CME 8" 6-Jaw Self-Centering (Scroll) Lathe Chuck with 1 1/2"-8 Threaded Backing Plate, Two-Piece Reversible Jaws

This chuck and backing plate are ready to go right out of the box to an acceptable degree of accuracy. It’s 99%. The backing plate has a lot of material on it so it can be custom cut for greater accuracy without the hassle of starting from scratch. The thread engagement is very well cut and fits tightly. The back has enough material that if you have a step after your threads you can Bore out accordingly. I didn’t need that part and skimmed this part down for more thread engagement and less stick out. The face did have some runout which I skimmed true. Machining the front and back of backing plate on my lathe has ensured that this piece is running true on my machine. Upon assembly I have 0.0015 runout. This could be brought down to zero by cutting off the spigot and re machining one but I’m perfectly happy the way it is so didn’t bother with the extra effort. For something out of the box I think it’s quite incredible how close it is. For 10 - 30 minutes of effort on your part you can get it as zero as you desire. The jaws are ground well where they need to be. They clamp the work very sturdily. Reversible jaws on a small chuck is a game changer. It opens up a whole world of potential without investing in a whole new larger machine. I spoke with seller on the phone briefly, he was extremely helpful and nice. I’d highly recommend purchasing this product from this seller.

I had to bore about .020", then removed .004" from locating shoulder and increased the depth by .025" out of the back plate to fit on my Jet 920N lathebut once I did ..it trued up to .0004" run out ...Looks to be a great chuck for a great price.I need to add an important update...please file and stone the jaws at upper chuck bodyThey are razor sharp from rough machining..Ask me how I know ?has been flawless since ....worth the $$$

I am very impressed with this chuck. I bought it to replace a very worn 1940s Atlas 10d three jaw. It threaded right onto my spindle and maintains .001-.0015 run out on the body. VERY impressive for the money and country of origin. The jaws move smoothly and cleanly, and they do center the part as they should. It will ship to you absolutely dripping with oil, beware of that. Overall it's a very nice unit, brought life back into an old lathe for many years to come.

Faceplate runout was about a 1/2 thousands if any.The part in the chuck about 2-3 thousands run out.Completely acceptable.It's well made and heavy.If you have a small lathe this may not be what you want.Its alot thicker so you loose some distance between centers.It was to replace the 3 jaw on my 1936 craftsman 101 12x36.It's a very smooth chuck with a prestine finish.My old chuck was worn and had a .007" run out.No complaints here.

6" 3 jaw chuck, mounted the backing plate and threaded it on the spindle and chucked up a nice piece of brass roundstock and put an indicator on it, showed less than .0005" run out! (I didn't even face the backing plate yet as I wanted to be able to return it if I didn't like it ) I'll have to get out my interapid .0001" indicator and see what it actually is but one thing that's for sure is that this thing is a bargain!It cranks a bit on the tight side but it's smooth and consistent, I'm sure some grease will help with that.... I agonized back and forth between this and a Bison, the perfectionist in me really wanted the Bison but the realist in me wanted to try this first and maybe save some money for a Milling machine, I'm glad I tried it!

The backplate that comes with this chuck is perfect. Nearly 0 runout, but the chuck I received is not good. The jaws do not close correctly which adds .025” of runout on whatever is in the chuck. There isn’t enough play unbolting the jaws to correct this. Waiting on a response from the manufacturer currently

Out of the box it took two hands to open and close the jaws. When the chuck key was rotated it felt like the scroll pinion gears had flat teeth. I completely disassembled the chuck and found that the lower jaw pieces were not properly fitted to their respective slots in the chuck body. I hand honed each jaw until it fit properly in the chuck body. This took about an hour for each jaw. When I reassembled the chuck, I found that there were metal particles from manufacturing in the chuck body. After hand fitting the jaws, cleaning and relubricating all the parts I reassembled the chuck just like I had taken it apart. It now operated smoothly but still had the flat pinion tooth feel to it. I took it off the backing plate for the 4th time and backed the pinion retaining screws out, so the screw heads were only slightly recessed. The chuck now operates smoothly and only has about a .001 runout which I think is pretty good for a $187.00 three jaw chuck. I could have sent it back, but I assumed I would get a duplicate of what I had and if I couldn't make it work, I could still get my money back. I am thoroughly satisfied with the chuck at this point. The bottom line is you're not paying a lot for this chuck and if you have the knowledge and wherewithal to tune it up, you can wind up with a pretty good three jaw chuck. I might add that it is very heavy duty, at least twice the weight of the original chuck that came on my 80-year-old Logan lathe.