Help! need to pick out a 4 jaw chuck

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sschering

sschering

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
382
Location
Eugene, OR
I have a small budget to order a 4 jaw chuck..
Right now I use either a very work out 3 jaw or colets.

Whatever chuck I use will need to be adapted to 5/8 shaft (shopsmith)
My lathe is collet only and 5/8" is the largest one I have..


So far I prefer the Nova chucks because they offer a 5/8 adapter for the shopsmith that I can use.
I would rather not have to run 2 stacked adapters.

Right now I'm looking at the following

PSI CSC2000C
PSI CSC2000C Barracuda Wood Lathe Chuck System - Amazon.com

Penn State Utility Grip
Utility Grip 4 Jaw Chrome Lathe Chuck System: includes 2 sets of jaws and FREE 8" Jumbo Flat Jaws at Penn State Industries

Hurricane HTC100
Amazon.com: Hurricane HTC100 4" Woodturning 4 Jaw Chuck Kit, w/ Dovetail Jaws. For Wood Lathes with 1 1/4" x 8 TPI Spindles: Home Improvement

Grizzly H6265 (Vicmark V100 clone)
Amazon.com: Grizzly H6265 4 Jaw Wood Chuck, 1-Inch: Home Improvement

Reconditioned SuperNova 2
http://www.novatoolsusa.com/RECONDITIONED-SuperNOVA2-Wood-Turning-Chuck-23055-R.htm

Reconditioned Nova G3
http://www.novatoolsusa.com/RECONDITIONED-NOVA-G3-Wood-Turning-Chuck-48202-R.htm

others?
 
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I have the reconditioned chuck from Nova and I must say it looked like it was brand new when it arrived. Dont have a single complaint about it. ALso has a fantastic range of jaws to go with it.
Cant comment on the others but did look at the CSC and Grizzly and decided against them based on advice offered here on IAP :)
Good luck with the purchase!
 
There are so many threads on this...but I have 3 referb G3's and will never have any use for anything else. From 15" platters and rounding 3/4" pen blanks...the best! I may buy a fourth, but then I'd have to have jaws for it.
Buy something like we have and give a review.
 
I think your first 2 options are the same chuck with different accessories. I have that chuck and like it a lot. I got it when I was using my shopsmith. It is a nice basic chuck. It is not a scroll chuck, so you sometimes have to juggle your project and the lever bars to tighten it up, but it is not too bad. It holds very well and all the Barracuda series C jaws fit and are interchangeable. If you do bowl turning, I recommend getting the PSI version which has the jumbo jaws.

You will need the 5/8" shopsmith to 1"x8 adaptor which PSI also sells if you don't already have it.
 
I bought a used Barracuda2 (CSC3000C) from a member here, and I like it. I don't know if there is a Shopsmith adapter for it, though.
 
If you drill your blanks on the lathe and you decide on a Nova chuck, check out the Pen Plus Jaw set. Might be another reason to go with a Nova.

Bill
 
Dan Masshardt said:
Does anybody have a chuck that they really don't like?

It seems like most of them are decent.
Click to expand...

I think you are right. I have the PSI barracuda utility chuck, the PSI Barracuda II, and the Nova II. They all do what I expect them to do, hold wood. The Nova is a little bigger and heavier than the Barracudas, but I don't think that will matter either way, though I have not used the Nova on my Shopsmith. The only real benefit to the Barracuda vs. Nova is cost. You get more sets of jaws with the Barracuda chuck where you have to buy them for the Nova.
 
for just small items, I don't think there's much difference in many of the chucks.

I wouldn't want to use the cheaper ones on bowls.
 
IMHO, the Nova chucks are a far better value than any of the other low end chucks. If you buy a Nova chuck for a ShopSmith, it'll have to be a "keyed" chuck as the Nova Midi (my chuck of preference) only comes 1x8 and will not use thread adapters.

