Lathe chuck nut mounting tool

thingiverse

If you own a mini lathe, you already know exactly what this is for. For those who don't have one yet, the "mini-lathe" style machines feature a chuck attached via multiple threaded studs that go through the spindle and are secured by M6 nuts. Unfortunately, there's limited space between the spindle and headstock housing, making it tricky to mount these nuts. Fortunately, Alibre Design has recently added a gear generator function to its script module, so I created this mounting tool to test it out. To use it, simply insert the nut into the tool, position it behind the stud, and you can easily screw it on. I printed this tool using Prusa silver PLA on my trusty Prusa i3 MK3 printer with default settings of 0.15 mm layer thickness and no supports required. You'll need a 4x12x4 mm ball bearing (604 type) to make the operation run smoothly. The design was created using Alibre Design, and I opted for gears with a modulus of 1 (pi mm pitch), which worked out surprisingly well. To ensure a looser fit, I increased the gear axis distance by 0.5 mm. If you're interested in trying out an experimental version that's slightly larger, head over to Thingiverse at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3254426