There is no way that washer is going into the recess unless you back off on the setscrews holding the jaws in, it's way too thick. That I know can;t be right. I tried doing that and the inner jaw faces get knocked out of parallel. if you tried to true that way the jaws would get screwed up for sure. I used a penny, it's just as round as the washer so i think it'll be OK. No ?

Thanks Tony

Yeah, a penny will work too. I use a quarter. What ever will fit for you will work fine.
Remember, when you true soft jaws to a certain size, the chuck will probably only be at its most accurate at that size. It's that way with any scroll chuck.

You'll find that if you want to use the three jaw scroll chuck for a particular job and need best accuracy, that if you re-cut the jaws for that certain size of work piece it will hold that size the most true. This all depends on how much accuracy you need for a certain job. Often, the chuck will be accurate enough for many sizes of work, depending on what "accurate enough" means to your work at the time.

For instance, if you are going to turn down a piece to a certain diameter, and then bore it and part it off all in the same setup, then it won't matter if the chuck runs out at .003", since after the first cut to turn down the piece, everything else you do on it will be concentric to the first operation, as long as you don't remove it from the chuck.

I have chuck jaws that have probably been re-cut 20 times over the course of many jobs. It's a good idea to get a spare set of jaws for your chuck when you have a few extra bucks. Eventually you will run into a setup that needs you to cut the jaws to a shape that makes them less useful for other jobs.

Dean

Ahh I see I am not wrong here, they should send a thinner washer, I tried the quarter, too think also. With the penny though I was able to run the boring bar all the way into the penny leaving no nub inside to clean up. I do see that it runs truer now. yes I will pick up a spare set of jaws when I can, be good to have them here. Today some collet experiemtents with some this brass rod, see how thin I can go.

Thanks Tony

They don't intend for the washer to set back behind the jaws, that is why they say to file the spot where the washer sat flat. It also makes a huge difference how accurate (round) the piece is that you put in there. When you true the jaws, the washer, dine, penny etch that you are putting in there is preloading the jaws, holding them in place. When you then turn them down a bit you are truing them to that preload, if your preload is not perfectly round, your jaws will not be either.

Please, please take a look at this post: http://taigownersclub.forumotion.net/taig-manual-lathe-f6/accurately-truing-a-3-jaw-chuck-t207.htm. It is a VERY easy way to get your three jaw chuck trued to within 0.0005". All you need is a small piece of fairly accurate round stock to start out with.

Jeff, Don;t know where but I read to put the washer in the recess. ? Maybe I am wrong. Anyway I am sure the penny is just as round as the washer and I can see the work is running truer now that I did the jaws.