16mm Chuck needed...

Hi!

I am a CNC newbie.

I am putting together my own machine out of pieces I find lying about -
or pick up at deep discount (3 servo motors for a $1...complete X-Y
table with servos and encoders for $100...sort of thing). I am aiming
this - at least at first - at PCB milling.

I am fine on the electronics end...but a little weak on the
metalworking (I only have a hacksaw and a drill press) so I try to
find the mechanical pieces in pretty much the final shape I need them
in.

It takes a lot of patience and searching....I've been at it for a
year.

At this point I have the X-Y table up and running with PICServo drive
electronics. (JRKerr has a neat website....with lots of motion
control apps.)

Anyway, I have gotten to the point where I need to come up with
something that will function as a spindle.

In keeping with my approach I found a $25 precision spindle made by
Issoku (for some Hitachi mill..don't know exactly which one).

I have noticed that the "business end" is a 16mm (close to 5/8")
diameter shaft with 1mm threads.

I would like to put a chuck on this. Any idea if this is standard
size. I realized that with the metric threads...I might find it hard
to find a chuck to fit....but I wondered if you folks know of this as
a standardly available size.

Thanks.

Jim

P.S. This spindle is a beautiful piece of machinery...with double row
angular contact bearings (from NSK) and seems capable of handling
vastly greater loads than I'll ever subject it to. Real overkill for a
PCB mill. But such a nice find I want to run with it. Just trying to
figure out how to put a tool on it.

P.P.S. I am still trying to figure out how a chuck will hold a
collet...which in turn will hold the actual tool. I am trying to
understand how a "drawbar" pulls a collet "up" in order to tighten it.
And I am wondering what SIZE collets I would use. (I need much smaller
than R8...what are they called?) Again, complete newbie. But I wanted
something vastly better than a Dremel tool. OK, so with a "jacobs
chuck" do I even need a collet? Is it going to take me another year to
find a "chuck" through my scrounging process? :-)