[HELP] Suggestions for 3 jaw chuck lubrication

[arvidj]

Assume one has taken a lathe three jaw chuck completely apart.

Assume he is now going to put said chuck back together.

Assume he has no clue what should be libricated and what to lubricant to use.

How would you advise him to proceed?

[Highpower]

This is not a "how to do it"... but how "I" do it...

A light coating of grease on the 'gear' side of the scroll and around each of the pinions. Everything else gets a light coat of way oil. ID and OD of the scroll ring and the scroll 'spiral' and chuck jaws, slots for the chuck jaws etc.

I say use a LIGHT amount of lubrication because if you don't you'll end up wearing it and painting a nice vertical racing stripe on ceiling and the closest surfaces behind and in front of your lathe chuck. Ask me how I know.  

Grease on the scroll and chuck jaws only acts as a swarf magnet as far as I can tell.

[EdK]

I use way oil to lubricate my chucks. Grease holds swarf. I may not be right but it has worked for me so far.

Ed

[arvidj]

(03-18-2022, 08:12 PM)Highpower Wrote: A light coating of grease on the 'gear' side of the scroll and around each of the pinions.
...
I say use a LIGHT amount of lubrication because if you don't you'll end up wearing it and painting a nice vertical racing stripe on ceiling and the closest surfaces behind and in front of your lathe chuck. Ask me how I know. 

Willie,

Any suggestion on the type of grease? I'm thinking "whatever is close at hand" and "something that matches the color of the ceiling" might be the obvious answers but if you have something specific in mind then please pass it on. 

Thanks,
Arvid

[Highpower]

I agree Arvid, just about any grease will do I'm sure unless your chuck manufacturer specifies a specific type. I chose to use a Moly grease myself for it's high pressure rating and the added lubricating properties of Molybdenum itself. I may be a bit biased on that because Molybdenum Disulfide powder is a staple in my reloading gear. It makes projectiles slick as snot when impact plated into the jackets. It really reduces friction.

I've seen YouTube videos of people coating the inside of a chuck with anti-seize compound and then talk about how stiff it was to operate. Go figure...

My 3 jaw is a Bison chuck that has a ball oiler on the face of the chuck that takes care of the scroll. If I see chips starting to gather in the scroll or chuck jaws I'll pull the jaws and brush everything out. An occasional shot of way oil into the oiler keeps things turning freely.

[vtsteam]

I just installed a Shars 4-jaw on my lathe, and it's feeling a little rough even though new, I'm going to take that apart, and clean and lube it -- I'm assuming in that case just oil, no grease, since there's no gears or scroll. But I'm not confident it isn't a quality issue. Anyway, we'll do the best we can.

[EdK]

(03-20-2022, 08:53 PM)vtsteam Wrote: I just installed a Shars 4-jaw on my lathe, and it's feeling a little rough even though new, I'm going to take that apart, and clean and lube it -- I'm assuming in that case just oil, no grease, since there's no gears or scroll. But I'm not confident it isn't a quality issue. Anyway, we'll do the best we can.

Keep us posted of your findings. I find Shars stuff to be very hit and miss. Plus their shipping is ridiculously expensive.

Ed

[vtsteam]

Ed, I had great luck with the Shars 3 jaw on my Gingery lathe, so assumed this would be similar. But I'm guessing this time it is a miss. It may be adequate in the end, being a 4-jaw, but not as good as the last experience. We'll see.

Yes I got bitten by that high shipping last time I ordered from them through Ebay (hadn't noticed the shipping -- about a year before this chuck.

But this time around I found the Shars chuck on Amazon actually lower priced than on Ebay, plus, free Prime shipping. It was a big difference in the total. So that might hold true for someone else looking for something from them. Check the Amazon price after the Ebay price.

[Highpower]

(03-20-2022, 08:53 PM)vtsteam Wrote: I just installed a Shars 4-jaw on my lathe, and it's feeling a little rough even though new, I'm going to take that apart, and clean and lube it -- I'm assuming in that case just oil, no grease, since there's no gears or scroll. But I'm not confident it isn't a quality issue. Anyway, we'll do the best we can.

Have a couple of small files on the bench with you. I would lay odds that you are going to find several sharp and/or ragged edges and some rough machined surfaces that could do with a little deburring / smoothing while you are in there. At least it will be a one time thing to have to remove any snags.

[vtsteam]

Thanks Highpower, I'd already found sharp corners on the edges of the chuck jaw slots while mounting it on my homemade back plate.

Other obvious quality issues were the fact that when I clocked the chuck body true, the concentric guide grooves on the face are not true. I don't generally need them but it's a bother to have them run eccentric like some kinda hypno-disk when turning something!

The other purely aesthetic irritation is the radiussed face corner, which is uneven in width, also noticeable when turning something.

Luckily, both back and front faces of the chuck are parallel and square to the body (I checked). So far I haven't found any red flag functional issues, except the feel of turning the screws.

I guess they added the "decorations" as an afterthought without re-centering the chuck after it was ground.