Lathe Soft Jaws

[hemmjo]

I needed some better soft jaws. Previously I used
small strips of aluminum which need to be held in
place as jaws are tightened.

I rooted through my copper pipe remnants and found
suitable copper pipe.



Cleaned them up with abrasive strips



Used a wire brush on an extension to clean the inside



Mounted in the chuck and used a cut off tool to make pieces





Went to the vise to slit the pieces with a band saw



Used an old morse taper adapter pressed in using
the tail stock while slowly opening the chuck jaws as
the tube expanded.



As the first tube neared the end, I added the others
one by one until the popped off the adapter.





There was a lot of spring back. In retrospect I should
have annealed the parts before expanding



The tubes stretched over and firmly gripped the jaws.



Mounted the chuck to allow for easy spinning



Center the jaws as the tubes make contact



Slowly close each jaw 1/4 turn on the wrench at a time.



Stop when the jaws are tight against each other



Move to the bench



Used a hammer and piece of steel to flatten the
remaining curves agains the jaws. Once again,
prior annealing would have been a good idea.



Return to the spindle to provide stability while using
a fine tooth hacksaw to cut slits



Tap the tabs down around to grip the back side of the jaw.



The finished soft jaws and ready for action