My friend has a american power wrapper that he got used the rod walks out of the deluxe chuck and some times pulls the rubber jaw feet out of chuck with the blank. He has looked at the one I have to see if anything was different can't see any thing.He has got new rubber feet for it and that didn't help.

Mine does it also, but not on every rod.....have no idea why.........running the motor either clockwise or counter-clockwise doesn't solve the issue.....just screwed up the epoxy on a 9wt I was building because I got busy and didn't keep an eye on it.........I'm considring zip tying it.......

G'Day David just make sure that the center line of the blank is parallel to the bed of the wrapper .That should help to eliminate the problem .It certainly helped with mine .I also use a rubber band wrapped around the blank & anchored to the chuck.This gives me 100% guarantee & hasn't failed as yet . There are various methods of measuring the gap between the blank & the bed of the wrapper.Measuring is 1 method & used very successfully .Making a gauge is another that works very well .Myself I use a laser level on a tripod to do it & mudhole sell a laser level for that very purpose . Hope this is of some help

Regards Baz

Bundeena
NSW Australia

David,
The thing that works just about better than any solution to this very common problem, is to keep a new bag of #64 rubber bands handy.

When ever you go to put a rod in the chuck for wrapping, grab a #64 rubber band and take several wraps around the butt of the rod. Then, insert the rubber band wrapped rod butt into the chuck, tighten it down and you will be good to go.

The rubber acts both as a shock absorber, as well as a non slipping agent between the chuck and the grip.

One thing that I did for a different brand machinist chuck that I use on a wrapper is to remove the chuck, remove each of the chuck jaws and then use a circular sander to reshape the inside of each jaw. I basically inserted a drum sander into a drill press and then with a drum of about 1 1/4 inch in diameter used it to make a uniform inward shape to each jaw. Then, to avoid having any of the jaws to mark the rod butt, I put two layers of masking tape on the chuck. After this change, I no longer had any issues with the rod grip working out of the chuck.

Although this is Rick's setup and not mine, Rick has contoured the inside of his chuck in the exact same way that I have contoured the inside of my Taig chuck.

Rick's setup is the standard Taig headstock, chuck and bearing assembly that I use on my wrapper.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Note the shape of the inside end of each chuck jaw:

Be safe

The rod will "walk out" if the butt is tapered; the butt will 'walk out' if the support stands do not hold the rod level & in line with the bed. What can you do? Buy an ALPS chuck with the locking set screw. Buy a threaded PVC 'step down" (1.25" ) section of pipe; wrap the butt of the rod with masking tape & screw the butt into the PCV adapter.

As I said earlier, by wrapping the butt of the rod with a thick rubber band, you remove any butt taper and also supply a flexible thick layer for the chuck to grab and eliminate walk out issues.

A very simple fix for virtually any chuck that you might use on a wrapper.

Be safe

I agree with the rubber band idea. I've got the ALPS chuck but it is from before they had set screws. If I don't put the rubber band on it will walk out of the chuck in a matter of minutes regardless of any taper on the butt. I'm thinking of finding someone to drill and tap the proper sized hole for a set screw.

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas

thank you all for the help I will pass this on to my freind the odd thing is i have the same wrapper and have no problems .

X2 on the Alps chuck. Never had one come out since I put it on the AT wrapper over two years ago. Also it has the set screws!

Tom

how about gluing thin strips of rubber on the jaws of that chuck

Bill - willierods.com

I have an AT machine with the upgraded chuck. I had the same problem even with a perfectly level rod. I cut pieces of rubberized cork (1/4" thick) from a sheet I got from Walmart and epoxied them to the plastic jaw covers. I then cut the rubberized cork on an angle ,front to back.. thickest part on the forward edge of the jaw,,thinner part to the rear. Then with a dremel and a little drum sander I cut a radius into each rubberized cork jaw. works perfectly. The problem is (in my opinion), the jaws in the chuck and the threads, are not precisely machined like they would be on a metal lathe. Measure the OD of a nickel (write down the measurement). Chuck the nickel in the jaws, flush with the forward edge of the jaws. Now, with an ID mike , measure the inside dia at the very back of the jaws. The measurement at the back of the jaws will be a lot smaller than at the front. The difference in the two measurements is the amount of " slop" you have to compensate for......thus the tapered rubberized cork jaw pads.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

