Hydraulic 3-Jaw Chuck

From Make In Salford
A shiny metal chuck holds onto dull steel bar stock. There are three fingers arranged radially around the face of the chuck which slide inwards to grip onto the material in the centre. There is a yellow mark of paint near one of the six screws that hold the chuck in the machine.
3-jaw chuck clamping on steel bar stock.

This chuck is incredibly versatile, and the hardened steel "hard jaws" can be changed out for unhardened "soft jaws" which can be bored out to suit the part you are working on.

The chuck jaws are held in place with 90-degree V-serrations. Loosening the two bolts that hold each jaw on - but not removing them completely - will allow you to move the jaws out the appropriate amount to clamp your stock. To help get you in the right ball park and well aligned you can count the number of serrated teeth that protrude from the edge of the chuck and ensure that all jaws have the same number.

Clamping Indicator

The mark on the moving jaw base must always be within the box on the chuck face. This ensure that there is adequate clamping pressure on the work.

In the centre of Jaw 1 there is a clamping indicator. When the jaws are adjusted correctly and the chuck is in the clamped position the marker line must be in the centre box area, ideally the closer to the centre of the box the better.

Soft jaws

When it is necessary to hold parts very delicately you may wish to use custom-turned softjaws. These are made from unhardened steel.

Removing and remounting the 3-jaw chuck

You must not try to change the chuck or workholding yourself - a member of technical staff will do it for you. It is very easy to cause many thousands pounds of damage while changing the chucks on the lathe.

Information in this section is for reference only, and to assist the technical staff.

Haas provide this video guide for changing the chuck on their CNC lathes.

https://youtu.be/F8X-Z6Sti1A?t=896