I've been looking at 3/4" drill chucks over the last few weeks, since I bought my new old lathe and I inherited a drill press and they both use MT3. I have a very nice Tegara keyless 1/2" chuck for normal day to day stuff on the lathe, but I could not take advantage of the many straight shank drills I have with a half inch chuck.

First I looked at Chinese, then Llambrich because they have some decent quality chucks. Albrecht doesn't seem to do 3/4". As I looked I decided that since the chuck would last the rest of my life I might as well go with a ball bearing chuck.

I had no idea how crazy expensive they are now. A new Jacobs 18N is $659 on Amazon. That's insane.

After a lot more looking I gave up on the idea of a ball bearing chuck. There is no way I'd pay big money for a used chuck on Ebay. They never show good pictures of the wear spots or damage. I'm allergic to fixing up shit I bought thinking it's functional.....



Today I decided to check three surplus tool places near me to see what they had.

The Amish surplus place had a moderately used Jacobs 18n with a bad mt3 for $150. It needed lots of clean up.

Hemleys hardware didn't any used chucks close to what I needed but I still blew $65...lol.

S&S had 5 Jacobs 18n chucks. One in particular looked like it had very little wear and hadn't been beat with a hammer. The price? $25......

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I just about ripped my pants getting out my wallet.

The shank didn't have any spots to wedge it out so I wasn't sure how I was going to get it out.

I devised a plan. I used a carbide tipped 1/4" drill bit to drill through the hard end of the shaft all the way to the void inside the chuck. Then I filled the void and hole with oil. Then I inserted a 1/4" rod into the hole and wrapped a rag around the top of the hole. One whack with a drilling hammer and the hydraulic pressure popped the taper right out with zero damage to the chuck.

I have a new arbor on its way.

She cleaned up fantastic!

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Very little wear.

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That line shows very little wear. All the other big chucks I looked at that profile was worn completely off. You don't get to see that in Ebay pictures.

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The only reason I was willing to go used is because I could see it up close. I'm dying to check the run out once the arbor comes next week.  

The family heirloom...built by my great uncle sometime after WWII. He used it as a mill. I'm using it as a drill press.

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In GD this thread would have spurred conversation and interest. Here it's just dead....

Now I need to go check my lathe tool cart for chucks...

My dad used to scour the flea markets for all types of taper chucks and other old time drill press and lathe tools.
Used to get taper chucks like the one pictured above for $5-$10 each.

You can often find old Jacobs chucks at the flea markets here for cheap. The one in my post is a 3/4" chuck. It's huge and not so common.

I tend to avoid most used chucks, but occasionally you find a nice one or brand new.

The 18n and 14n is what all the cool kids are using these days. Lol

I don't know what the prices are like right now but I got a lot of my tooling off Ebay rather than trying to buy it new or find it locally.

I'm just more amazed that he has 3 places that have surplus tools and used metal working equipment.  The only places I know if with used stuff are Goodwill and Pawn Shops and they'd be last on my list for a 3/4 chuck.

Seriously though, what type of places have used metal equipment? Hemleys seem like a pretty large place

Henleys hardware has some basic stuff in the back. Occasionally good stuff.

S&S in Heartsgrove has tons of good stuff.

Pine Valley in Mespo has some stuff and raw materials.

On things like chucks I don't like ebay because they don't give good enough pictures to be sure you aren't buying worn out junk. I'll specifically avoid stuff without good pictures.

I need to get into S&S sometime.

I got myself a 1/2 and 3/4 Shars keyless chucks for my drill press, and they're way beyond my expectations.  Most awesome.  $43 for the 3/4".

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08128W7M3?tag=arfcom00-20

I almost went to S&S to see if he had a Jacobs 16N. My chuck on the old drill press was not spinning smoothly. I still might but a keyless makes more sense for that machine.

Damn.  The Pacemaker may get some new jewelry.

The quoted t.i.r. is 0.007".

Why the hell would you buy machining stuff on Amazon?

Zoro Link

That was the first place I looked. You can probably find it cheaper.

Same reason I buy anything else from Amazon, eBay or Walmart, convenience and price.  

They aren't usually my go to for quality name brand stuff. But for cheap import stuff, absolutely.  As for convenience, most of the stuff I buy on Amazon is next day free delivery.

Not 3/4 but it's a 1/2.. maybe this will work?

Tell me you’ve never bought industrial stuff without telling me you’ve never bought industrial stuff.

McMaster Carr has been delivering stuff next day since Jeff Bezos was just a millionaire.

I'm lucky if some of my old drills are that straight.
Where else can I get next day delivery on Haimer probes at no additional cost?

This is a big damn chuck.....

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I have a friend who has a 1". It's comically big. It's on a radial arm drill.

I decided to go with a Precision Matthew's 5/8" high precision keyless chuck for my day to day lathe work and the 3/4" Jacobs for the big stuff.

The Precision Matthew's is nearly identical to the chuck I have on my knee mill. $130 ain't bad.

I put a Tegara 1/2" chuck on my drill press and modded the tang shank to take a drawbar.

I bought a box of chucks from HGR surplus for $50.  There were 3/4" Jacobs, several 1/2" ball-bearing Jacobs, 3/8" Jacobs a bunch of different JT to Morse taper adapters, a 1/2 Bison keyless and new in the box 3/8 Albrecht keyless. All were in excellent condition.

So they can be found if you look around. But I agree new prices are nuts. That Bison keyless is close to $500 new.

I answered the question about Amazon.  Not every answer to every question that wasn't asked.  

I've ordered from McMaster Carr a lot.  I hate their website for shopping around.  If I know exactly what I want, it's OK, still not the best prices by far.  I've bough from MSC and Grainger plenty too.  Even before obtaining business contacts through my day job. But for what I buy new, I typically found better prices with faster shipping on Amazon.  I've even bought directly from Starrett through Amazon cheaper than I could find them anywhere else.  

But honestly, most of my "industrial" buys are NOS from closeout shops.  There's an HGR about an hour from me and I'd have to drive by 4 other smaller similar businesses on the way there.  Two of which sell new industrial supplies too, but in their back rooms they sell tooling between $3 to $5 per pound, NOS or used.  At those prices, us hobby guys are in our glory.  The best deals are still from local retired tool and die type guys getting out of their home machine shop hobbies.  Boxes and boxes of hundred of HHS and carbide lathe tooling for pennies per piece.  Same for drill bits and back on topic boxes of drill chucks.   The OP and I have shopped many of the same places.

I know nobody likes to hear the reference but, back in the old days!!!
Doing flea markets and garage sales back in the 80’s & 90’s with my Dad was the best. We’d find all manner of tools and machine parts for stupid cheap prices.

I spend lots of time at our local flea market and have bought huge amounts of tooling there for pennies on the dollar.