Tried a 3-jaw chuck on my lathe for a hex part and it ruined the finish

Swapped out my 4-jaw for a 3-jaw last week to save time on a brass hex piece, but the grip left these weird chatter marks I couldn't sand out. Has anyone else run into that issue with soft materials like brass or aluminum?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencerm4629d ago

Oh man that sucks big time. I feel your pain on this one because I did the exact same thing with some aluminum last month and it drove me nuts. The 3-jaw just doesnt grab hex stock evenly unless you get lucky with the orientation. Brass is extra soft too so those jaws dig in and leave those marks that are impossible to polish out without losing size. I learned the hard way that you gotta use soft jaws or wrap the part in brass shim stock if you want a clean finish with a 3-jaw on soft metals. Its a total time waster trying to save a few minutes only to end up spending more time fixing the mess. Hope you get it sorted with the right setup next time.

kelly.nora28d ago

I dunno man, is it really that bad? I've run hex stock in a 3-jaw plenty of times and yeah you get a little witness mark but a quick pass with some 400 grit always took it right off for me. Maybe I'm just not as picky about my finishes or something.