These 4 jaw chucks cost around $225 depending on where you live. Great way to add the ability to hold all sorts of round, square, and hexagonal parts- much better than a 3 jaw, and worth the extra dough.
If you have the Metrol limit switch upgrade, you can bolt these down to your fixture plate and use it as very cheap zero point vise. Just record the offset for the center of the jaws in your Fusion CAM, and you’ll never have to probe XY when you’re cutting round stock. Compatible with this model of chuck: https://www.shars.com/6-4-jaw-self-centering-scroll-lathe…
The model includes CAD for an adapter plate between the chuck and the MR-1 build plate. The model is quite accurate, but obviously you’d need to make sure the chuck is installed square to the machine, and matches your CAM setup. If you set it up right you should be able to use this as a model for fixture avoidance in CAM with a clearance of ~0.5 mm.
Looks like an application where a through hole in the table plate (with a replaceable plug of course) may come in handy. I’m always a bit height conscious with this machine. I’m guessing the max jaw height is around 4.25”?
This is a pricey vise but pretty cool if you just gotta have one.
Definitely - a through hole in the machine bed casting would make using a lathe chuck quite useful for tall parts on the MR-1. Though you are still limited by the diameter of the hole through the chuck. You can buy a larger chuck, but you will run into the clearance issues with the gantry from the chuck jaws alone.
