Lathe chucks - What (not) to get?

[tomsalwasser]

For me I feel that if I want to stake my life and limb on a project with a 5 pound hunk of wood spinning around at 1500 rpm anything that can be done to make is safer is a good thing. Ed

Makes the case for checking your set screws often.

[JPG]

Regardless of oval/flat, the tilted setscrew clamps at a right angle to the flat. Clamping skewed to the flat will lead to loosening.

Half dog in an arbor?????? Methinks somebody 'substituted'.

The oval will exert more pressure at the 'point of contact' than a flat.

IMHO a cup setscrew is just plain wrong for the quill shaft.

FWIW I have ground cupped set screws for use with arbors. Makes them flat.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Regardless of oval/flat, the tilted setscrew clamps at a right angle to the flat. Clamping skewed to the flat will lead to loosening.

Half dog in an arbor?????? Methinks somebody 'substituted'.

The oval will exert more pressure at the 'point of contact' than a flat.

IMHO a cup setscrew is just plain wrong for the quill shaft.

FWIW I have ground cupped set screws for use with arbors. Makes them flat.

Well said! That's what I was trying to say.

[reible]

Regardless of oval/flat, the tilted setscrew clamps at a right angle to the flat. Clamping skewed to the flat will lead to loosening.

Half dog in an arbor?????? Methinks somebody 'substituted'.

The oval will exert more pressure at the 'point of contact' than a flat.

IMHO a cup setscrew is just plain wrong for the quill shaft.

FWIW I have ground cupped set screws for use with arbors. Makes them flat.

OH NO the eagle eye missed the brass tip. If you check this is the screw that comes with the new saw arbors for the last years.

According to Bill Mayo that has been that way since at least 2008.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 12#p111812

So theories or not, not all setscrews in the shopsmith are rounded.

No one messes with my setscrews but me and I would never use a half dog for this task nor would I post a picture of anything but the actual shopsmith approved and used part as shown.

Now can we quite this set screw subject? Use what shopsmith says where shopsmith says to use them and we will all be happier and safer, well I will anyway.

Ed

[JPG]

Regardless of oval/flat, the tilted setscrew clamps at a right angle to the flat. Clamping skewed to the flat will lead to loosening.

Half dog in an arbor?????? Methinks somebody 'substituted'.

The oval will exert more pressure at the 'point of contact' than a flat.

IMHO a cup setscrew is just plain wrong for the quill shaft.

FWIW I have ground cupped set screws for use with arbors. Makes them flat.

OH NO the eagle eye missed the brass tip. If you check this is the screw that comes with the new saw arbors for the last years.

According to Bill Mayo that has been that way since at least 2008.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 12#p111812

So theories or not, not all setscrews in the shopsmith are rounded.

No one messes with my setscrews but me and I would never use a half dog for this task nor would I post a picture of anything but the actual shopsmith approved and used part as shown.

Now can we quite this set screw subject? Use what shopsmith says where shopsmith says to use them and we will all be happier and safer, well I will anyway.

Ed

"Eagle" eyes are supposed to tell that is a BRASS tip???

arbor set screw.jpg (10.66 KiB) Viewed 7826 times

Makes sense!!!

[tomsalwasser]

Thanks for all the effort going into this thread. Still, this is all clear as mud to me. Now I am unsure what is right, what is wrong, what is safe, what is not.

[reible]

Thanks for all the effort going into this thread. Still, this is all clear as mud to me. Now I am unsure what is right, what is wrong, what is safe, what is not.

Is that a shark I see in the muddy waters?

Keep in mind this is a thread about lathe stuff so I'm going to try and get back to that.

My take is that if shopsmith makes or sells it you should be safe using it. Vintage may play a part in this so lets say the current shopsmith stuff since the 1970 onward. Older version I guess it is grab bag of angle and no angles and even different size set-screws different tip types. This area is muddy so for me I'll go with the newer stuff if I could.

