Fig. 21.
Fig. 22.
Chucking work in the lathe is one of the most interesting branches, for here there are no centers in the way, to plague the workman, and the tool has a fair sweep at all parts. Every one who uses a lathe, should get a scroll chuck, [Fig. 21], of Cushman’s make, (A. Cushman, Hartford, Connecticut,) that is, a chuck where the jaws move up together toward the center, so that any round piece will be held perfectly true. This is a great convenience, for whether we have a ring to bore out, or a wheel to turn off, it is equally handy, and is far better than the independent jaw chuck, which has to be set up by measurement, and repeated trials before it is right. To those who cannot afford to purchase a scroll chuck, a wooden one can be made to answer every purpose. Wooden chucks should be made of some hard, fine-grained wood, such as maple or mahogany, so that they will hold well whatever is driven into them.
Fig. 23.
Fig. 24.
If we have a small cylinder head to turn, for instance, the back head, which has no hole in it to put a mandrel through, as the front one has, the wooden chuck will come in play. To make one, the turner takes a square block of the proper thickness, say one inch, and saws the corners off, so that it is eight-sided. It is then ready to screw on the face plate of the lathe. This is quickly done by having small screw holes in the plate for this purpose, as shown in [Fig. 1], page 17.