I left my drill press in the family home when I got married, and didn't buy a new one until a few years ago. It is a Ryobi bought in one of the Home Depots, where I was lucky enough to find a complete one in an intact package. It is a beauty. I overlooked its weird noises and rattles, and the fact that the Jacobs chuck did not have a smooth action when I tightened and loosened it. After all, it had a half-inch capacity, so I could drill large holes safely. Oh yeah? One day I was using a large drill to deburr a smaller hole (wasn't even drilling), and I wound up holding the chuck in my hand. The tapered spindle was still in the drill press quill. The chuck body had separated from the spindle, to which it had been joined with a short taper whose diameter was not much more than the drills that could be clamped in the chuck. Guess what's going to slip when you try to drill a half-inch hole in a steel block.
Fortunately, I had cleaned out that house and brought stuff home to add to the clutter in my basement. Included was a lathe with two chucks with Morse No.2 tapered spindles that fit in my drill press. These have been in the family for about 70 years and have given reliable service. The useless "Chuck Chinois" is an example of how our trading partners cut corners and sell us unsafe junk.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.