If it something that shopsmith doesn't sell, say an adapter to 1"-8tpi then you will have to find someone who sells one and it may or may not match the angles and set-screw sizes etc. If you think it doesn't matter then buy what ever tickles your fancy. If on the other hand you thing that since shopsmith engineered this in and you want to keep with that design feature you will have to shop around to find someone who is doing it that way.

The only place I know of that sells this adapter is:

http://www.bestwoodtools.com/

And yes it is $60. I have one and I like it and it has never come loose on me. They are well made right here in the USA.

What makes some of this hard is that someone will say "For Shopsmith" which can mean that it fits a 5/8" shaft and that is about it. It could mean that it has the 5/8" shaft and the angled set-screw. It can also say for a "plain 5/8" shaft".......

The safe route is to buy genuine shopsmith products from shopsmith.

Ed

[JPG]

Please do not let all this jabbering about set screws etc. make you unduly wary.

With the SS tapered flat, it ain't gonna go flying off into infinity!

The end of the shaft is full round. The set screw must be fully retracted to get motion off the shaft.

Think of 'not slanted' setscrews as an annoyance rather than a hazard.

As usual we tend to 'discover' something then beat it into submission in order to fully understand 'it'.

Unfortunately when mentioned later, those not part of the discovery babbling become alarmed due to only partial understanding(it is a problem becomes the sole attribute).

The important thing to glean from this thread which you started(seeking help) is to realize the SS requires an adapter to chucks that are typically designed to mate to threaded lathe shafts and that there are different sizes and thread pitch.

Beyond that it is pretty much a matter of 'taste' and intended use.

[reible]

While we are still on the subject, what was the subject again???

It is very unlikely that the chuck will come off the spindle, it is far more likely to have the wood come loose from the chuck. I personally have never had that happen but then I have yet to do bowls.

The other likelihood is to have the wood come apart due to some flaw in the wood or due to a bad catch. This I have had happen.

That is way you want to wear safety gear like face shields.

The other got-ya is dust. Some wood are toxic, some are just an irritant or perhaps cause reactions. All wood dust isn't good for you so some sort of mask or the like is a good idea.

Now back to the screw thing for one last moment I hope.... I have never had any shopsmith arbor come off from the set screw become loose. I have had some come loose like on the PSI adapter I got, it never got close to coming off. Now I'm sure someone here will check this out but I seem to recall from some previous testing that it takes about 3/4 turn to go from a tight setscrew to being able to slip that arbor off. It only takes a fraction of that to feel the arbor being loose so it will not "just happen".

OK I'm off on a days adventure so I hope you all get to enjoy your day and I'll be back later to see where this thread goes.

Ed

[dusty]

Regardless of oval/flat, the tilted setscrew clamps at a right angle to the flat. Clamping skewed to the flat will lead to loosening.

Half dog in an arbor?????? Methinks somebody 'substituted'.

The oval will exert more pressure at the 'point of contact' than a flat.

IMHO a cup setscrew is just plain wrong for the quill shaft.

FWIW I have ground cupped set screws for use with arbors. Makes them flat.

OH NO the eagle eye missed the brass tip. If you check this is the screw that comes with the new saw arbors for the last years.

According to Bill Mayo that has been that way since at least 2008.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 12#p111812

So theories or not, not all setscrews in the shopsmith are rounded.

No one messes with my setscrews but me and I would never use a half dog for this task nor would I post a picture of anything but the actual shopsmith approved and used part as shown.

Now can we quite this set screw subject? Use what shopsmith says where shopsmith says to use them and we will all be happier and safer, well I will anyway.

Ed

That is an excellent thought, Ed. The problem is, Shopsmith gives us a part number and not a parts description. I did the Set Screw Spreadsheet to help clarify what was actually used by Shopsmith. The spreadsheet contains a description of what was in my machines as they came from Shopsmith. That is the closest I could get to what "Shopsmith recommends".