bench top drill press problem

[Cooler]

My bench top drill press suits my needs.  Ryobi:  https://cc831cbd7a5a3a616f82-5093119187e...fd0a5b.jpg

My problem is with the taper fit of the chuck.  

When I use a hole saw (the bigger holes really do need a drill press), the chuck drops from the taper.   

I thought that perhaps the base (adjustable for height and angle) was not square but it seems to be square.

Any suggestions?

[texaswally]

I would clean both the male and female parts of the chuck with mineral spirits then with denatured alcohol. Then open the chuck to its largest opening and put it in its place and wack it good, straight up with a piece of 2x4or a plastic dead blow hammer a couple of times.

[Stytooner]

It's probably really poor machining on either tapers and lack of finishing them off. They are likely pretty rough for tapers and this is why a whack with a mallet will usually seat more of the chuck onto the tapered spindle. Without honing them in together, this method is probably your best bet.

[p_toad]

I would try the cleaning first; as suggested.   If it still won't hold (and my desktop crapsman said to only PRESS in into position), then I would get some  fine wet/dry paper and give is a very light cleaning.  It it still won't hold, you may have to get a taper reamer and be a bit more forceful
on the cleaning and fitting.

[chips ahoy]

Mine fell out,I just cleaned it off, put it back in put a piece of 2x4 against it and gave it a good whack with a mallet. No problems since. My neighbour had the same problem with hers. Did the same thing, working like a charm.

Mel

[SceneryMaker]

Most chuck assemblies have 2 tapers. The Morse taper goes into the drill press spindle and is meant to be removed frequently. The other taper is on the chuck itself with the chuck being the female half and is typically what's known as a Jacobs taper. This is meant to be semi-permanent. Your post wasn't clear which one was giving you trouble.

If the Morse taper is falling out, you have a bad fit and that needs to be resolved but if the Jacobs taper is your problem, you can try this after you assure yourself there are no burrs, dirt, or other roughness on either half to interfere with the fit. Open the jaws of the chuck all the way and then heat it up somehow. I used my paint stripper heat gun to get it warm enough that I couldn't hold it in a bare hand. Once it is warm, put it on the male half of the taper and smack jaw end of the chuck (that's why you open the jars first) firmly with a lead or brass hammer to seat the taper. When it cools, you will have no more problems.

After I did this procedure more than 20 years ago, I have had no further trouble with mine.

[Cooler]

I already tried the whacking.  That failed.  

I will try cleaning.  

I checked for square with the table by chucking a 1/4" steel rod and using my mini Starrett square.

The reason I suspected a squareness issue is that the problem only crops up when using a large diameter hole saw (4").

I will try the cleaning.  

The taper goes into the drill press and not into the chuck.

If I cannot resolve this I will have to get a more robust drill press.   I was hoping to avoid that for both space and financial reasons.

Thanks for the replies.

[Bob Vaughan]

Low cost Asian machines have the attention to precision detailing as you'd expect.
When the socket and stud are poorly made, a drop of super glue can make up the difference.  Yep, getting the chuck off again will require a heat gun, but its easily do-able.

[MarkSingleton]

Hair spray.  Clean the socket and the taper very well.  Alcohol or Acetone or 
Oven Cleaner.   Let it dry and then spray the taper with a shot or two of
hair spray.  THEN smack the taper up into the socket.  

If that STILL does not work, you might consider getting a reamer made for
the taper ( guessing it is probably a number two morse ) and smoothing 
out the socket some.