Jacobs Chuck stuck open

[JollyJim]

Hi all

I have a good quality Record Jacobs chuck on a MT1, but it's
stuck in the open position. I've soaked it in WD40 for a few
days and tried to coax it to move, but it seems to be
jammed solid.

Anyone have any ideas please...


thanks - Jim

[Bryan Milham]

Having had the occasional Jacobs chuck to bit's, there is not that much that can go wrong with them.
there are the 3 moving jaws and a small bit of wire with a hook, which holds the jaw slides in place.

I cannot see much that can go wrong unless something gets behind the jaws (below the inner floor) and jams something.

Can you get a pair of snipe-nosed pliers into the drill bit hole, grab each jaw slide and try and wiggle it, see if something can be moved or freed?

[JollyJim]

Hi dr4g0nfly, thanks for the reply.

I've had a delve round inside but nothing seems to want to move. There's
nothing to get a fix on so, maybe later, I'll give it the drop test !!!

I can' remember how it came to get stuck, a shame really because
it is quite a nice bit of kit.

Thanks again, regards - Jim

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

I would be inclined to hold it by the taper end and tap it on the bench and rotate it gently. After a couple of rounds of that see if it moves, you did not say if it was fully opened or not, if not try to open it doing the tapping thing.I would avoid dropping it.

[JollyJim]

Hi The Bowler Hatted Turner, thanks for the advice.

It is fully opened, ie, the jaws are at the bottom of their travel and
can get no movement with the chuck key,

I'll give it a good talking to tomorrow with
my  newly-founded-but-not-yet-perfected alphabetical cursing.... !!!!!

Cheers and regards - Jim

[JohnHewes]

Could try a bit of heat, put it in the oven after the roast comes out. Or when she has gone shopping.

[JollyJim]

Thanks John

I tried TBHT's suggestion, but, no go even though I used my best curses on it.

The heat sounds interesting, I'll give that a go but I won't need
to wait for her shopping expedition as I just need to annoy
her a bit and then she breathes fire as a matter of course and
I can direct it to the offending chuck. She's great a xmas parties
for roasting chestnuts !!!!!

I'll let you know, thanks ....regards - Jim

[Wood spinner]

You could try sending it back to Record ?

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Jim the other thing you might try if putting the chuck key in  and try to do it up whilst tapping it on the bench, a bit difficult but it sounds as though the re is trouble with the thread becoming jammed and that may unjam it. IF that fails I would take it apart, loads of vids online to show how to do that. But for what they cost(and this is what I did) order a new one and then take the old one apart and fix it.

[Paul Hannaby]

Try a little force in both directions to loosen it. I have encountered stuck chucks before which seemed to have jammed at the end of their travel and a bit of brute force solved the problem!

[JollyJim]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks again for all your suggestions. I've tried them all apart from
contacting Record, and none of them worked. I could'nt even manage
to remove the morse taper !!! I've got a couple of Jacob's chucks, and although
they are not of the quality of the Record, they will be good enough for me.

I'm gonna put it in the drawer, maybe some time I'll email Record
and get a rough estimate but my guess is that a repair will cost
more than a new one.  Never mind eh....we gave it a good try.......

Thanks again everyone, have a good weekend

Regards - Jim

[Derek]

Just a thought not that it will be so but have a look in the open chuck is there a screw in the bottom, if so has it become loose and jammed up the jaws. Normally this is something that is fitted to a drill that has reverse. If there is a screw take note that it will be a left hand thread.

[JollyJim]

Thanks Derek......

......but no screw. If I look to the 'bottom' of the chuck through the open jaws,
I assume I am looking at the top of the morse taper. I've tried to bang it through
in the hope that I might be able to access the jaws from the bottom,
but it won't budge.

Thanks for replying though....regards - JIm

[burywoodturners]

I bought a genuine Jacobs Chuck for £4 and a new key for £1 at a boot sale, great except that the chuck was rusted solid!
I put it on,(not in) an engineers vice so that the outer collar was supported, but not inner part, I was able to knock in down and it came apart. Cleaned up and reassembled I found that the outer ring had to be in the correct postion for the chuck to work correctly, but a little gentle persuasion either way sorted it out. That was about twenty years ago and it is still my 'go to' chuck for the lathe.

Ron

[JollyJim]

Hi Ron, thanks for the reply.

I tried that, I did exactly as you said and whacked it extremely manfully
using loud descriptive terms, but it basically told me to get lost !!! And,
believe me, I really did whack it. I even threatened it with the BossLady
but, no luck......

On one of the vids where you can see the chuck disassembled, it looks as though
the bottom of the jaws are splayed out. The guy said he had to close it
up a little in order to raise the jaws and lessen the 'amount of splay' they
had bearing against the inside of the barrel before he whacked it.
Mine are stuck down so far, that I'm guessing that they are jammed against
the barrel and they ain't gonna be moving anytime soon ....!!!!

An interesting puzzle eh, and far more rewarding than watching the
unmentionable dancing program which HerSelf is watching....

thanks again Ron, best wishes - Jim