I recently purchased a Pac Bay chuck upgrade from Mudhole for my old Pac Bay/AmTac power wrapper. This is the all aluminum model. Overall, I think it is well made. But there are some issues I am having with it, and I'm curious if others have had the same problems, and more importantly, are there any fixes: BTW, I wrote Pac Bay a message and have had no response.
1. The graduations used for lining up your cross wraps are on the back side of the flywheel, instead of facing the lathe bed and the person wrapping. Is there a way to turn the wheel around?
2. I have my chuck seemingly perfectly aligned with the pully on my wrapping motor, and a new belt. But, the belt slips on the motor pully without consistently turning the fly wheel. I have added an o ring to my pulley, which helps, but it is still less than ideal. Is there another solution?
Thank you in advance for your thoughts and ideas.

Brian,
On your head stock you have the driven wheel which is the pulley that connects to the motor. On the other end of the head stock you have the chuck that is threaded onto the head stock shaft.

When you say that your graduations are on the back side of the flywheel, are you speaking of the pulley on which the drive belt runs that is on the driven end of the head stock.

If so, (I am not familiar with your particular setup, but most pulleys on shafts can be removed and flipped over and the typical set screw made tight again to hold the pulley secure on the head stock shaft.

If your belt is slipping on the head stock pulley, I suggest that you go with a silicone O ring of the appropriate thickness and length to eliminate the problem. You may need to order two or three different lengths to get the right one that will not slip.

Silicone seems to work better on these setups than the classic rubber belt. i.e. the silicone belt seems more resistant to slippage.

Brian,
Here is a picture of your upgrade:

[www.mudhole.com]

If you look at the large driven pulley on the left hand side of the head stock you can see a hole in the edge of the driven pulley that is home to the drive belt from the motor.

Inside that hole, there is an allen screw that tightens the pulley tight to the head stock shaft. With the head stock off of the wrapper bed, loosen that allen screw with a correctly sized allen wrench. Check all edges of this pulley to be sure that there is not more than one allen screw. Many of these pulleys have two allen screws to hold the pulley tight to the head stock shaft.

With today's equipment sources, it is quite likely that the allen wrench that is required will be a metric allen wrench, if one was not included with the head stock purchase. You can pick up metric allen wrenches on line, or most hardware and or big box stores.

This was a silicone O ring that I used for one wrapper chuck switch:
[www.amazon.com]

Note that the size of the ring material has a 3/16th width. The 3/16th widths seem to be the right size for the pulleys that are in question. The O rings listed above are 3 1/4 inches in length. Depending on your particular setup, you may need one this length or you may need one that is shorter or longer. Bottom line, you want a silicone O ring that has to be stretched somewhat to fit over both pulleys and not slip. If the O ring is too long, the belt will slip. If the O ring is too short there will be too much tension on the belt and overload the motor.

You could measure the current rubber one that you have now, and order one in the same size in silicone and also one that is a bit shorter in silicone to get the right one for your setup.

----------------------
I have used this Upgraded head stock and chuck that you are using and I have personally found the setup to work very well. It is also of a good quality and normally turns out great rods.

Best wishes

If after you have achieved all that roger has suggested, wipe all belts and pulleys with alcohol, and then check for some major resistance with the belts off to be sure that all your rod stands are running free.For whatever reason you may have something that is causing your rollers to be binding.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

It actually is slipping on the motor pulley. Thank you for the advice on the o rings!

I have looked for set screws on the drive pulley for the chuck, and I haven't found one. This is the set-up I have: [www.mudhole.com]

I'll check for binding in my stands. I haven't though of that. I'll clean my belt too. Thanks!

Thank you all for your replies!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2021 02:37PM by Brian Avery.

Brian,
Pretty simple to find the set screws for the chuck.

Go to a hardware store and look in the hardware section that is carrying Metric set screws. You should have no issues to find the correct set screw.

