One of those days

--Here's my solution to the wandering chuck key problem:

That's a neat idea, bought a new key today so will now find old one :-))

Martin, When I've finished with my drill or lathe, I put the chuck key in the chuck. That means I can find it next time and have put the drill bit away. Portable drill chucks are tied to the cable with string.

I've had the problem of lost tools recently while relocating my workshop into it's new home. I spend days looking for my thread files. Finally I admitted defeat and ordered some new ones. Gues what happened yesterday? 2 old friends turned up in the garage. It's amazing what memories are surfacing in my workshop move. I'm finding stuff I'd forgotten about years ago. It's like Christmas but with good presents.

Talking of Christmas, I suppose we need to start dropping hints again otherwise our other halves might make their own decisions. There's only 11 weeks to go. Now where did I put that cataloge of R8 tooling?

John

I always put the chuck key in the chuck after I've finished a job but yesterday I was still using it. Off to Portsmouth for the next three day and then IF for long weekend, is anybody else going.

Martin P

Ahh, memories of school 'shop teachers telling us never ever to do that... :-)

My current bench drill's got a little recess in the belt cover on top (I think it's supposed to be for hooking a finger in to pull the belt cover off) so the chuck lives up there. I made a little canvas bag which hangs from the motor for the other drill that I have in storage, as it also came with a widget for changing belt tension.

Ahh, my Dewalt has a keyless chuck which still seems to be working well despite a *lot* of use (but on the other hand I had a B+D drill with keyless back in the UK, and it caused me no end of trouble)

You know you have organisational problems when you have a tidy-up and friends start appearing behind your piles of stuff ;-)

Hmm, good point. I've got a birthday coming up too, but it's the wife's only 6 days after, so we may end up doing something together. I doubt she wants a new router or table saw. :-)

cheers

Jules

I actually meant the tailstock chuck on the lathe and the key's put where the drill goes so there's no chance it will go round. The pillar drill is always unplugged when it's not in use but perhaps I'll go back to tying the chuck key to the pillar.

Don't let a little thing like that put you off. It's amazing how wives react to interesting gifts. I once bought my wife a helicoil set for her birthday. She was speechless with gratitude. After a few minutes, she asked just what she was supposed to do with it so I spend a happy half hour explaining to her how they worked. She then asked me if I knew exactly where I could put it. Of course I did so it's now in my workshop ready for her whenever she wants it. I have such a lovely wife.

John

John, As a good friend I can happily suggest you took longer than half an hour to tell your wife what helicoils were for, if had said an hour I would still have doubted it :-))

Martin P

Please don't. Having seen a pedestal drill turned on with the key in the chuck, I now know why they call it a chuck. It can chuck a chuck key right across the workshop with amazing velocity.

My chuck key lives on a piece of string dangling at the back of the machine. Even my hand drills have the key attached to the lead with string because I know I am a bugger for loosing them.

Mike

Incidentally, my pillar drill had a spring-loaded chuck key which is supposed to prevent this - you have to physically push the key down as you use it, otherwise it doesn't engage with the gear. It is capable of hanging from the chuck, just, but I suspect it'd simply fall out as soon as the drill was activated rather than doing a few revolutions and then flying across the room.

Mixed feelings about it. Nice safety idea I suppose, but as I've never been in the habit of keeping the key in the chuck it's a bit redundant and just detacts from ease of use. I'd simply chop the little spring-loaded plunger bit off, but I suspect my boy will want to use the drill one day, so maybe it's a good idea to keep it there :-)

cheers

Jules

We had a metalwork teacher who kept a flat ruler for whacking anyone who left chuck keys in the chucks.

We have a terry clip on the workshop drill at the factory, the big Elliott drill at home has a big enough table to hold the keys in the T slots.

Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Rushden, UK snipped-for-privacy@prepair.co.uk

Chuck key in the drawer with the drills, In left hand pocket when in use.

Lathe chuck keys stuck in the rear of the tail post.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Thanks for everyones concern about keys being left in chucks. I must emphasise that any key is left gripped where the drill goes. That means it's unlikely to get thrown out and more likely to be replaced as chuck keys don't drill holes very well. It also means the drill bit gets put away when I've finished.

John