pipemakersforum.com

I come to the feet of Metusalah with my hat in my hand (and feeling quite embaressed ). But how do I take my existing chuck off the lathe? Got a brand new out of the box supernova, want to get the right adapter made, so need to take the old one off to check sizes. But the "wonderful" thing doesn't lock somehow and keeps on spinning. I thought that you might have to tap it lightly, like with a drillpress chuck, but that's not it.
Any of you mechanical minded guys that can help?

I've seen lathes that lock the pulley instead of the spindle before. Is there a locking mechanism on the pulley?

I've seen a few ways to do this. I would try to lock it properly somehow... otherwise you'll end up having to using the same solution that this guy came up with:


It involves a hammer, block and a trained chimp (it's harder to find a trained gorilla). The chimp is mostly trained to sit and the corner and laugh while you try to get the chuck off.

But seriously, I had to resort to gearing my lathe down to the slowest rpm and tapping the chuck jaws *gently* with a plastic block and *small* sledge hammer.

All turned out well, but I sprouted a couple new gray hairs in the process.....

Eureka! Thanks Wayne, you were right!

Would it not be easier to undo the retaining bolts from the back of the chuck? You know the three that hold it to the faceplate.

David.

Wanted to get to the spindle!