A Chuck Hauler

One of my readers (thanks, Pablo), sent me a link to this great idea over on the Candlepower forums. Lots of interesting stuff over on Candlepower, BTW. Folks over there are making custom high-tech flashlights, and a lot of the work is really cool.

This idea is designed to make it easier to mount medium-sized chucks on your lathe. Take a look at what I’m calling a “Chuck Hauler”:

The chuck goes on the hauler like this. You can grab the bar on either side of the chuck to use both hands…

Place the hauler onto your lathe’s ways. The hardwood base protects the ways from harm…

Line up the bar with the spindle bore and slide the chuck into position. Pretty slick!

For really heavy chucks you’re going to want some sort of overhead hoist system. In fact, the hoist will even come in handy for loading large workpieces. Here is a nice shot of Ray Behner’s setup from PM:

Cradle for round stock, and a little piston unit on the hook for fine positioning. Just open the value to gently lower the workpiece. Note the disc brake and indexing by the chuck!