A woodworker needed to remove the chuck from his drill press. When he first got it, it was attached by simply bearing down on it against a block of wood (without a drill bit). So "how in the heck" does he remove it?

The first responses suggested using metal wedges to remove the chuck. One indicated it came with his drill press and fit into a slot on the spindle that appeared when the chuck was cranked all the way down. You simply insert the wedge, give it a tap, and the chuck comes free. If your press didn't come with a wedge or a slot, another response suggested it would be simple to make metal wedges that could be tapped between the chuck and quill.

Or, according to another post, you can pick up "ball joint" removers -- basically the same as the aforementioned wedge -- that work great and cost around $10. To help locate the store-bought variety, a forum member noted that the wedges used for this purpose are called "drill drift." To make your own -- unless you have a piece of 1/4" thick steel lying around -- he thought a piece of hardwood might suffice. Assuming your quill has a slot, he suggested cranking the drill head down to expose the quill and placing the drift into the slot. Let the quill back up to hold the wedge in place. (This leaves you a free hand to hold onto the chuck and prevent it from falling.) A light tap with a hammer will dislodge the chuck.

Since some low-end drill presses don't have a slot, a poster suggested tightening the chuck around the long leg of a large Allen wrench. After bringing the spindle to full extension, tap downward on the short leg of the Allen wrench to release the chuck. The poster also noted that on higher end drill presses, using the tapered key or drift in the previously mentioned slot will remove both spindle and chuck.