problem putting 3 jaw chuck on rotary table?!?

[SSMrob]

How do you do this?

I can't see anyway to get this 3 jaw chuck to sit on here properly centered..

Maybe I am missing something obvious, but, I bought a 3 jaw and I can't figure out how it goes on.. Never had to do this in my life, so, lol!

Sheesh, engineer and I feel stupid about now..

Everytime I have used a 3 jaw, its already mounted to the rotary table..

Its a 10 inch rotary btw..

[Geof]

Does the chuck normally attach to a backing plate with bolts through from the front or does it have tapped mounting holes at the back?

If it bolts from the front can you put bolts through into tee nuts in the slots on the rotary? Then just dial it true.

If it has tapped mounting holes and is the same size as the rotary you have a problem, but if the chuck is smaller you can make a mounting plat that bolts onto the chuck and extends post the chuck OD and then attach this to the rotary with bolts and tee nuts.

Or you can take my approach if the chuck is the same size and drill mounting holes through the chuck body and bolt it from the front. Certainly not recommended if you plan on using the chuck in a lathe at any time.

[SSMrob]

Ok, I found a backing plate, and, it has a conical center, so I think I can merely get a stop plate (or make one) and run a bolt from there into the conical center...

So, it goes like this:

chuck bolts to backing plate, backing plate is held in place by conical center, conical center has a bolt in the end of it, bolt extends to another plate that goes through the rotary table center..

Sound good?

[Geof]

Provided you do not apply much torque; from your description I conclude that it will only be friction on the taper that prevents the chuck moving relative to the rotary table.

[Astonlee]

I am an ex-nikken guy, and have sold hundred of rotary tables. All you need is to make a back plate to mount your chuck, onto the table face plate/bore. As I assume the back of your chuck as a plain recess. Normally you locate backplate in the precision bore of the table, however make sure the outer backplate location diameter is about 0.015" smaller than the recess in the chuck to allow you to center the chuck on the table. Fix backplate on chuck, and nip up fastener, but don't fully tighten them, fit & check TIR, centre chuck on table, mark position table/chuck with felt tip marker, remove & tighten backplate, then refit, job done ok?

[SSMrob]

Hey guys, thanks for all the help..

Finally got that massive thing onto the rotary table, but, its so heavy I don't dare run it in vertical lol... It would prlly fall over..

I slotted the mounting holes for the backing plate so that I could access them from the side to get the bolts-tnuts in there..

I *did* run into one problem.. Since the backing plate totally covers the rotary table, getting the t-nuts in there was almost impossible.. NO ROOM TO GET A WRENCH IN TO TIGHTEN THE WHOLE THING DOWN!!

Ok, so what I did was I got some allen head bolts, drilled holes into it so that I could put an allen wrench in there from the side to get it tightened... I made about 6 1/4 inch holes in the periphery of the allen head, and that allowed me to tighten it fairly well, and it looks really clean..

Worked really good.. Although some of the guys at the shop couldn't figure out how I got it tightened down lol..

[Konrad]

Originally Posted by SSMrob Hey guys, thanks for all the help.. Ok, so what I did was I got some allen head bolts, drilled holes into it so that I could put an allen wrench in there from the side to get it tightened... I made about 6 1/4 inch holes in the periphery of the allen head, and that allowed me to tighten it fairly well, and it looks really clean.. Worked really good.. Although some of the guys at the shop couldn't figure out how I got it tightened down lol..

Good for you!

Still, can't really visualize how you did it, can you post a picture?

Konrad

[SSMrob]

Originally Posted by Konrad Good for you! Still, can't really visualize how you did it, can you post a picture? Konrad

Well, the key was being able to turn the allen head without having to actually have an allen head wrench in from the top..

I drilled holes in the side of the allen head so I could stick a screwdriver in from the side to tighten it.. Its an old trick I learned to allow one to get out a stripped allen head bolt.. I just use it to tighten instead of loosen.

I slotted the holes in the backing plate so that the allen head could be tightened from the side rather than the top.. I will get up some pics tommorow.