New Vevor 6 Jaw

[Susquatch]

On the strength of @Mike R - 's experience, I ordered a Vevor 6Jaw Chuck too.

Post in thread 'Mikes shop activities' https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/mikes-shop-activities.14711/post-211279

It arrived today.

To avoid surprise, I think it's a beauty.

Doesn't seem to have as many burrs as his. Go figure. Mine is a wee bit tight - but very evenly tight which is WAAAY better than loose. I expect it to loosen up properly after some use. I might just run it in and out a few dozen times till its happy. The only burrs I can see or feel are around the chuck key holes where they don't matter. I may leave them as is or fix them at a future date. Some of the machined edges are on the sharp side but not so sharp as to cut you. I don't think I'll bother trying to make them better.

Unless I can modify it to 6 stud, I'll be selling/trading the backplate as is so I didn't even bother looking at it other than to check the lock screw depth for Mike's benefit. Mine is the same as his. If I tighten them, the cam studs will turn right over the screw head. Looking at mine, I have zero qualms about my previous advice to make sleeves to space out the screws 150 thou or so. I think 10 to 15 thou under the surface is ideal.

The chuck itself is really nice. I was a bit surprised to find that the smallest OD it will hold when fully closed is actually a fairly big OD. It looked like about 3/8ths. So I tested it and found that 21/64ths is loose and it will hold 11/16ths. Prolly best to assume its smallest size is about 3/8ths. But in hind sight it's either that or a much smaller jaw surface. I'm ok with the choice of comprise they made. For small parts I almost always use my 5C collet chuck anyway.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that the key is the same size as the one for my 3 and 4 jaw chucks. My Smile Key and 12V Milwaukee Drive key will work just fine on it. Nice! I really dislike having 500 different chuck key sizes.

Thanks for "Leading The Way" on this one @Mike R! It will put an end to what seemed like a never-ending quest for a decent 6 jaw chuck.

Now to work on finding or making the right D1-5 backplate or backplate/spacer combination.

 

[Mike R]

Glad its to your liking.
Yes, I noticed the rather large minimum clamping diameter, but for small stuff the 5C does the job, or the ER32 adapter in the 5C.
Also, mine had a lot of grinding dust inside, be sure to check and clean yours out.
I also noticed its the same key as my 3 jaw, so that is a bonus. Now I can leave a chuck key at the mill (one of the reasons for this chuck was to have a 2nd chuck for holding things in the 4th axis on the mill while I have something chucked up in the 3 jaw on the lathe - do I get distracted much / have ADHD? maybe).

 

[Susquatch]

do I get distracted much / have ADHD? maybe).

An active mind is a good thing I think......

Question - do you like everything neat and tidy or are you happier with organized chaos like me.

 

[Mike R]

I have had a personality assessment and they were confused! I'm one foot in organized chaos and one foot in neat and tidy. I flip flop between the 2, depends on the situation, space, task and people surrounding. More neat and tidy at work, home shared spaces etc., but workshop and garage devolve into chaos

 

[Susquatch]

I'm one foot in organized chaos and one foot in neat and tidy. I flip flop between the 2, depends on the situation, space, task and people surrounding.

You are not alone. I've known more than a few like that. I was just curious.

 

[Susquatch]

@Mike R - took the chuck apart this morning.....

I was SHOCKED to discover that the backplate is NOT screwed on. The screws are in a small zip lock bag. Imagine attaching the chuck to your lathe spindle, and spinning it up without those screws!!! Holy mother of all things evil! It seems to be a friction fit to the register. It would not separate with a plastic hammer. I had to use a cold chisel in the joint groove (thankfully well chamfered). Not my favorite way to do things.

Quite frankly, I'm also not impressed with just 3 small screws to hold on the backplate. I'll prolly drill and tap for 3 more. I might make them a bigger size too.

Once apart, it is not clear what that plastic shield is for. It seems to separate the back plate and spindle from the gearing but does not cover the scroll. Seems they are more concerned about protecting the gearing than the scroll. But even that is quite imperfect with lots of gaps where swarf could get swept in by the three pinion gears. Moreover, it appears to be indexed. The reason for indexing this plate totally escapes me.

I did discover that the even friction operating against the jaws comes from the plastic shield. With the shield removed, the friction is virtually gone.

