Watch Bison's Sales Director Mike Harris explain some key features of their manual scroll chucks and answer some common questions asked by customers.

Find out more below about our range of Bison manual scroll chucks.

What are the three most popular scroll chucks from Bison?

Bison has a wide selection of scroll chucks available. However, three of the most popular scroll chucks from Bison that customers regularly use are:

• Front mounted with one piece jaws – These can be used with an adapter plate and are commonly referred to as recess chucks. With this style of chuck, you can mount any adapter plate on the back of it. This can then be fitted to the machine and the user can then simply bolt the chuck straight on.
• Front mounted with two piece jaws – This follows the same style as above (can be used with an adapter plate) but the jaw setup gives more variation. You can use either hard reversable jaws or soft top jaws. If you’re doing batch work you can have sets dedicated to certain diameters.
• Direct mount chucks – These chucks are supplied with one piece jaws and the studs are already on the back with an integral adapter plate.

What are the most popular mount types?

The three most popular chuck mounting in the UK are:

• Camlock – Uses studs on the back to mount the chuck directly onto the machine. You can then just bolt through onto the cams. Camlock mount conforms to DIN 50229.
• A-Type – An American standard, a-type mounting uses cap screws and nuts to mount the chuck into the machine.
• C-Type – Also referred to as the ‘bayonet’ type, c-type mounting uses studs and nuts to mount the chuck into the machine.

Generally, the camlock mount is considered the most popular mount on machines in the UK.

What types of jaws are available?

Manual scroll chucks are generally supplied with either one piece or two piece jaws.

• One Piece (Solid) Jaws - With a standard chuck using one piece jaws, you can expect a set of hard inside and a set of hard outside jaws. These are predominantly used for gripping inside (e.g. in tubes) or outside (which you grip in the step).
• Two Piece Jaws - On chucks with two piece jaws, hard reversible jaws are common. The benefit to these is that if you wanted to change over to soft top jaws using bolts the change over is much quicker than solid type. Soft top jaws are advantageous if you’re holding different diameters as you can just ground to suit whatever you’re clamping.

Steel vs Cast Iron scroll chucks

Whether you would be best suited to a steel or cast iron manual chuck will depend on:

• Budget.
• Required speed rates.
• Tool life.

Steel scroll chucks have a higher initial cost due to the stronger material, but with this you are getting faster speeds (e.g. 3,000 RPM on cast iron vs 4,000 RPM on steel on a standard 200mm diameter chuck) and also longer tool life. Therefore, long-term productivity and costs will actually be reduced with that earlier initial investment.

Why would you choose a Bison scroll chuck?

Bison is a global market leader in the manufacture and supply of lathe chucks. In 2020, Bison sold over 200,000 lathe chucks worldwide, meaning you can buy with confidence that your lathe chuck is of the highest quality.

To help build trust between supplier and customer, each Bison chuck has its own individual serial number. Supplied with the chuck you will have a certificate with that specific chuck’s serial number on it. When manufactured, each chuck will be signed off to say that the chuck has been manufactured within the DIN standards required (concerning run out and speeds).

All Bison chucks also include an instruction booklet which contains useful information like how to fit the chuck, where you can get spares and further details about runouts, speeds and more.

For more information or to order any Bison scroll chucks, get in touch today on 01924 869610, email salescutwel.net or click here to shop online.

This article and video is part of Cutwel's brand new series of supplier takeover videos, where we invite our partners to create a range of content including latest product innovations, how-to guides and company introductions.

Check back regularly for new additions!