I’ve had my Grizzly 4003G Gunsmith’s lathe for approximately 2 years and love it. Since I use the lathe primarily for barrels, my work has been with a spider or 4-jaw chuck. I only mounted the 3-jaw a few times and something didn’t look right. It turns out the chuck had .040″ of run out! .040″- not a typo- see pics below.
The Grizzly customer service was responsive (a little slow, 2-3 days to reply to each email), however the machine is now out of warranty so they told me to buy a new chuck.
I ended up getting a Gator 6″ set tru chuck (model 1-901-0600) and D1-5 backplate. The chuck is adjustable for run out using four screws at its base (similar to the way a 4-jaw chuck is dialed in). Within 5 minutes of opening the box, I had the new chuck’s total indicator runout (TIR) under .001″! I’m very happy.
Here are my take away lessons from this experience:
- If you buy a new lathe, check the run out on the chuck(s) when you get it. I have no doubt Grizzly would have replaced the chuck if it was within a year of purchase. While this is obvious if you are a machinist, I’m not. Lesson learned.
- Gator chucks rock- I couldn’t be happier. I ordered mine from a dealer on Monday and it arrived Tuesday. Fit and finish were excellent. In some ways this was a blessing in disguise.
I bought my Gator chuck from Ajax Tool Supply in Columbus, Ohio. I called him around noon, the chuck drop shipped directly from Gator, and it arrived late Tuesday afternoon. I’d suggest giving him a call if you need tools or tooling for your machines.
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