I've wanted a 6-jaw chuck for the 10x36 lathe and the recent 20 percent off sale at Enco got me to try the Chinese imports. I know things are not always ready out of the box, but the bargain is just too cheap:
272-5010 6" 6 JAW SET-TRU ADJ LATHE CHUCKThe D1-4 adapter, the way it came, had the taper a few thou too small and tipped, so it wouldn't quite go on the spindle. So I spent half a day indicating and chucking the thing to bore a correct taper. Nothing on the entire piece was square, true, or centered. I know you're supposed to custom cut the interface for your machine ("some machining required"), but the D1-4 side should have been right from the start. But after some frustration and a room full of cast iron bits I managed to get it corrected.
Ah, now to assemble and try the chuck.
First, the screws are missing, or maybe there's a fight back in China whether the chuck people or the backplate adapter people are supposed to supply the connecting screws. Everything sits around while Enco scares me up a set of the oddball size.
Finally I assemble the thing and gleefully apply the set-tru adjustments. I'm thinking a few thou of runout clearance on the adapter should be plenty of adjustment range. Lo, this supposedly sub-thou truable chuck is bored about 0.008" off center! So I go ahead and cut the adapter some more so finally I can zero it. I make one actual part on the thing, and something isn't right.
I put the test bar back in and indicate further and further away from the chuck. Must be something wrong with my test bar? Off the to surface plate to check it, and it is fine. Turns out the the jaws are ground to an off axis angle of about 0.002" per inch. Puh-leeze.
It's all back in the boxes now for a trip back to the Enco clearance bin in Atlanta. Maybe somebody can use a correctly machined backplate.
Next time it is Bison or made-in-USA.