Collet Chuck

[Whaler]

Recently kwgeorge did a write up on the Woodcraft collet chuck set and he was impressed with it. Based on his write up and a personal recomendation over coffee I picked one up today.

The thing is awsome. Thanks for the tip Ken.

I hope to have the time to put it to some serious use over the weekend.

The honey do list should be pretty well caught up by then. I can't figure out why they worry about so many minor little things; "The door is squeeking" "The toilet keeps running" "The kitchen faucet drips" "I need a ride to get my nails done" Love her anyway and she puts up with me.

[wassaw998]

Dick,

What sort of things can you mount in that type of a chuck (trying to get an idea on what it is used for) ? Also, do you have a drawbar for that (saw that mentioned in Ken's article) ? If so, where do you get that?

[Whaler]

Chris

The drawbar can be made from a 3/8 18 hex head bolt or a piece of all thread.

As for uses, Ken hopefully will chime in and provide a list.
The silicone bottle stoppers that I turn will be much easier to do in a collet rather than my Nova chuck. It will replace my drill chuck for turning pens. I plan on using it to learn small final turning like Ken uses on his box lids. I am shure that I will find many uses for it.

[kwgeorge]

A collet chuck and a set of collets can be a great asset to you. You will end up finding all kinds of uses for it. I myself use it to hold my mandrel for different kits that I make. I also use it for turning almost all of my small finials and other small turnings. The addition of different screws mounted in the collet chuck makes a real quick and useful screw chuck.

The most interesting so far was some Beer Tap handles that I was commissioned to make. Try to find a kit for that! So I custom made the mandrel and the bushings to get the job done with everything being held in the collet chuck.