ROHM vs Llambrich drill press keyless chuck

[tarbellb]

I recently acquired a very nice Delta/Rockwell 15" floor mount drill press.

(see link - http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=355901)

It is excellent, with everything performing very well except I feel like there is some runout in the quill/spindle/chuck? Not sure which yet, I dont currently have a dial indicator to test. So I have ordered both a new spindle, these chucks, and a dial indicator.

Rohm is well known for its German engineering and many GJ'rs here have had good luck with them so it was on my short list. But after cruising the web I stumbled across Llambrich, COO Spain mfg that has a good reputation as well. They were also the mfg for Jacobsen for a while

Here are the initial photos and impressions.

Both are VERY well built with smooth action, clean machining, and seemingly high quality.

Rohm weighs just a bit more, both are chubos.

Almost exact same dimensions in height, width, and capacity.

But the Llambrich does have ultra smooth rotational action, practically effortless, while the Rohm is smooth but tight. Think Klein vs Knipex linesman pliers.

Also, while very slight, the Llambrich has tighter (none!) gap when the 3 jaws come together where as the Rohm is just barely gapped.

I will chuck these up next week and test again.

Llambrich jaw detail

Rohm jaw detail

 

[pstemari]

What's the COO for the Rohm? Not all of their stuff is made in Germany.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Return/sell both and get an Albrecht chuck.

I have Albrechts, Rohms, and keyless Japan Jacobs.

The Albrechts are bitchin', but I can't say they are more than negligible better.

Especially for a drill press that surely has more run out than any of these chucks.

I guess what I'm saying is even though the Albrecht is super nice it would be a waste of money for a drill press. I run 1 on my drill press simply because I pick them up for dirt cheap.

 

[paulsomlo]

I have a Jacobs keyless, made in Spain, a very nice chuck. The Llambrich may be from the same factory.

 

[tarbellb]

And this is why I post here, great feedback and comments guys. To do a little Q/A.

Return both, grab a Albrecht- yeah would love to, but this will be plenty fine for what I am doing. And Mohawk Dave is right, run out on the machine is likely the weak link with a Albrecht.

COO of the Rohm- Germany, says it on the box and engraved on the chuck itself.

paulsomlo- I can almost guarantee your Jacobs keyless chuck is made by Llambrich, they were the mfg for a while rebranding them as Jacobs. Plus, how many Spain based highend chuck mfg are there...?

Excited to get them on, more pumped about the keyless upgrade then anything.

 

[mike93lx]

Thanks for sharing. Any recommendations on a place to shop at? I'm looking for a chuck myself.

 

[Dave455]

It's worth remembering that Rohm make different grades of chuck.

The 'Supra' is one of the cheaper (for this style). While there might be a small gap when the jaws are closed up, I think Rohm used to list this size as a 1 - 13 mm capacity.

If you get the next grade up I think it's a 0 -13 capacity - so expect no gap, but expect to pay more!

I've been buying Rohm chucks since Jacobs closed their British factory and tried selling me **** at the same price (another good decision by Jacobs management then) and have to say I'm very happy. At one time MSC were offering these on 'special' for about £20 - almost unbelievable - think I bought about a dozen! Superb chucks, no issues!

I would agree with previous comments regarding Albrecht - a notch up again in quality, but unless you are doing very high speed drilling and need the level of balancing that you get, you probably won't notice the difference!

 

[tarbellb]

I should repeat myself, both these chucks seem super nice, its just the Llambrich seems slightly nicer is all. A nice surprise.

Dave455- true, these are listed as 1-13mm capacity so the chance of a gap makes sense. But both tighten all the was to 0 it looks.

To put this in perspective, bought both on Amazon, the Llambrich was on special (warehouse iirc) and the Rohm reg price.

Llambrich was $65 (normally $90)

Rohm was $82

Cant touch a Albrecht for that money.

Mike93lx- check out Amazon and Ebay, but be sure to do your homework on what you need and if you can do a conversion easily. There are some deals for sure, specially if you find a conversion to a less used chuck.

 

[tarbellb]

^^^^ Sweet, grab me one too!

I dont doubt they are awesome, but this was purchased new and not much waiting.

After checking Ebay for a week or two, I still say you cant touch a 13mm capacity Albrecht without waiting months.

 

[tarbellb]

Got a chance to test and install the new chucks.

Read out on the original Jacobs 633C keyed chuck - ~.006"

Both the Rohm and Llambrich had even readouts around .002" and .003".

NOTE: I dont have any precision shafts to pull measurement off, so I used a couple different drill bits (Freud Italy, Norseman USA) and tested at the upper uncut portion? Not sure if this typical MOO, dont do much machining/high tolerance stuff like this?

Seems like nice improvement, checked the spindle at the same time, perfect. Didnt even install the new one I ordered.

So pretty happy with my decision to keep the Llambrich and send back the Rohm.
The Llambrich had a few things I liked more then the Rohm

_ much smoother action, very easy to adjust
_ tighter jaws at full close
_ cheaper! (about the same retail price, but found this one for $65 vs $88)

But really I think the keyless feature is my biggest reason. Hope this helps anybody else looking at Llambrich chucks.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Those numbers are excellent for a drill press. Especially a 1/2" chuck.

Macgee, a user on here, told me that to check run out you place a dowel or gage pin that is about half the size of the chuck, so in this case, a 1/4" dowel/gage, and measure .5"-1" down. (Correct me if any numbers are off...)

but hell, if you are getting those numbers with a drill, you are golden.