The interior of the chuck is clean and arguably well oiled, but there are a few rusty areas on the ring rack. This is why oiling is not sufficient rust protection in Ontario. Dehumidification is required too.



There is no grinding dust or bits of cast iron in there. The edges are all very slightly deburred. They have a microscopic chamfer that feels sharp to the finger but does not cut. Overall, I'm quite impressed!

I have a thick backplate I can use but it is overkill given that it's the same diameter as the chuck body itself and therefore cannot accommodate SetTru screws.



I'm gunna drop by my local reseller to see what he has in the way of D1-5 back plates per the post @JustaDB made a while back.

 

[Susquatch]

Just hit my first major problem. The screws holding the jaws together were over torqued. A shop gorilla used an impact gun on them. I knew there was trouble when it took way too much gronk to free them and even then they dragged. Very clear signs of possible stripping. On inspection yup - already starting to strip.



Proper fastener design deliberately biases failure toward the screw, not the threaded hole. I just happen to have a box of 100 of the right length of time that 8mm-1.25 screw, and they thread in fairly easily, so there is hope that the jaw threads are ok and I can just replace all the screws. I'll prolly run a bottoming tap in there anyway - the jaws are clearly hardened so that will take some very careful work to avoid breaking a tap off in there. Nothing annoys me more than improper fastener torque. Sheesh!

Hey @Mike R - would you mind if I moved my content to a new thread? It doesn't belong with yours anyway.

 

[PeterT]

Once apart, it is not clear what that plastic shield is for. It seems to separate the back plate and spindle from the gearing but does not cover the scroll.
I did discover that the even friction operating against the jaws comes from the plastic shield. With the shield removed, the friction is virtually gone.

If I understand you correct, it might be the same principle as my 3" chuck. I made a (better) shim which improved the fit. Maybe they are supposed to be picking the 'right' shim on the factory floor & that step is not closely adhered to. At least pinion spacer part on this 3" was metal, the other one I returned was plastic & even worse fitting. These are the underbelly issues you don't see just looking at the chuck in an online photo.

 

[Susquatch]

At least pinion spacer part on this 3" was metal, the other one I returned was plastic & even worse fitting. These are the underbelly issues you don't see just looking at the chuck in an online photo.

Yes, it looks very similar to that part. But it does not appear to add and pinion spacing functionality. Here is my 6.25" chuck spacer.

 

[Susquatch]

I'm gunna drop by my local reseller to see what he has in the way of D1-5 back plates per the post @JustaDB made a while back.

The only D1-5 he has is a 12" faceplate. I already have a 12" faceplate and don't need or want another one.

He says he is closing up shop. In a very real way, I'm sad to see him go. He was a knowledgeable personable fellow.

Time to look elsewhere.

 

[Susquatch]

I quite successfully retapped the existing female threads. It wasn't a bad experience at all. They cleaned up nicely such that new screws will go in easily by hand.

But I have another related question for the forum wizzards. The short jaw screws are 15mm, and the long ones are 30mm. But the holes in the bottom jaw are the same total depth. The holes in the top jaw are about 5mm shorter (not 15) from screw shoulder to bottom of hole. What do you think is up with that? Many of the short screws are a bit mangled too. Should I just get (or cut) some 25 mm screws and forget about it? Or is there a reason for the difference?

 

[Susquatch]

Minor Update - there are only 4 or 5 threads of the small screws engaged. In the absence of any advice to the contrary, I will swap them all out to 20mm length.

Had to use an impact gun to remove many of the long screws. All were mangled from over torquing. Oddly, none of the small screws were as tight. I'm just guessing they stripped a few at the factory and issued a lower torque change order for the small screws. Regardless, some if them are mangled too - not from over torquing but instead from being too short and not having enough threads engaged.

I was going to get a backplate that had enough meat in it to allow me to go SetTru, but it seems nobody makes anything in D1-5 that is big enough to directly facilitate that. That means I will need to make an adapter to go between a regular backplate and the chuck. So I've decided to forgo SetTru for now and just install a regular backplate, see how it turns out, and go from there. If it's good enough as is, after rotating the index around, I won't bother making a SetTru adapter.

 

[PeterT]

But I have another related question for the forum wizzards. The short jaw screws are 15mm, and the long ones are 30mm. But the holes in the bottom jaw are the same total depth. The holes in the top jaw are about 5mm shorter (not 15) from screw shoulder to bottom of hole. What do you think is up with that?