Examples of metric set screws from Home Depot. If they don't have a small enough set screw go to a better hard ware store.

--------------------------
p.s.
If you have your original belt slipping on the motor pulley, take a very short rubber band, and loop it over the motor pulley two or three times so that the rubber band is stretched tight and then slip the rubber drive belt over the rubber band and you will find that the rubber drive belt does not slip.

p.p.s.
Also check for binding in the head stock itself. The the head stand sitting in front of you with a drive pulley on one end and the chuck on the other end, you should be able to easily spin the head stock shaft with the drive pulley and chuck and it should continue to spin for several seconds after giving it a good start. If the head stock shaft stops instantly, you need to disassemble the head stock pull out the shaft, check the bearings for issues and also check the interior bore of the head stock to remove any binding issue with the headstock.

Then of course, you want to insure that each of the pulleys and bearings on all of your rod supports down the line are 100% free of any binding of any sort. If necessary, clean and relubricate the bearings and or replace the bearings on the rod stands if there is an issue with rollers and bearings binding on the rod stands.

By the way, for lubrication, I prefer to use White turbine oil. This is a clear oil that will not degrade and sludge up over time.

Never,ever, ever, ever use 3 in 1 oil for anything. As a matter of fact - go through every thing you own and if a can or container is found - get rid of it as quickly as possible. I have seen a lot of items get all bound up because the owner of the object had used 3 in 1 oil to lubricate a rotating object. The volatile parts of the 3 in 1 oil evaporates over time and there is only a sticky goo that is left behind that binds everything up.

Take care



Best wishes

I do not believe that driven pulley is held on with a set screw, rather it is a press fit, and very possibly in haste it was installed backwards

Ron Weber

Ron is correct. The markings should face chuck. I have the same upgrade for many years and
have had no issues. My Pac Bay lathe is at least 30 years old and they are still using the same
garbage chuck today. In order to keep a rod from working out of the chuck you had to find a way
to tie it into the chuck. Yet they still produce the same old thing even though it has never worked.
It had no markings on the pulley whatsoever from the factory so I made my own. You should contact
your supplier and tell them it not correct and advise you how to correct the issue. The upgrade
should give no trouble at all.

Ron,
Perhaps.
However, when I look at the picture of the head stock, pulley and chuck - I see a hole on one edge of the driven pulley which normally holds a set screw.

From my perspective, it wouldn't make sense to me to have the driven pulley pressed onto the head stock shaft. Possible = but I wouldn't think likely.

I simply have to ask owners of the upgraded chuck: Is there a set screw in the hole on the edge of the driven pulley on the upgraded head stock and chuck? If there is a set screw, and one loosens the screw, does the driven pulley come off the head stock shaft?

Take care



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2021 01:32AM by roger wilson.

It is an odd construction for sure, but there is no set screw. I have double-checked after reading all of the excellent advice (thank you all) and I was correct in my original assessment; there is no obvious way to turn the driven pulley around. Maybe there is a way to press it apart, but I don't think I have the means to do so. I may contact my friends at Mudhole and see if I can exchange it as Mr. Metzger suggested.
Again, thanks to all for the thoughtful advice!
Brian

Roger, he is not referring to the same chuck as in the picture that you posted. This is the one he is referring to . [www.mudhole.com]
It has no set screws, and is a pressed on pulley



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2021 10:17AM by Ron Weber.

Brian,
I was just looking at the Mudhole web site.

I don't know what you paid for your new chuck setup.

But, if this headstock and chuck come back in stock: [www.mudhole.com]; You might ask Mudhole for an exchange for the one that you have but is not working to your satisfaction.

This new style is considerably better quality than your current new replacement unit is. At one time at least - the two upgrades appeared to be priced about the same.

Note:
For myself, I don't want pulleys or chucks to wobble or have excessive run out. I want 0 drag in the bearings of the headstock. And finally, I want everything to run true with no run out of any kind.

Take care