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I've seen a lot of posts over the years about the use of proper cutting oil for operations in the metal shop, especially in regards to threading. How many times have you heard or read this phrase: "Use a good grade of sulphur-based cutting oil?" Well I, for one, never payed that much attention to the use of the "right" cutting oil when threading. I would just grab whatever was laying around, like motor oil or way oil or WD40. Oil is oil, right?
No, it isn't!
I learned this lesson very vividly as I was threading a small steel rod on the lathe with a die in the tailstock. I had to thread both ends, so I chucked it up and looked around for a can of oil. The first thing I found was way oil, so I squirted some into the die and proceeded to do the threading using the variable speed control on my lathe. Everything went as usual and I took the part out. I had to check some dimensions, so I didn't thread the other end just yet. When I came back I put the piece back into the chuck to do the other end and looked around again for some oil. This time I noticed my quart can of Mitee thread-cutting oil on the shelf and decided to use. Did it make a difference?
You'd better believe it! In fact, the effort to thread the other end of the rod was so much easier that I thought there must be something wrong, but there wasn't. It was just the difference in using a sulphur-based cutting oil.
This hard-learned lesson will stay with me for a long time. If you're not using a sulphur-based oil when threading, you really need to go to your local hardware store and buy a can.
len
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Piston333
Thank you for appreciating what I posted. You have a really fine example of the first-generation Regal lathe. A real "baby LeBlond" as I call these small Regal lathes.
It is really a nice flowing design on the legs & chip pan. I think if you remove the chip pan, you may gain access to the headstock drain plugs. However, to avoid a real mess, if you remove the top cover from the headstock and use a 'suction gun' (syringe), you will save yourself from a potential mess.
As for the 'sticky chuck': this could be due to a couple of causes:
-the chuck may have been lubricated with grease in the distant past. Grease can harden and create a bind
-as you note there may be chips in the chuck's working parts
Either way, here is what I suggest, same remedy:
-The chuck is a 3 jaw 'scroll' chuck. Each jaw has a number stamped upon it. On the outer circumference of the chuck body, near the "T" slots for the jaws,
there will be a corresponding number. The jaws MUST go in their correct T slots. If not, while the chuck will go back together, anything held in it will be
wildly eccentric (which could describe me as well as, I am sure and with no disrespect, plenty more of us here).
-Work the chuck key a little at a time and do not force it or put a cheater pipe on the T handle, and remove the (3) jaws.
-If you look in the T slots, you will see the "scroll". This is a thread cut on the face of a disc. Get a piece of wood and whittle it to form a point that will fit into the
'valleys' in the scroll threads. Using a solvent spritzed onto the scroll, start turning the scroll with the chuck key while holding the wood cleaning tool in the
'valleys' of the scroll threads. This will scrape up any gross debris such as chips or petrified grease. Finish the cleaning using a lint free wiping cloth or shop
wiper (disposable paper wipers) over the tip of the wood cleaning tool while turning the scroll with the key. The tool will ride in the scroll threads. As stuff
accumulates on the tool/rag, stop and clean it off. A few iterations of this will get you a clean scroll. Chips and grit mixed with old oil or grease are a common cause for a bound or sticking scroll chuck.
-using a fine brass bristle brush and solvent ( a brass bristle brush about like a toothbrush is what's needed), clean the T slots on the chuck body and
clean the male threads ("teeth") on the chuck jaws.
-Pre lubricate the chuck with some oil, the IS0 46 being fine for this. A few drops on the scroll threads is plenty, 'cause when that chuck spins up under power,
you and anything nearby are likely to get a 'racing strip' of oil.
-Turn the spindle so the number 1 jaw slot is at 12:00 or nearly so. Turn the chuck key to move the scroll until you see the end of the first scroll thread appear
in the T slot. Back the scroll so the 'ramped end' of that first scroll thread is just past the edge of the tee slot & insert the Number 1 Jaw. Hold the jaw
with one hand, pressing it in lightly so the first jaw thread bottoms agains the scroll thread. Turn the chuck key slowly to close the jaws (clockwise,
'righty tighty, lefty loosey'). Work the jaw with your hand trying to pull it back out. If it has engaged the scroll thread, it will not pull out of the tee slot.
-Roll the spindle so Number 2 slot is at 12:00 and repeat the above step, then Roll so the number 3 slot is at 12:00 and repeat again.
-You should look into the tee slot for each jaw before you insert them to be sure you have not overshot the lead thread on the scroll.
-Close the jaws completely. If they meet properly, you did not screw up (sorry about the pun, could not resist throwing it in).
-Chuck scrolls are usually lubricated with a light grease to avoid it being slung out when running at higher spindle rpm's. A light application of a
grease such as 'white lithium grease' (used for automotive door latches and other mechanisms) would be fine. Run the jaws partway out so the scroll
is exposed and put a small dab or two of grease on and into the scroll threads. Do the same on the exposed "teeth' (male thread segments) on each
jaw and on the tee slot keyway surfaces. The word here is 'light'. Run the jaws out until they almost disengage from the scroll, then back in full closed
a time or two and you have lubed the chuck.
-I doubt the binding issue is any deeper than the in the jaws/tee slots/scroll thread. The chuck key turns what are known as "bevel pinions' . These
engage a ring gear on the back of the scroll. Old grease may be binding this as well, but at this point, I'd avoid taking the chuck completely apart.
If your efforts to clean the jaws/scroll did not eliminate the stickiness, a half assed fix is to spritz automotive brake parts cleaner (with a tube or
straw on the spray can) around each key socket. This will soften old grease. Follow it up with applications of a penetrating oil such as "Kroil" or
"PB Blaster". Let this work into the body of the chuck with each key socket at 12:00. A rag on the bedways will catch what runs out of the chuck body.
Work the chuck jaws in and out after the solvent is applied and as you spritz in the penetrating oil.
-When you have the scroll turning freely (if it were sticking to start with), spritz in some 'white lithium penetrating grease' (available in spray cans
at automotive parts stores). Use the straw or wand provided with the can and spritz this grease in around each key socket, each being turned to
the 12:00 position. This is a half assed fix, but taking the chuck body apart is a little tricky as the parts use very close machined fits and it's easy to
raise a small bur or ding when trying to get things apart. Most woes with 3 jaw chucks tend to be in the scroll and jaw threads. Very small chips
hide there. There is some slight clearance between the scroll and jaw threads, and very small chips are often wedged into this clearance space.
While it does not usually lock up the chuck jaws, it creates binding and can cause a chuck to hold work with a lot more runout than it would have if
threads were clean and 'metal to metal' engagement happened.
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