Making a Better Chuck Key for the Lathe 

I love it when RU-vid folks spread kindness with others 👍🏻 keep the positive vibes flowing sir!

2:25 'Aaaaand I'll make one for Quinn as well.' You, sir, are a true gentleman 😊❤

I subscribed because you did a great job sharing the exact cutting tools you were using, and feeds and speeds. This is the type of information that is missing in 99% of the machining videos leaving the viewer to guess if they are interested in reproducing the results seen here.

“As is tradition” 👍🏻, don’t forget “Yahtzeee”!

I’m sure Quinn will love her gift. You are a talented man.

The echoed "As is tradition..." really made me laugh. Nicely done! Good to see two favourites collaborating.

Had to go on disability bout 5 yrs ago. Had been a machinist for 47 years really miss my work watching you all on u-tube helps a lot.ps had my own shop the last 7years

I had been watching some of your videos and some of Quinn's, basically bouncing back and forth between the two channels when I saw Quinn using her new chuck key. Had to come back here to see it being made. Great job, nice to see two different channels cooperating and sharing, awesome!

.421 for .500-13 and .453 for .500-20 and OSG over EMUGE all day! Fellow machinist here. Keep this alive.

My Satuirdays are very complete. In the AM I have Mr. Pete and Steve Summoers. In the PM I have you, Quinn and later ABOM.

I don't even need a short chuck key to look incompetent.

Great looking tool. I'm sure Quinn was thankful and thrilled! Thanks again.

27/64” is the tap drill for 1/2-13 of course.

I love the idea that u and Quinn collaborate. Great inspiration to help each other.

you are an incredibly intelligent and likeable individual with a great channel, but obviously have never tapped a 1/2-13 🤣🤣🤣.i say what i want, i got 38 years' experience and a shop in Colorado) thanks for your content

Thank you for the step by step 🦋

I'm not a metalworker but I love these videos. I work with timber and also 3D print. For me it's the creative process of designing something bespoke to solve a problem or to make it work better. Nice work.

I'm watching this on our smart tv in UK 🇬🇧 , your videos are very clear & sharp professional, thanks.

1/2-13 tap drill size sorry I had too......great video James

A trick from Joe Pie... Do not throw away your old chuck key for the 4 jaws... When centering a piece in the chuck, find the low and high spot, divide by 2 the difference and now go back to the high spot and using BOTH keys, the new one in front and the old one in the back and screwing on the front, unscrew at the back with the other key until you read half the value. Now you should be very close to perfect concentricity!

i am always again admiring cleanliness of your shop. Always and always again. Nice video, nice light, nice skills, thanks for sharing it...

You (and Quinn) will probably smile just a bit every time you touch those new keys. Nicely done!

Machined beautifully... your work and environment is absolutely meticulous.

Beautiful work. I’ve just acquired the G0602 and in the process of setting it up for use. Very inspiring video. Thank you!

I did a similar thing with a drill press chuck key...removed the turn wrench part and welded the tightening part to about a 10 inch extention shaft, but I made the handle out of a 1" piece of pipe. It gives it a whole new feel , very comfortable in the hands....like the difference between a skinny and fat steering wheel dia. Makes it far easier to turn it tight. When I have the r8 drill chuck in the mill the extension is long enough to clear the mill's 3 prong drill press handles. I'm contemplating having a hinge out winder handle in the end of the main handle so you could quickly wind the chuck to accept bigger or smaller drills/tools. one hand on the shaft the other hand winding....like an old brace and bit kinda thing only backwards. It's a joy to use. thanks and keep up the great vids.

I love the way you explain things. Keep up the great work. Regards from Finland.

I liked the "As is tradition" Quinn voice over.

Just as I was thinking "as is tradition", I either hallucinated vividly or you put that audio clip in... Very clever! Nice project! I guess I've been watching you and Quinn so long, I had just assumed that spinning to the top to adjust the jaw was normal, hadn't dawned on me that Abom doesn't have to do it...

Very good video, I really liked it. Congratulations. I also did a new chuck key in my lathe

next creation , an electric compound with feed control (-' if it also finds the angle , even better.

James, as usual a great video and a better explanation. I know Quinn will appreciate the long chuck key. She is such a knowledgable and professional lady machinist. Hope you and your family have a great Easter weekend.

Love your CNC - PDA (Power Drill Automation) approach.

