Denford Software & Machines

Hi all.

Just a question that seems all to obvious to me, having bought an Axminster super precision chuck for my Denford wood lathe and using it for a while, I was not happy with the finish on the wood after sanding, it showed up a semi circle ring on both outside and inside surfaces!!

With this in mind I checked the runout on the spindle nose and register and found that to be within .001", but then checked the chuck and found that to be .005". I then spoke to the manufacturers and they said that is within their tolerences.

Am I asking too much or is that the norm for a £200 chuck with extra jaws etc.
Done a lot of reading and some amatuers make their own backplates etc and get results of +/- .001" but others say shop bought is .005".

I have tried all the usual things to correct runout, or am I being too fickle for work on a wood lathe???

I seem to find that a lot of people like to keep within .002", What do you think?
The second backplate that I purchased had a rounout of between .010" and .004" depending on which way the plate was bolted to the chuck!!! (iam still in talks with them).

Thanks in advance.

Have you thought about reducing the register on the backplate and then just running a clock on the chuck and manualy setting it true?

Hi Steve.

Yes I have thought of that, but with different spindle sizes at each end of the lathe it would mean clocking each time i change the backplate for inboard or outboard turning!!

I could always buy another chuck at £170 and get them both correct, but as always it money that dictates what you do.

With the so called high precision cnc manufacture of these backplates I would have thought it would be easy to make these things match, but I guess im wrong?, or could MONEY AND TIME be involved here??

Anyway thanks for the reply, guess I will have to try and make my own backplates now I have the metal lathe and see how that compares.
Regards
Paul

My 1st lathe had been crashed heavily and the backplate had a slight buckle in it (small lathe, thin backplate. I simply reduced the register on the backplate then turned a new one to a good fit. Only reduced the thickness by about 2mm where the bolts pass through and trued it up a treat.