Keyless Chucks

[Bob77064]

Are there any good 3/8" corded drills that have a key chuck. Seems like they all are keyless now. It seems to me that with a key you can tighten the chuck more.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a Bosch corded 3/8's drill with a keyless chuck that is a little over a year old that is doing very well. No complaints.

Eddie

 

[Bob77064]

I have a Bosch corded 3/8's drill with a keyless chuck that is a little over a year old that is doing very well. No complaints.

Eddie

Bosch is a good brand, I need to look at those.

 

[BHD]

If one tightens them correctly the key-less are a very good chuck, snug it up and then turn it until it clicks a few times, (and think they hold as good as any keyed chuck),

the first key less I did not know how to work correctly and had trouble with it,

 

[Bob77064]

Thanks for the advice, I did not know that.

 

[wstr75]

We use cordless keyless drills everyday at our manufacturing business and have found Milwaukee drills to have the best keyless chucks as well as having long operating lives. We just bought reconditioned 18.2 volt lithium ion Milwaukee drills because we needed the tax deduction and figured the lighter weight would be would be beneficial. The NiCad units are still in use but moved to a less active area. The same is not true for our Craftsman drills of the same age.

 

[arrow]

Are there any good 3/8" corded drills that have a key chuck. Seems like they all are keyless now. It seems to me that with a key you can tighten the chuck more.

DeWalt 21002 is super nice keyed drill.

 

[blunosr]

I like Makita cordless drills, also with keyless chucks. I think they are very good and tighten well enough for any application, including steel. I also have keyless chucks for my drill presses, one dedicated, and one with morse taper (so removable). On Drill presses I use Albrecht keyless chucks, which are made in Germany, and are very strong. I'm a bit of a drill press collector, so I also have keyed chucks... you can never have too many drills and/or drill presses.

Hmm...

 

[Scooby074]

like many things there are different levels of quality for chucks.

My dewalt XRP came with a good jacobs metal chuck. It was "good" only as it would slip the occasional time. I had it replaced with a revised model under warranty that was 10x better. It basically never slips when i tighten it correctly.

To tighten correctly, you have to tighten it several "clicks" (it has a ratcheting mechanism) past "snug". Its hard to explain, but you can feel the ratchet making it "extra" tight.

Id have no qualms about recommending the ALL METAL jacobs ratcheting chuck on the XRP's. If the chuck has any plastic on it (like the area where you tighten) walk away.

For comparison the plastic jacobs on my homeowner grade makita is basically worthless.

 

[ThomasH]

Most of the industrial drills come with good keyed jacobs chucks, or a specialty chuck such as a snap hex chuck. You should be able to get a drill from Milwaukee or Bosch that has a chuck. It might have to come from a tool place though, rather that one of the big box stores as they keep cutting back on what they are carrying.

Good luck!

 

[SensibleNick]

Personally I'm steering clear of Bosch these days. They used to be amazing, but standards have slipped a little IMHO. Milwaukee and Makita are at the top of my list, with Dewalt very close behind. If I could afford them I'd be using Festool.

Keyless Chucks... I agree with the general feeling voiced so far: They grip as well as any keyed chuck.

I have heard (can anyone confirm this?) that it's a poor idea to use hexagonal shafted drills and shanks in them, as they can help the chuck to get viciously tight... (though I do so myself and haven't experienced any trouble)

 

[KubotainNH]

I've had a bunch of keyless chucks and wouldn't want to go back to keyed. My experience is a good keyless chuck slips less than a keyed one and is so much quicker/easier to work with. As mentioned, the good ones click to really lock down on the bit. If I happen to have a bit start to slip, which is rare, I just grab the chuck and give it a couple more clicks. My Milwaukee and the Dewalt drill at work both have this type of chuck. Also, the better drills will lock internally so when you grab the chuck the motor will not spin so you can tighten it without moving your hand off the grip handle.

 

[brewdog]

I have a corded Dewalt 3/8" keyless chuck and it works great. No complaints here.

 

[k0ua]

As said before, there are different grades of keyless chucks. some good, some not so good. The good ones are as good as any keyed chuck for tightness. I have both kinds, good and not so good.

James K0UA

 

[tcreeley]

DeWalt 21002 is super nice keyed drill.

DEWALT D21002 6 Amp 3/8-Inch Drill
Amazon.com: DEWALT D21002 6 Amp 3/8-Inch Drill: Home Improvement


I love my cordless dewalt drill 14 v- and with two batteries- never goes wrong. I drive 3 and 4" #8 drywall screws no problem. But still my old industrial Black + Decker corded drill with key is my most reliable drill under any condition.

My rule is to buy the biggest amp motor I can for corded drills.

I hate swapping out anything and now use the quick release drill bits and driver with a hex fitting:
DEWALT DW2505 3/8-Inch Shaft Rapid Load Chuck
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DW2505-8-Inch-Shaft-Rapid/dp/B0000225OD/ref=acc_glance_hi_ai_ps_t_5/192-7349830-9186552[/ame]

 

[wireman75]

I have to agree, if you buy a quality keyless chuck, it is every bit as good as a keyed chuck. I work in a tool & die shop, and I have 2 Albrecht keyless chucks that I use every day in a Bridgeport mill. Also I have a metal Jacobs keyless chuck on my DeWalt XRP and it rarely ever slips.

 

[KubotainNH]

I have to agree, if you buy a quality keyless chuck, it is every bit as good as a keyed chuck. I work in a tool & die shop, and I have 2 Albrecht keyless chucks that I use every day in a Bridgeport mill. Also I have a metal Jacobs keyless chuck on my DeWalt XRP and it rarely ever slips.

Keyless chuck in a mill, that's kinda cool. I haven't seen machining technology since the late 80's when I took machine shop in high school. I must have come a long ways in 25 years.

 

[wireman75]

Yeah they have 1/2" straight shank arbors on them and you just put them in the collet on the mill. Albrechts are one of the better keyless chucks out there and they run really true too. Ive used mine to drill .030" holes in tool steel, and it dosnt take much runout with a drill that small to cause you some real grief.

 

[jwmorris]

Albrecht is far and away the best keyless chuck but I have never seen one for cordless drills. I have had quite a few others on hand drills over the years and the best have been on milwaukee and dewalt drills, they are knurled steel, the plastic ones are not the same.

 

[oughtsix]

I have a Milwaukee 1/2in "hole shooter" with a BIG Jacobson keyless chuck. I hated that chuck when I first bought the drill a dozen or more years ago and almost returned the drill because of it. It took a while to get a hang of the ratcheting action and it has smoothed out over the years. Now it is my favorite chuck and I like it much better than the ones on my Dewalt XRPs (The Dewalt chuck is a good chuck though).

The best part is nobody else can use my Milwaukee drill because they don't get how the chuck works, especially when trying to loosen the chuck... my father has kind of learned out of necessity over the years though.

Most of my friends call it the worst stupid **** chuck they have ever used!