CME 6" 6-Jaw Scroll Lathe Chuck with D1-4 Camlock Backing Plate

For the money, outstanding value. Yes, it needs disassembly and cleaning upon arrival and the backplate needs to be fitted to the lathe spindle but, once that was done, it had +/- 1 thou of runout. After cleaning the storage grease, this chuck was very smooth to operate. The jaws came pre-fitted and serialized to the body. Internal tolerances were great and all external measurements were precise and uniform. No, it's not a Bison or a PB or a Gator etc... but it cost $1000 less. Couldn't be more pleased. It's also very easy to modify as a set-tru style chuck.

Received the chuck in a timely manner and in good condition. However, the chuck is very hard to adjust the jaws with the chuck key to the point of being nearly unusable. I disassembled the chuck and cleaned the chuck thoroughly and then greased and reassembled it. No change.

D1-4 backplate taper appears to be under-size. The first time I mounted it tightly on the lathe spindle, the front mounting face showed 0.0045 TIR. Close examination showed daylight on one side between spindle and backplate mating surfaces. After loosening and retightening, first on the side where the light was, and then on the others, I managed to close the gap enough so as not to see any more daylight. Then the front and rear faces showed TIR of about 0.001 Next, after mounting the chuck on the backplate, the OD of the chuck showed TIR of about 0.0015 at outermost edge. Up next to the backplate the TIR was with 0.001. I was pleased with that, however, after chucking precision ground 1.000, 0.625, and 0.375 pins I was a little dismayed. The TIR on all of them was roughly 0.0045, which doesn’t compute for me. I expected better.

Reasonable value for the price. However as mentioned by other reviewers, this is no P&B, Bison or Buck chuck and not even close to that level of quality or precision so adjust your expectations. A quick inspection showed the chuck would require disassembly and a thorough cleaning and deburring. I found no rust but a fair amount of fine metal shavings and grit. Once cleaned, reassembled and mounted on the lathe it ran out .003” (TIR). For my purposes I need it closer to zero runout, so I modified it to a Set-Tru chuck. Plenty of material on the backing plate and clearance in the chuck to accomplish. If you have the tools and skills to modify it to a Set-Tru or can live with about .003” runout it will probably work for most applications requiring a 6 Jaw chuck. One last note, a couple of reviewers said this chuck didn’t properly hold their workpiece. Remember, a 6-jaw chuck is a special purpose chuck primarily for holding previously machined or ground workpieces. Using it for rough round stock or parts won’t usually work well which is why 3 jaw chucks are the general workhorse for most lathe applications.

Excellent quality chuck for the money.

These guys only ship via UPS. Brokerage fees alone were $99.62. For comparison, the Canada Postal Service charges a flat rate of $9.95 for brokerage if it had been shipped by USPS (which the seller refuses to do). Be prepared to completely disassemble, clean and debur every part on the device BEFORE you install it on your lathe as it is rife with abrasive grit that you do not want anywhere near your lathe. All machined edges are razor sharp and dangerous. The pinions are extremely roughly cast teeth. So much so that 2 of the 3 pinions may be only capable of taking up space. The scroll is machined. The backing plate had quite a few dings along the edges of the D1-4 mating surface. One user suggested making it set true, and I am not knowledgable enough to know if that is possible but there is an aluminum "guide" plate inside that looks to help position the scroll. I would be hesitant to remove that which I'm fairly certain you would have to do to accomplish set true dimensional capability at the back. It is not a $2K or $3K chuck so the runout I got on this one was 0.003" which is arguably about what one might expect. I have not yet put it to use, but once mounted it was very difficult to remove from the D1-4 receptacle on my lathe. It should function in a fashion but for sure, you get what you pay for (sort of, since you also pay a surprise price tag courtesy of UPS and the sellers instance on using them).

Wrong parts, don't buy it Backing plate is for different chuck.

Chuck installed perfectly with minimal runout