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Thread: Need help with REALLY stuck chuck

  1. #1

    Need help with REALLY stuck chuck

    Hi guys,

    I really need some help getting my chuck unstuck from my lathe. I've done some searching, but can't seem to find what I'm looking for. I had a really large piece of wood on my chuck and didn't realize that I hadn't threaded my chuck on all of the way before starting it up. Well that was a lesson learned. This chuck is really really stuck.

    I have a Delta 46-460 with a Barracuda2 chuck from PSI. I tried putting a large bar in the chuck jaws and locking the spindle... That snapped my spindle lock. I tried again with the rod and my knockout bar in the holes on the spindle shaft and resting against the bed... Bent my knockout bar.

    Any ideas would be really appreciated!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Coon rapids MN.
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    84
    in the long run you may need to use a pipe wrench on the collar that the chuck seats against and your bar. First off you could find a big enough open end wrench to just fit around the collar with the hole for the pin. get a bolt that just fits the hole and cut it off so that the head of the bolt fits down in the hole and the bottom face of the bolt head just sets against the collar. bring the bolt head up against the inside of the open end wrench jaw and give it your best shot. Not sure if the nova chuck has a wrench for installation and removal but in addition to someone putting pressure on the bar properly locate the wrench and give the handle a shot with a hammer. Be sure everything is going the right direction. DONT HEAT THE SPINDLE!! and dont try to hook up on the pulleys or the hand wheel the keys will shear and you will be buying parts!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
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    Colby, Washington. Just across the Puget Sound from Seattle, near Blake Island.
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    Try heating it up.

    Russell Neyman
    .


    Writer - Woodworker - Historian
    Instructor: The Woodturning Experience
    Puget Sound, Washington State


    "Outside of a dog, there's nothing better than a good book; inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Kapolei Hawaii
    Posts
    3,236
    I would suggest you try a good solid hit on a wrench that fits your collar. Steady pressure in this case is not the answer. I don't own a Barracuda, but I normally just use the allen wrench in my Supernova. A good solid hit usually pops them free. If it won't pop off. I resort to an adjustable wrench on the collar.
    Good luck.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,504
    You may need to use a chain wrench on the spindle and a bar on the jaws of the chuck.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  6. #6
    I would look at opening the jaws and trying to see if my 1/2 or 5/8 gouge would fit across the opening and use the gouge length for leverage. If you can lock the spindle, then apply a steady pressure with the gouge in one hand and then lightly tap the chuck body with a hammer to try and break it loss.

    you could also try a few drops of liquid wrench on the mating surfaces of the chuck and spindle to see if that will help its any of the other methods mentioned. In the end, you will find leverage will be your friend.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    lufkin tx
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    2,054
    An overnight soak with liquid wrench should precede everything. Also buy a can of antiseizing compound for the next bowl.

  8. #8
    in the future use a piece of plastic made into a washer and put it between your chuck and you spindle back.
    Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, the devil says, "oh crap she's up!"


    Tolerance is giving every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

    "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts are gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts will happen to man. All things are connected. " Chief Seattle Duwamish Tribe

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Michelle Rich View Post
    in the future use a piece of plastic made into a washer and put it between your chuck and you spindle back.
    those plastic spindle washers are neat, but can very easily introduce run-out.

    metal-to-metal contact is best.

    and I had the same issue a week ago. You can get a big steel pipe wrench at HF for less than $10

  10. #10
    Last time that happened to me I ended up clamping the edge of a 2' long 1x4 hickory board in the jaws so that the board had 90% of itself hanging out one side. I then locked the spindle and started slowly bearing down on the board. It took a while but it finally broke free. Now I apply just a little oil to the headstock area of the spindle so the chuck insert won't seize to it. So far so good.
    -------
    No, it's not thin enough yet.
    -------

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Fort Pierce, Florida
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    3,498
    I think Robert Baccus has it right - soak in liquid wrench overnight and buy a can of antiseizing compound for the future. After soaking a long board and somehow lock the spindle. Apply pressure and a light tapping on the chuck body.
    Retired - when every day is Saturday (unless it's Sunday).

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,654
    Heat the chuck and cool the spindle to the extent you can then put a wrench on it and whack it with a deadblow mallet. Sudden impact force is your friend; differential heating is one of the best ways to break frozen metal parts apart I've ever found. You need to be careful not to cook your bearings though.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Norristown, Pa
    Posts
    269
    Don't know if it will work with chuck, but a trick I use to free router bits is to tap the nut several times and the bit comes right out. May also try tapping from both sides at the same time.

    Bob

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Coon rapids MN.
    Posts
    84
    He did say he already broke the spindle lock. I suggest the pipe wrench as a last resort because it will leave some nasty gouges in the spindle collar. The wrench over the cut off bolt will not leave any marks. Lastly trying to heat one piece while keeping another in contact can lead to shocking the heated part which will make the part shrink to a size smaller than it was originally and make the problem worse. Please note I did not say that it would but that it could. As someone else also mentioned the steady pressure and shock is your best bet.

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