This may not be as relevant to some in these days of keyless chucks but here goes.

I have got into the habit of watching Youtube videos on my phone while having coffee, usually on lathes or machining of some sort. During one such video yesterday a guy in the US had made comfort handles for for drill chuck keys and when he explained why it struck a chord.

Today while at the lathe making return crank bushes for the Princess I decided to have a go at a handle for the chuck key for the drill chuck that I use on both my lathe and mill.

Really quick to make and it doesn’t need a lathe to do it. A Drill and a file would suffice. I made it so the handle was a tight interference fit and I did such a good job that I had to drill a 1mm hole in the end to let the compressed air out to allow it to push into the bottom of the main hole in the handle. It got quite a bit of use while making the bushes so this evening and it was so much more comfortable to use that I made a second one for the much smaller chuck key for my Proxxon Mini Pillar Drill

Both handles are made from offcuts of Delrin rod that I had in stock but they could be made from pretty much anything. I had eyed up wooden dowel, aluminium bar and brass rod before remembering the Delrin.