Roger-
Agree the rubber band 'trick' works very well and is less expensive

Hello all,
I wanted to share a recent warranty case that I think is very pertinent to this string of posts. All of this info is also applicable to the Amtack wrapper setup.
We had a customer that returned a wrapper with deluxe chuck because his rods continually walked out, even after following the standard set of leveling instructions we send out to folks having this problem. We decided to set up the unit and trouble shoot the issue here as we do with many of these types of returns. Upon setting up the unit we experienced the walk out problem (rubber jaws going with the rod) even after leveling just as the customer stated. We used tip cement to adhere the rubber jaws to the chuck followed by switching from the convex to the concave jaw set. These steps helped a little but did not relieve the lateral tension on the rod. The rod just took about twice as long to walk out, jaws intact this time. After tinkering a bit more we decided to re install the chuck and all three rod supports. During this process we made sure that the chuck and the supports were nice and flush (90 degrees) to the base sections. That did the trick! The unit would then run to top speed in wrap mode and proceeded to run for two days in drying mode without the rod walking out. We have since added this step to our standard trouble shooting email which I have posted below. So the lesson in this story is: install rod wrapper components as straight as possible, and if you bought a complete unit with chuck installed, beware of misaligned components due to factory assembly variance and/or the unit being jarred during shipping. Take care and happy building.

PacBay Wrapper Trouble Shooting
We do get concerns about blanks “walking” out of chucks from time to time. Listed below are the things to check to ensure proper operation of the Deluxe Chuck.
1. If there is an end piece such as a gimbal that would taper towards the chuck be sure to install it after you are done with wrapping guides etc.. No flat-jawed chuck will hold a tapered piece such as a gimbal forever without eventual slippage. We recommend that you simply install your choice of grip as usual but leave the butt cap/gimbal install until the end of your build.
2. Make sure the wrapper’s chuck and all of the rod supports are installed securely, and make sure each is flush (90 degrees) to the rod wrapper base sections. This is a critical step in avoiding rod walk-out.
3. Make sure the blank is level with the center of the chuck (both vertically and horizontally) along the entire length of the blank's center line, not the top or bottom edge of the blank as this will cause skew to occur as a result of the blank's taper. A good way to achieve a centered blank is to cut or mark a stick at the exact distance from the base section to the center of the chuck jaws (the middle of the allen screw.) Then use the device to vertically align the blanks center mid-way down the blank when setting the height of your rod supports.
Not having the blank centered to the chuck accounts for the majority of the instances of blanks "walking" out of the chuck.
4. If you suspect you have a faulty or worn out chuck you can test whether or not it is spinning true by following steps a - c below.
a. Remove the drive belt so the chuck can spin freely.
b. Close the chuck all the way so the rubber jaws are touching each other.
c. Spin the chuck at high speed with your hand and watch the center of the chuck where the jaws come together. A circle will form (optically) when the chuck is spinning. If there is more than approximately 1mm of run-out occurring then your chuck may be defective or worn out.

Special Note:
Our staff build R&D rods using a Deluxe Chuck (a very old one) and, following the instructions above, rarely have any issues even when drying overnight. But when building personal rods (ones with some time into them) we advise using masking tape to wrap around the chuck jaws and the end of the rod handle to ensure that the rod cannot come out of the chuck while drying, no matter what. Taking 20 seconds and a few yards of tape is well worth the insurance against a ruined finish job. We hope this info is helpful to you.

-The Batson TEAM
BatsonEnterprises.com

First thank you for all the help. My freind came over with his chuck we measured the jaws and found that one had a taper it measured smaller on the outside edge . andHe read all the posts

First thank you for all the help. My freind came over with his chuck we measured the jaws and found that one had a taper it measured smaller on the outside edge . andHe read all the posts

well I want to thank Geoff Staples in taking the time an filling us in on the fix with the power wrapper , it can be applied to drying motor's
that I have jaws , my motor did the same thing an my fix was useing a lot of masking tape on the rod wrapped very loose so it don't walk out of my drying motor jaw's just a tidbit SID

William Sidney
AK

Mr. Sidney,
You are most welcome. I know that rod builders with more info are happier, more successful rod builders.

Mr. Parsons,
My curiosity compels me dig deeper into your friend's findings. Can you tell me the two measurements taken on opposite sides of the chuck jaw? I'm assuming the measurements are of the aluminum jaw without the rubber jaw cover installed.

-The Batson TEAM
BatsonEnterprises.com

My blanks just recently started walking out of the chuck and tried everything to correct the problem.....was close to ordering the alps chuck....I put a square across the bottom track and found that the chuck support bracket wasn't square on the track.....squared it up and all is good ..no more slippage......

Mr Geoff staples
I got the measurements you asked for they are of the alumium jaws front and back.

back--------------- front
1) 1.190--------------- 1.184

2) 1.183---------------- 1.179

3) 1.178----------------1.173

With a nickel in the back of the jaws the nickel in the front is loose with 0.019 of play.