chucks

accessories - Homemade Chucks

Setscrew chuck:

Mounts on faceplate. Hope you like tapping! I made this since I never got the hang of using a clamp dog. There are optionally two sets of screws for aligning axially, but I usually just use the tailstock center.

Other setscrew chucks:
http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/lathe7.html 4 setscrew chuck

homemade collets, collet chucks

• How to make a collet placeholder

A good way to make collets for square or hex objects is to make a collet as usual for a little less than the diagonal of the item to be held, then cut slits in the collet. The corners end up going in the slits when the collet tightens around the work. There is a program for calculating the correct size for a given work geometry here: http://www.geocities.com/mklotz.geo/COLLET.ZIP
In Machinist's Workshop magazine, June/July 2004, Vol. 17, Number 3, John Way described the equation and process for doing this for workpieces with 4, 6, or 8 sides. (Anyone know the equation?)