clindrical stock to within the limits of the lathe's accuracyHold stock off-center for turning cams or drilling off-center holesDue to its inherent rotational nature, a lathe is ideal for turning radially symetrical shapes: cylinders, that is; so it sometimes surprises beginning lathe workers to discover that you can use a lathe to form cubes and other six-sided rectangular objects. This is done through a sequence of facing operations using a 4-jaw chuck. The following photos  show the transformation of a cylinder into a rectangular shape (technically, a rectangular parallelepiped). Once you grasp this potential of the lathe, it opens up a whole new class of things that you can make.

Lathe Chuck Jaws

Lathe Chuck Jaws

Lathe Chuck Jaws

Lathe Chuck Jaws

Lathe Chuck Jaws

Lathe Chuck Jaws

Lathe Chuck Jaws

Lathe Chuck Jaws

Lathe Chuck Jaws

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