Harbor Freight - 1/2" MT2 Mini-Lathe Drill Chuck (Rating: 4)
Harbor Freight 1/2in MT2 Mini-Lathe Drill Chuck
I purchased one of these last week based on a posting from LJ member Hairy. I paid $14.99 + shipping which is a good price for drill chucks with the arbor! A high precision chuck it's not and this chuck isn't going to win any contests for the best chuck of the year but it does make a good chuck for woodworking.
The chuck that I had for my DP wouldn't chuck up smaller bits so I needed to do something. I've been looking at the chucks and arbors from McMaster and MSC but they are expensive to say the least. Too much so for woodworking. I just don't need to spend $200 for a high precision chuck to bore a hole in wood.
The chuck does come covered with that sticky oil / gease (I can never remember the name of that stuff) that needs to be removed. I wiped it down with mineral spirits and a rag and called it good. But after trying to chuck up a bit into the drill, a quick wipe down was not going to cut it. The chuck was pretty hard to move so holding the bit, the arbor and the key was real treat. It had a lot of that grease up inside the chuck that was causing it to be rather stiff. So I just dropped into a cup with some mineral spirits and let it soak for a few seconds. That's about all it took to loosen up all of that gunk. I then added a couple drops of light oil ot the chuck.
The reviews for the chuck at HF talk about the chuck being too long. I'm not sure what the reviewers are using the chuck in but it's too short for my DP. Well that is to say that my drift isn't wide enough to remove the chuck and the drift would just pass right through the opening. I had to be creative in order to remove the chuck from the DP.
All in all, I'll buy another one if the need should come up.
So to recap. If you're doing high precision metal working, then move on, this is not the chuck for you. If you doing basic woodworking, then 4 stars.
Thanks for the tip hairy!
Harbor Freight 1/2in MT2 Mini-Lathe Drill Chuck
I purchased one of these last week based on a posting from LJ member Hairy. I paid $14.99 + shipping which is a good price for drill chucks with the arbor! A high precision chuck it's not and this chuck isn't going to win any contests for the best chuck of the year but it does make a good chuck for woodworking.
The chuck that I had for my DP wouldn't chuck up smaller bits so I needed to do something. I've been looking at the chucks and arbors from McMaster and MSC but they are expensive to say the least. Too much so for woodworking. I just don't need to spend $200 for a high precision chuck to bore a hole in wood.
The chuck does come covered with that sticky oil / gease (I can never remember the name of that stuff) that needs to be removed. I wiped it down with mineral spirits and a rag and called it good. But after trying to chuck up a bit into the drill, a quick wipe down was not going to cut it. The chuck was pretty hard to move so holding the bit, the arbor and the key was real treat. It had a lot of that grease up inside the chuck that was causing it to be rather stiff. So I just dropped into a cup with some mineral spirits and let it soak for a few seconds. That's about all it took to loosen up all of that gunk. I then added a couple drops of light oil ot the chuck.
The reviews for the chuck at HF talk about the chuck being too long. I'm not sure what the reviewers are using the chuck in but it's too short for my DP. Well that is to say that my drift isn't wide enough to remove the chuck and the drift would just pass right through the opening. I had to be creative in order to remove the chuck from the DP.
All in all, I'll buy another one if the need should come up.
So to recap. If you're doing high precision metal working, then move on, this is not the chuck for you. If you doing basic woodworking, then 4 stars.
Thanks for the tip hairy!