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Anyone know of a 3 jaw chuck for rotary table

TTMotorsports

Red Skull Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2021
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Lucerne Valley, CA
Ok so I recently won a 10" rotary table at an auction and it has 4 T slots. I want to use this on my Bridgeport mill and I need to fit a 3 jaw chuck on this and have it centered so I can machine down the OD of hubs or ID of brake rotors that are too big for my lathe. So how do I mount a chuck that's with 3 mounting bolts to the 4 t slot table. I also don't have a chuck yet so anyone know of a cheap 3 jaw chuck that will bolt to the 4 t spots on the table I have?
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Skip the chuck and hold shit with normal clamping hardware and just dial it in with a dial indicator. I used to use a chuck but I hardly ever do anymore.

If you do get a chuck get a 4-jaw instead of a 3-jaw It's more versatile and since you're not chucking up bar stock and dialing it in with a hammer it's not really any slower.

Also any old 4-jaw chuck that bolts to a plate with four bolts will bolt right up to the T-slots. You're over thinking this.
 
some chucks have counterbored through holes so you could just drill/tap the rotab and bolt it directly the face…or just add a sub-plate.
 
What's the diameter of the table?

A quick search, Tormach makes a 6" for exactly that purpose

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You can always just get a flat back chuck about 2" smaller than the diameter of your table and make a mounting plate like the one above.
 
Yeah post up links to these chucks with a 4 bolt pattern. I really just need to find a cheap used chuck to start figuring out how to attach it to this rotary table.
 
bgaidan said:
4 Jaw is dumb on a rotary for like 95% of what most people would do with it.
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A rotary table is going to far more frequently see non-round parts than a lathe and you typically aren't working with raw stock long enough to align via dial indicator and hammer so most of the speed advantage goes out the window.

Literally the only thing I put the chuck on for anymore is a bore and face operation on a weird part in which the facing operation makes hold down blocks inappropriate.
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
A 4 jaw is alot of cranking to get something dialed in on a rotary table.
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Drill on the handle nut. You know this. You've posted a video of you doing this. :laughing:
 
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arse_sidewards said:
A rotary table is going to far more frequently see non-round parts than a lathe and you typically aren't working with raw stock long enough to align via dial indicator and hammer so most of the speed advantage goes out the window.

Literally the only thing I put the chuck on for anymore is a bore and face operation on a weird part.

Drill on the handle nut. You know this. You've posted a video of you doing this. :laughing:
Click to expand...
Even with that it’s still takes 15 secs to spin it half way. They are just geared really low.

Was just looking at my 8’ diameter rotary table this morning. Was wondering where I was gonna put it for the winter:lmao:.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
Even with that it’s still takes 15 secs to spin it half way. They are just geared really low.

Was just looking at my 8’ diameter rotary table this morning. Was wondering where I was gonna put it for the winter:lmao:.
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Yours is way lower than mine. Mine probably takes 8sec for a full rev with a cordless drill.

It's fast enough that you don't use more than a third to half the trigger when you're doing fine adjustment. Full speed is for checking overall runout and helical milling.

And I know you have fancy red tools so it can't be the drill. :flipoff2:
 
Some people know wtf they are talking about, some dont.
 
Im thinking that 10 inch plate is going to limit you to a pretty small chuck, unless you drill n tap the face. Ebay has 10 inch chucks with flat back for $260, 3 thru bolts, no t-slot lugs.
 
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I don't get the comments on the rotary tables? We do quite a bit of wheel recentering, botl pattern changes, and other circular machining that is took big to fit in the normal sized lathe. Sure seems like it could be bolted to a rotary table and done quite easily.

Also don't get the 4 jaw chuck, they are a royal pain for stuff that is already round.
 
bdkw1 said:
Or figure out a 4 bolt pattern that will clear everything and drill it.
Click to expand...

Right though the scroll? :laughing:

The only reason a 4-way pattern works on a 4-jaw is no scroll. I guess there might be enough meat under it to disassemble and counterbore some screws under the scroll, but then you'd have to take the chuck apart every time you wanted to mount/dismount it from the table.
 
bgaidan said:
Right though the scroll? :laughing:

The only reason a 4-way pattern works on a 4-jaw is no scroll. I guess there might be enough meat under it to disassemble and counterbore some screws under the scroll, but then you'd have to take the chuck apart every time you wanted to mount/dismount it from the table.
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There should be just enough room to drill through the body without hitting the scroll. Remove the jaws and measure the distance from the scroll to the os, similar to this.

8" 3 jaw Front Mounting Self Centering Scroll Lathe Chucks 2 Piece Jaws

Taking it apart would be prudent and it probably needs to be serviced anyway.
 
I was working with a apprentice this morning and this thread popped into my head so I did this short training film..LOL


 
bgaidan said:
Right though the scroll? :laughing:

The only reason a 4-way pattern works on a 4-jaw is no scroll. I guess there might be enough meat under it to disassemble and counterbore some screws under the scroll, but then you'd have to take the chuck apart every time you wanted to mount/dismount it from the table.
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There's all ready a 3 bolt patten in the one listed above. Stay with the same BC and you will clear the scroll just like they did. This isn't rocket science.
 
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Just find a clocking that clears the Jaws and adjusters.
 
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