Always love seeing custom tools and fixtures made to make life easier. Nice job 👌

Nice Job! I love the hobby machinist community on RU-vid and seeing different channels interact with each other.

It’s the little things that make the most difference Very nice work

Great video. I'm still dipping my toes into the world of machining, slowly building my collection of knowledge, and seeing how you go from design to product is very satisfying to watch. Your presentation style is super interesting... quite literally looking over the shoulder of a professional. Thank you for the content!

Hello James, It's always interesting to see your approach to making things... I hope Quinn likes her gift and you are having a good Easter... Take care. Paul,,

Nice work!

Nice job. I really like your chuck key holder, and have printed one for myself. One thought (safety concern) I had, specifically with that large chuck-key handle, is that it might be worth adding a slanted boss to the near side of top surface of the chuck key holder that will force the handle to rotate as it drops in, so the handle is more or less parallel to the z-axis of the lathe. This will ensure it is never sticking out towards the chuck for some stringy chips to grab it, something to fall on it, or some other freak circumstance to cause it to somehow get involved a lathe accident. It is probably unlikely, but still better to add the extra safety margin just in case you run into a final-destination scenario.

I am a new viewer , well done ! miss Quinn will like it .

OK now that power drill attachment for turning the compound is a great idea! I'll be making one of those next. It's one of those "why didn't I think of that?" ideas. Nice!

27/64 is the (a) tap drill for 1/2-13. So not suuuper useless, but not super common either Also, recommend a flat on the handle for the set screw. Not that you'll be removing it, but it helps prevent the burr from the setscrew from getting the shaft stuck in the setscrew hole.

I've been watching your videos all year, some are a little over my head, but the machining stuff is great, thanks for great videos to watch. Toad

Nice job and a great gift for Quinn

I learned to use chuck keys that had a spring loaded sleeve around the key. That way the key would pop out the moment you no longer pressed it in. Yea, sounds like a drag, and at first it was, but you got used to them pretty quickly. Also looking at the ceiling with the remains of a chuck key sticking out of it made me appreciate the idea of never being able to just forget that you had the key sitting in the chuck when you started the lathe... You can't make everything totally safe, or you wouldn't be able to get any work done, but I don't scoff on things like trying to make it harder to shoot a chuck key all over the workshop and embed it into the concrete wall or the ceiling. Seeing you make these new chuck keys got me thinking of alternative designs, such as adding a ratcheting mechanism. But I don't think there are much you can do to improve on the basic design without adding way to much complexity or weakening the design. Even adding a spring loaded sleeve wouldn't be entirely trivial. Also they do take some getting used to and using them tends to be a two hand operation, which can be a drawback. So probably not worth it. Oh, an alternative to the spring loaded sleeve that I've seen was a spring loaded pin in the center of the square key that is long enough to push the key far enough out of the nut that it falls out. Doesn't address the inconvenience of having to press the key in but may make for a sleeker design. Been more than 30 years since I touched a lathe, and probably 15 since I even were in the same room as one, so don't take this as criticism or relevant advice or anything. It's just grumblings from someone that's a little envious of the skill and the equipment, but generally just enjoys seeing people make things, and occasionally manages to fool himself into thinking he understands what is being shown in these videos...

Nice project, well done, well filmed and well edited. Fine to make a second one for Blondihacks. She's well worth being appreciated. The way You milled the square is worth noticing. I've got an end mill bit with a broken end, but perfect for side milling. Use side milling as often as possible, using the less used part of the milling bit.

Found your channel not long ago. Glad I did. Your videos very interesting and well done, though I must admit some of them are just over my head, thank you.😁

That is nice of you to think of Quinn,don't you just love her ! Thanks !

Turned out beautiful...

Nice chuck wrench. Thanks for the video.

I just made a new chuck key for my 6 and 8 inch chucks out of stainless. I had a prop shaft from a 1980's Kawasaki jet ski in my junk bin, turned out to be a perfect material for the key. The 12x36 (like a G4003) has the chuck so close to the headstock that you can't even turn the stock key unless it's at 12 o'clock, super annoying.

Gotta love Criterion boring bars!! Excellent quality, you definitely get what you pay for

Need it - Make it. Great concept!

Great video, “as is tradition”.

Nice job on the chuck key. The shop is way cleaner than mine! I hope you spend more time making than cleaning!!

