I have a number of the Oneway Stronghold chucks for various jaw sizes, and the chuck key which is shipped with these has given me no end of frustration. As you can see in the picture (right), there is a sliding cross piece, more or less held in place by those red plastic nubbies. I say more or less because they seem to fall off pretty regularly and the handle slides out, usually at the most inopportune time. And yes I could have glued or taped them on, but if you read my blog or know me - that's not happening!I took a picture of the handle on the banjo and gave the chuck key to my machinist buddy Joey and just said improve on this. I thought he would turn me a new handle and replace the metal rod - not Joey! Although this looks like what he did, it is much more robust than a simple brass turned handle.
He drilled out two pieces of brass to accommodate the metal rod, turned the two handle sides and used an arbor press to insert the steel rod into the two brass handle parts. This makes a handle that looks like brass but has all the strength of steel. This handle is also comfortable and is never going to fall out again.
Thanks again Joey!