Hard to know. Nothing shocks me anymore. They do some great work & then they sh*t the bed on something fundamental. Maybe they just used the wrong bolts?

Here is a random screen grab of Bison. There is a bit of counterbore depth stagger but not very much. I thought my bolts were either the same length or quite similar length, but its just going off memory & it probably varies by chuck size & jaw step-up distance. One would think the threaded hole in the underling sub-jaw part that engages the scroll would have relatively similar threaded hole engagement just as a design & production principle, but maybe there is more to it than that.

One thing you should do is check your bolt & slot dimensions against commercial chucks. Sometimes they maintain those standards & sometime they go their own way. Because I found some machine-able (soft) jaws on Ebay that were less than me buying the material & they sure come in handy sometimes. Aside from holding finicky parts, they are the ultimate in concentricity because you are machining the grip surfaces insitu. I have seen some other ideas where people bolt some sacrificial jaw stock through the jaw bolt holes (leaving the jaw in place) but it needs some secondary means of locking it to a jaw surface. Hard to explain without a picture, but not overly difficult to make.

 

[PeterT]

Had to use an impact gun to remove many of the long screws. All were mangled from over torquing. Oddly, none of the small screws were as tight. I'm just guessing they stripped a few at the factory and issued a lower torque change order for the small screws

Or they over-gronked certain ones so hard that it resulted in distortion somewhere & the others loosened as a result?

 

[MrWhoopee]

Enough already! I've ordered one. USD $180.33 all in.
I've never used a 6-jaw before, should be interesting.

 

[Susquatch]

Enough already! I've ordered one. USD $180.33 all in.

ATTA BOY!!!

Even if you have to clean it up and/or replace a few messed up screws, it's A REALLY NICE CHUCK FOR THE MONEY! You won't be sorry.

It will be interesting to see if quality control for the US market is any different..... Please let us know!

My guess is that their machining processes are quite good but their assembly labour is put right to work off the side street as they walk by w/o any training. If they are given a torque wrench, they are not taught how to use them.

I do a fair bit of work with tubular stock too big for my collet chuck which is why I've been on the hunt for one for so long. This should be a very nice improvement for me! Love the reversable jaws too!

I'd like to get or make soft jaws for it too.

 

[Ironman]

I had the same issue to make my 3 jaw a set true. I machined the backplate to a .25 deep register, and I drilled the chuck and tapped it for the setscrews

 

[PeterT]

I posted on my Bison Set-Tru notes some time ago. After dialing in within a tenth, I was dismayed to see it out by ~ 2 thou some months later. Same D-pin orientation, everything clean yada-yada. I got thinking maybe they are not really a set & forget so much as a way to dial it in every so often.

But roll time forward, one thing that seems to be improving things is I am now conscious of how much set screw screw tension (torque) to the backplate. I am getting a feeling there is something known as 'too much' &/or 'not equal enough'. Part of this may be the setting procedure. You need sufficiently loose enough axial bolt clamping force obviously so the set screws can be adjusted. But as you tighten the axials, runout can vary a bit, so its a bit of iteration. If the axial bolts are quite tight, its much harder to feel the set screw bolt torque because they are not only trying to displace, they are acting against chuck/backplate friction. Or it could even be one of those seismic shift issues where you have it set (you think) but with built-in forces & those 'unload' at some point during cutting operations. This is just me visualizing things, maybe not reality.

I cant remember if I actually ever found a torque setting for set screws & bolts, I'd have to check my notes. Anyway what I've been trying as of late is only have enough set screw pressure (torque) so they are semi firmly engaged but not anything like a good bite or gronk. So far on my 5C & 6J they are holding within a tenth of original setting after a 3 month layup. The big runout surprises have not reared their head. Its been mentioned before but Robin Renzetti has an excellent video on this chuck aspect where he retrofits. When you think about it, makes sense. An M6 or M8 set screw has a lot of jackscrew force potential when it comes to distorting 20mm of steel in the realm of these tiny TIR dimensions.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Do they really open & close backwards?

 

[Mike R]

CCW opens, CW closes. Its normal, Vevor Ai generated advertising is not great, notice that most of the photos are not of the chuck actually installed on a machine, but rather a photoshopped picture instead. The words in the picture are actually correct, the arrows on the picture are wrong.