Lovely job 👌

Nicely done James

nice build...shop improvements are great

Tool steel, "alloy steel" is incredibly different from mild steel varieties, both hardness of surface and toughness of structure. Flexure is one of the never ending bugaboo's of machining. I spent most of my years doing routine steels, with my last years in toolmaking, and a massive difference in tooling and procedures. You just have to accept the way tooling moves, and adjust your methods to match the material and tooling. I would suggest a slight reduced diameter for the set screw, so you don't raise burrs tightening the set screw. It's nice to work with W-1 or O-1 very nicely done.

just using a mag base with a dial indicator mounted to the ways will give you much more room for a chuck key. that will allow you to get your cross slide out of the way. that tool post indicator set-up is a little silly and merely a novelty. i cant really see much of any use for that. with that said, it is still a great idea to make a longer chuck key , i need to do the same for my home shop lathe.

Excellent.👌🏻 I have the same lathe and chuck and this seems like a great idea. Thanks Mr 42.

Beautiful work, a pleasure to watch.

I use a tee handle socket wrench (1/2” drive) with an extension. The ‘socket’ on the end, which fits into the chuck, is an upsizing socket adapter (1/2” to 5/8”) which I’ve modified to fit the .590 square hole on the 4 jaw chuck. Not just for indicating. Sometimes the work us larger than the chuck (15”) and you just can’t get in there to tighten the work any other way. By the way, nice custom chuck key there.

Hello James, Keith has been watching you a lot. I purchased the same Lathe model and had belt issues on the high range. They agreed it was defective. You've put a lot modifications. Spring in Michigan, I'll need set the Lathe wants, away until this fall.

You've modified and tweaked so many things on your machines I'm wondering how you can deal with the slop in the handles on your lathe hand wheels. I packed the handles with some sticky rc boat grease on my PM1236 and now it feels like a Southbend. Love the channel keep up the awesome content 👍

Nice job on the chuck key James. I just have one request and that is to please take that spanner off the top of the the tool post and sit it aside with the spanner for the tailstock. It takes up half the view of some operations and only needs to be there when in use.

They are gorgeous! Nice job.🤓

Just use a 3/8" socket wrench extension. I JB Welded one onto the handle that came with my PM 1236 and it works fine. (You may have to file the square drive part of the wrench since it is probably metric at 10mm) You can get a set of 4 of various lengths for $7.49 at HF and they are already black phosphate coated.

I'll be that guy. 27/64" is the tap drill size for 1/2-13" thread. :D

As usual, totally enjoyed watching. Thanks!!!

Great work as usual. Thoroughly enjoy your videos. I am sure Quinn will love it.

Hi James. Once again a great video. Some suggestions or ideas that I have for you. For this chuck key, I would have made a small detent in the middle of the handle and use a small ball bearing and a spring. Then it will always locate on the center of the shaft, and if you need that little extra leverage to loosen the chuck, you have it by extending the lever to the side. Have you considered adding a feature to your electronic leadscrew to pulse the feed. That is to stop the feed for a millisecond to just break the chip. For the finishing pass, a continuous feed will have to be. You can also incorporate a micro switch to stop the leadscrew, and or reverse the feed for a end stop. Just a thought. You are welcome to reply your thoughts on these ideas.

Hello James, I enjoyed this video of yours, as I do all of them. You commented at the 19 min. time that you couldn't understand why your mill was groaning and grinding as you were drilling the cross hole for the handle. The reason for this becomes clear when you look at the top image at the 14 min. mark in your video. This cross section view shows the reason for the groaning. You predrilled a 11/64 pilot hole for the larger 27/64 drill that followed. This created un interruptive cutting until you got past the lowest point in your predrilled opening that the 11/64 drill created. At this point, the interruptive cut became a steady cutting action and the groaning stopped. If someone else already pointed this out to you, my apologies, but I did not read thru all the comments. The importance of removing the chuck key was demonstrated to me over 55 years ago. At the company I worked at, we had a lathe with a 48" 4-jaw chuck. The lathe was 34 feet between centers. The operator left the chuck key in the chuck when he went on his lunch break. The carriage was all the way down near the tailstock. Upon returning after lunch, he walked up to the carriage and turned the lathe on not noticing the chuck key was not removed. The key went thru a2x10 hard wood wall and then continued thru a cement block wall 20 feet away after that. a chuck key holder like yours would have helped to prevent this. Thanks for sharing and keep up you great work.

