13mm chuck too small. Options?

lauriewsmith

Hi I'm making a number of rollers using 15mm (od) steel tubing. There are a number of things I need to rotate the tubing like to file down the ends evenly to fit into a bearing.
I would have put the ends of the tubes in my drill and used that to spin it while filing it but it's a 13mm chuck and apparently chucks larger than 13mm are very hard to come by.
So without spending a fortune on a lathe is there any way or device to grip a 15mm object with my 13mm drill?

FreeBear

You could use an expanding mandrel - For what you are doing, a bit of wooden dowel slotted in one end with a wedge driven in would probably work.

Failing that, any Mens Sheds in your area ?

lauriewsmith

Thanks that's a good idea with the mandrel. Not really sure what the men's sheds are, looked on the website and there is one on my street somewhere apparently. Is it a workshop open to the public?

that

If the outer diameter is 15 the inner diameter is 13?

Similar to Freebears, I would probably get an sheet of paper and roll it into a tube, put the tube inside the pipe but add pritt stick glue (water soluble), now the hole is reduced, find a smaller drill (metal rod is better) to fit that reduced diameter and glue i in place with a hot glue gun

bodge it method 2: take a section of hose pipe or tubing that is slightly smaller that the inside diameter, cut it length ways so it expands and put it in the tube, now glue a suitably size drill in there.

EssexExile

lauriewsmith wrote: »

Not really sure what the men's sheds are, looked on the website and there is one on my street somewhere apparently. Is it a workshop open to the public?

Read the website, it tells you what they are.

Gloomendoom

EssexExile wrote: »

Read the website, it tells you what they are.

Good see they have started up over here.

I thought they only existed in Australia.

lauriewsmith

Read the website, it tells you what they are.

I have and I'm still not sure.

Jackmydad

Depends how many you have to do really.
You could make a lathe of sorts out of wood. At it's simplest three pieces of fairly heavy timer joined to make a "U" shape. Clamp the drill into the "headstock" by it's collar, make something up for the drive "dog" to be held in the drill chuck, and a "dead" centre on the tailstock end made of a bolt.
Lots of ideas for similar home made lathes on Youtube.
I don't know what sort of accuracy you'll get filing if you want to fit the tubes into bearings though.
Bound to be somebody local with a lathe if you ask around.

EachPenny

lauriewsmith wrote: »

Hi I'm making a number of rollers using 15mm (od) steel tubing. There are a number of things I need to rotate the tubing like to file down the ends evenly to fit into a bearing.

Check whether your steel tubing has a welded seam - it often does, and that means the internal bore isn't truly circular.
If you need to machine the tubing accurately to fit into a bearing then you might find an internal clamping method with seamed tubing will give you an off-centre (or oval) external shape.
So if your tubing is seamed you need to do one of the following:-
1) Use external clamping (i.e. a lathe)

2) Remove the internal seam (tricky, but possible with a round file)
3) Design your clamping method with a 'hollow' to account for the seam.


If there is no internal seam then it will be a much easier job.

Lorian

Well the less MSE but less elbow grease version might be a short stub of 13mm bar into the bearing. Drill the tube out to 13mm and slide onto the bar. Depends on how strong it needs to be.

FreeBear

EachPenny wrote: »

Check whether your steel tubing has a welded seam - it often does, and that means the internal bore isn't truly circular.
If you need to machine the tubing accurately to fit into a bearing then you might find an internal clamping method with seamed tubing will give you an off-centre (or oval) external shape.

Tubing is rarely truly round anyway, so machining off center is unlikely to make the problem any worse. I was guessing that the OP just needed to deburr the ends and maybe lightly file/sand the outside to fit the in to bearings.