Thread: 3D printed soft Nova chuck jaws

love the idea, but wouldnt they have a patent on their design?

I don't have a 3D printer. I made some soft jaws from a thick plastic cutting board, about 19mm thick, acquired from a butcher supplier shop. They are sacrificial and be shaped to use instead of a jam chuck. One large board can make a few sets of jaws. Can get a photo in the morning if needed.

Jim

Sorry forgot to add the designs and 3D printer files were downloaded from thingiverse.com

The total cost of the 3D plastic filament to make these was just under $8
If you are prepared to use lower quality 3D plastic the cost could be about half that.

What I would love to have are sets of soft inserts to put into standard jaws, like the following...

Power jaws with soft insert.jpg

This would give soft contact added to the strength of the steel jaws without having to change the steel jaws.

Bob, have you seen any 3D printing files for anything like that?

I had a look on thingiverse.com, but couldn't see anything just like that, although the problem to be solved has been addressed for some engineering chuck applications.

K11-125 3 jaw chuck soft jaws by tonycstech - Thingiverse

Serrated soft-jaws for lathe by andypugh - Thingiverse

soft jaws for rotary axis by jsaffer - Thingiverse

Originally Posted by NeilS

What I would love to have are sets of soft inserts to put into standard jaws, like the following...

This would give soft contact added to the strength of the steel jaws without having to change the steel jaws.

Bob, have you seen any 3D printing files for anything like that?

Havent seen anything like that but someone will eventually come up with a design.

I had a look on thingiverse.com, but couldn't see anything just like that, although the problem to be solved has been addressed for some engineering chuck applications.

Yep I've made myself a set of those for my 4" MW lathe chuck.
The plans didn't quite fit mine so had to do a bit of rescaling
SoftLathechuckjaws.jpg

Originally Posted by NeilS

What I would love to have are sets of soft inserts to put into standard jaws, like the following...

Power jaws with soft insert.jpg

This would give soft contact added to the strength of the steel jaws without having to change the steel jaws.

Bob, have you seen any 3D printing files for anything like that?

I had a look on thingiverse.com, but couldn't see anything just like that, although the problem to be solved has been addressed for some engineering chuck applications.

K11-125 3 jaw chuck soft jaws by tonycstech - Thingiverse

Serrated soft-jaws for lathe by andypugh - Thingiverse

soft jaws for rotary axis by jsaffer - Thingiverse

I have quite a varied collection of inserts of plywood, hardwood, plastic Ali.
It all started with plywood Cole jaws, still have them somewhere havent used them in in years. In the end settled on UHMW Plastic . Its not cheap but lasts
UHMW Plastic | UHMWPE Properties & Material Uses | Curbell Plastics
Later on made few specific inserts out of Ali for small bases or feet and a large set up to hold rough blanks

cant load images,

Originally Posted by hughie

I have quite a varied collection of inserts of plywood, hardwood, plastic Ali.
It all started with plywood Cole jaws, still have them somewhere havent used them in in years. In the end settled on UHMW Plastic . Its not cheap but lasts
UHMW Plastic | UHMWPE Properties & Material Uses | Curbell Plastics

I've turned several out of UHMWPE.
These were designed to hold 100 and 150 mm PVC ducting.
I was fortunate to score the chunk of UHMWPE from the scraps bin at work - hate to think what that would have cost.
SoftJaws2.jpg

A couple of years back I started making my own UHMWPE cylinders from plastic milk bottles.
Lots of work - made a couple of cylinders and then gave up.
>20 2L milk bottles are needed to make 1kg of UHMWPE - they have to be very clean, no labels etc a right PITA
Tidiedup.jpg

3D printing is way easier if you have the pattern/design.

got mine the same way

I've been working on a 3D print design for a set of lathe chuck jaws similar to the HDPE soft jaws shown above but this one is much deeper.

The idea is not just to hold a short length of PVC pipe but enable it to be rotated by the lathe while being heated with a hot air gun in a manner similar to how I make BMHs.

Once heated the lathe is stopped and the lathe jaws are expanded to stretch the PVC to make a female junction but more specifically a junction that will allow flexy to be fitted inside it.

This one is for 100 mm ducting but being a "parameterised" design means everything is very easily adjustable.
The jaws will not be held onto the chuck by the usual short CS screws but by longer custom length socket Head screws.
This is done to provide support for each jaw well away from the chuck itself.


Screen Shot 2021-10-29 at 3.54.34 pm.png Screen Shot 2021-10-29 at 3.56.04 pm.png

One issue to work out is the jaws have to be able to withstand a softening temperature of 110ºC which rules out most 3D printer Plastics
BUT
Apparently Nylon will stay solid for some way above this this temperature.
However, I will have to get a new higher temperature printer extruder to be able to print nylon.
Could be just the excuse I need.

the design was done using the SCAD app.
Its only 40 lines of code and more than half of those and for the various holes etc.

ok reset bacl too original on my browser, seems ok

The red jaws are the UHMWPE basically sacrifical as I mod them for each job, Gray jaws are actually PVC not ideal but the do work fine. The Ali jaws are set to a particular size aad there are three of them 36,38 40mm held in place by m6 cap screws. The last set very large is an experiment on holding large blanks, blnaks that very awkward to hold and generally turned at low speed. They are not for everyone and I wouldnt recommend them as they experimental.

A higher temperature printer, or some new toys to melt metal??
You could use your 3D prints as moulds, and cast metal versions from them, to get around the temperature problem

Originally Posted by arose62

A higher temperature printer, or some new toys to melt metal??
You could use your 3D prints as moulds, and cast metal versions from them, to get around the temperature problem

Yeah thought of that especially if I was making multiple sets of teh same thing but I want to be able to print nylon for other purposes so I might as well just get the higher temperature 3D printer head anyway.

By the time I've printed a mould I'm quarter the way through printing the jaw set.
Unlike pouring metal It's not like the printing takes up any real time - start it going and go do something else and its a lot less messier.

.
Thanks for sharing, Hughie.

Originally Posted by hughie

The last very large set is an experiment on holding large blanks...

And, if you manage to avoid having those large monsters jaws rip off some valuable part of your anatomy you could always use them to do some tunnel boring projects...

Barangaroo tunnelling Cutterhead.jpg
Barangaroo tunnelling Cutterhead