Really great idea, James! Quinn will really appreciate the other one you made.

Nice job. Regarding the chuck wrench holder, I've pondered for decades adding some sort of buzzer that buzzes when the wrench is not in the holder. Ditto to the suggestion of a flat on the handle for the set screw.

That was a cool trick with the drill!

You could take it a step further. I confess that once I left the key in my lathe chuck. The result was a broken tip on the key and no damage to me or the lathe. I then realized that chuck keys (or at least the tip) are extremely hard and brittle for a good reason. You could probably quench and not temper and achieve the same result. On a side note can you do a review of your shiny new PM 940M mill? You seem the most qualified to give us all the ins and outs of this machine.

Hi James, thanks for another very enjoyable video and a very practical project. I'll be doing the same as soon as I get some fresh oil into the lathe. At a suitable moment when you are on the mill and if you are inclined to of course, would you mind please running through the automatic feeds on the quill. Thanks very much and I hope you have a good weekend. Regards from Wales

Awesome work, James. I might have to make a similar chuck key for my lathe. I'm used to dialing in the 4-jaw the same way you describe, and I'm definitely into the idea of making it easier. Gonna have to make a project of it. Thanks for the inspiration!

Nicely done Thanks for sharing the process

Thanks for the inspiration James. I went out and made a chuck key too. Not as nice as yours, but I’m pretty happy with it. Cheers, Jady

if you just use a mag base and indicate the top of the part this is very moot. Seems like a solution looking for a problem with some yak shaving thrown in. just my 0.02. Please keep sharing content as we need more makers on youtube!!!

6:53 - while I imagine you'd have preferred that the chip was breaking, I have to say, the spring of a chip here is just so neat to look at, changing color as it moves away from the piece....... it's a thing I never get tired of seeing, when shots like this capture the color change actually happening.

I'm interested in your process for selecting W1 steel as well as thoughts on hardening and finishing items like chuck keys.

Great video,,, I Just priced out the W1 tool steel to make these 2 keys here in Australia..... $90 !!!!!! and they reckon inflation here is like 6%,, TRY 60% !! WHAT A RIP

I hope she also send the right directions, otherwise she'll be waiting a long time.😆 Awesome project and video!

Holding the indicator in the tailstock chuck will give plenty of room for the chuck key. Search for - Easy indicating on a lathe - no magnets.

James, a beautiful well executed project as always. However that wrench to tighten the tailstock has my machinist OCD going into overdrive. Set up a GoFundMe so we can all pitch in for a new lathe, at least a 12x36 with a locking tailstock. Would love to see that unboxing and set up, like you did with the mill. Cheers!

Great video.

Well done .. awesome part/tool made!

beautiful chuck key! Came out nice!

I also saw your 5c collet chuck ,if you take a 3/8 drive stubby extension and grind the edges it will just fit the collet chuck and then you can use a battery operated tool to wind in the screw on your 5c collet chuck as it is a very long winded screw .

Take it up a notch, 3D print a chuck key holster for your belt. Will always have it with you 😁

Is it strange that Clough42 worksop is on the right side of garage, and Blondyhacks is on the left, like they are working from same garage?

27/64" is the most used size... for exactly the reason you stated! LOL!

Love the Quinn voice-over! :-)

Sometimes blaming the tool IS the right answer - especially if it motivates you to make a better tool! I was wondering if spot-facing the shaft with a 1/2" end mill before drilling would prevent any wandering and eliminate the need for boring? Then I realized that if I had a criterion boring head and a new mill with power down-feed, I would jump at the chance to use them. Thanks again for another great video.

@30:07 "My Modest Tools" Ummm, Yeah. Modest!😁 Would Love to have access to such a Modest assortment of Tools!👍 I miss having my own Lab, Machine Shop and Office that I had at my last job ending in 2010, developing a Subcutaneous Implantable Defibrillator for Cameron Health in San Clemente, CA.😥 Good Job!👍 Mike in San Diego.🌞🎸🚀🖖

Love your work!

When starting a hole on a round surface with manual quill feed the bit bounces because the hand feed can not hold the quill steady. Is better to move up the knee or the head down under control of the feed screw to guarantee a stable Z axis feed. Even worst with carbide tools the resulting hammering can chip the tool.