How to Make and Use a Pot Chuck for Your Lathe

Here is my finished pot chuck.

A Pot Chuck is used to hold work which does not match up with the jaws on your Lathe Chuck. Here is the finished pot chuck with a piece of 0.5" stock.

In this case I want a pot chuck for 0.5" square stock. I am using a 1" diameter bit of Aluminum for my pot chuck. This is a little thick, but it turned out fine.

I used a 1/2" bit to remove the bulk of the material.

In my case I needed a 0.71" diameter hole for my 0.5" stock.

My stock fits snugly. Yay.

I used the mill, but a bandsaw would work fine.

Make sure that your jaws are all getting grip on the pot chuck. Especially, don't have a jaw come down on the slot in the pot chuck.

And have fun!