How to Make a Lathe Chuck Spider
Sometimes material is too thick to effectively cut using the large chuck jaws. A lathe spider can help you overcome this by offering back support to thinner pieces that are cut in a lathe. The lathe spider is a good project for a new machinist who is looking to work on both lathes and mills as both are needed to make one accurately. Once you have a firm grasp on how to use a CNC lathe and mill, you can make a lathe spider for use in your machine shop.
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Things You'll Need
- Round stock
- Allen wrenches
- Lathe
- Carbide insert tool
- CNC milling machine
- Circular vise or holder
- Center finder
- End mills
Instructions
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Cut a piece of round stock to just above the desired thickness for your lathe spider. Since the lathe spider is used as a spacer on the lathe, choose the size for the job or make multiple lathe spiders of varying thicknesses for your machine shop. Place the round stock in the vise of the band saw or chop saw and cut just a bit thicker than your desired final thickness.
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Place the rough spider in the lathe for smoothing. Face the front side of the spider to get an even finish by placing in a set of step jaws that will allow the facing tool to cut the entire surface. Flip the material around and face the other side, adjusting the carbide insert tool to cut the material to the desired thickness.
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3
Place the finished raw material in a circular holder for mill cutting. Place the fixture and raw material on the work table of the CNC milling machine. Use a center finder to get the center dimensions of the part and enter them into the computer as your starting point.
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Program the slots for the chuck jaws. Program three slots, 120 degrees apart, using the diameter of the circle as your reference. The locations of these three slots will vary depending on the diameter of the raw material. Program a roughing and finishing pass to bring the slot size to just above the thickness of each chuck jaw, which will allow the spider to sit in between the three jaws and act as a spacer for thin material.
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Run the program and check the dimensions after you have completed the spider. Measure each slot and its location and compare it to the thickness and locations of each chuck jaw. Remove the lathe spider and deburr it to remove any sharp edges. Slide it onto the chuck to make sure it fits snugly and turn the chuck on to make sure it does not come loose when the chuck is spinning.
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References
- Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
