Mask for a wheel lathe chuck that prevents whip chip

1. A wheel chuck assembly comprising:

a support plate adapted to be attached to a wheel lathe spindle;

a clamping mechanism carried by said support plate, said clamping mechanism operable to releasably clamp a vehicle wheel; and

a substantially disc shaped protective cover removably attached to said support plate opposite the wheel lathe spindle, said cover having a shape formed as a mirror image of at least a portion of a wheel surface of a wheel to be machined upon the wheel chuck assembly such that said cover is adapted to contact said portion of said wheel surface to provide protection to said portion of said wheel surface during machining of the wheel.

2. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 1 wherein said cover shape is complementary to contours of said portion of said vehicle wheel surface.

3. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 1 wherein said cover is sized to protect an entire wheel face surface of said vehicle wheel.

4. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 2 wherein said clamping mechanism includes at least one stepped moveable jaw and further wherein said cover has at least one notch extending in an inward radial direction from an outer edge of said cover, said notch suitable to accept said stepped movable jaw.

5. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 4 wherein said cover is formed from a plastic material.

6. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 4 wherein said cover includes at least one plug extending from a surface of said cover and adapted to extend into a wheel aperture.

7. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 4 further including at least one fastener assembly, said fastener assembly removably securing said cover to said support plate.

8. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 7 wherein said cover includes at least one aperture formed therethrough and said support plate includes at least one threaded bore formed therein and aligned with said cover aperture and further wherein said fastener assembly includes at least one threaded fastener extending through said cover aperture and having a head at a first end for engaging said cover and a plurality of threads at a second end that are received by said support plate bore.

9. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 8 wherein said fastener assembly includes at least one spacer between said cover and said support plate with said fastener extending through said spacer, said spacer operative to axially offset said cover from said support plate.

10. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 9 wherein said fastener head is tapered and said cover aperture is countersunk such that said fastener head is flush with a surface of said cover.

11. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 7 including at least one support rib extending from a surface of said cover, said rib axially offsetting said cover from said support plate.

12. The wheel chuck assembly of claim 11 wherein said support rib has an accurate shape.

13. A method for machining a vehicle wheel, the method comprising:

(a) providing a cover having a shape that mirrors at least a portion of a vehicle wheel surface during machining;

(b) mounting the cover on a wheel lathe chuck;

(c) mounting a wheel on the wheel lathe chuck adjacent to the cover with the cover extending over a portion of a wheel surface; and

(d) machining the wheel with the cover providing protection to the portion of the wheel surface mirrored by the cover.

14. The method according to claim 13 further including, subsequent to step (d), removing the wheel from the wheel lathe chuck.

15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the wheel is a first wheel and wherein the method further includes, subsequent to removing the first wheel, mounting a second wheel on the wheel chuck and machining the second wheel.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein the wheel is a first wheel and further wherein the method includes replacing the cover on the wheel lathe chuck with a second cover when the second wheel has a surface shape that is different from the surface shape of the first wheel, the second cover having a shape that mirrors the surface shape of at least a portion of the second wheel.

17. The method according to claim 14 wherein the cover provided in step (a) has a shape that is complementary to the contours of the portion of the vehicle wheel surface.

18. The method according to claim 17 wherein the cover is sized to protect the entire vehicle wheel face surface.