A keyed chuck is probably a better solution for a ShopSmith since there is no real "index lock". With a lathe such as a Delta or Jet with an index lock, I find a tommy bar chuck much easier to use, as you only need one bar and a "key hole" isn't necessary. It seems that each time I needed to chuck something big or unusual the key hole was exactly in the wrong place and I needed 3 or 4 hands for a simple chuck up.

One reason I prefer NOVA chucks is that all NOVA jaws fit all NOVA chucks. This is NOT the case with most others. This means with Nova, if you get another lathe, you don't have to buy new jaws for different sized chucks. They interchange.

It has been my experience that NOVA spins much more accurately than the other low line chucks. If your chuck doesn't run true, it makes precision lathe work virtually impossible.
 
kovalcik said:
Dan Masshardt said:
Does anybody have a chuck that they really don't like?

It seems like most of them are decent.
Click to expand...

I think you are right. I have the PSI barracuda utility chuck, the PSI Barracuda II, and the Nova II. They all do what I expect them to do, hold wood. The Nova is a little bigger and heavier than the Barracudas, but I don't think that will matter either way, though I have not used the Nova on my Shopsmith. The only real benefit to the Barracuda vs. Nova is cost. You get more sets of jaws with the Barracuda chuck where you have to buy them for the Nova.
Click to expand...

I couldn't DISAGREE MORE. The main function of a chuck is to hold material AND RUN TRUE.

I've yet to find a Barracuda chuck (regardless of price) that runs true. You can put TN GOLD on a turd, but in the end it's just a turd.
 
As you can see in this thread http://www.penturners.org/forum/f30/chuck-113404/ we had a good discussion on chucks and I posted several shots of the G2 vs G3.

The one thing that I needed to show but still have not is the tools to open/close the chucks. Personal favorite of mine is the T handle on the G3.
292368_3532243186669_994095552_n.jpg


One thing that I really like about the attachments is the faceplate.
545419_3831977039828_398465186_n.jpg


304424_3832069722145_771487104_n.jpg


264228_3832059521890_15834891_n.jpg
 
I made a choice and went with the Reconditioned Nova G3 and threw in a 6025 Mini step jaw set.
With the insert it was $174 shipped.
Family will soon be asking what I want for my birthday.. I'll be sure to tell them the pen plus jaw set.
 
joefrog said:
I bought a Nova G3 set from Woodcraft for $199. it came with an assortment of other jaws. I've loved it so far!
Click to expand...

That is a hefty over priced package deal there. I looked on teknatool's home site and the same products runs $156 + shipping.

For that $ it would be wiser to go with the g3 and the pen plus jaws for $140 + shipping.
 
edstreet said:
joefrog said:
I bought a Nova G3 set from Woodcraft for $199. it came with an assortment of other jaws. I've loved it so far!
Click to expand...

That is a hefty over priced package deal there. I looked on teknatool's home site and the same products runs $156 + shipping.

For that $ it would be wiser to go with the g3 and the pen plus jaws for $140 + shipping.
Click to expand...

This year it is not a good deal. Last year the $199 Woodcraft G3 sale came with 4 sets of jaws, that was a good deal.
 
edstreet said:
joefrog said:
I bought a Nova G3 set from Woodcraft for $199. it came with an assortment of other jaws. I've loved it so far!
Click to expand...

That is a hefty over priced package deal there. I looked on teknatool's home site and the same products runs $156 + shipping.

For that $ it would be wiser to go with the g3 and the pen plus jaws for $140 + shipping.
Click to expand...
list price on Nova's site for a G3 is $149.99, and I don't see the boxed set.
 
well then - that's not a fair comparison of price...

the Woodcraft price is a NEW G3 chuck, and you're offering up a reconditioned chuck.
 
Just ordered the reconditioned G3 from Nova. Also ordered one of the spanner wrenches to help get the chuck off the lathe. Looking forward to getting it.
 
It came in today..

I cut down a piece of 5/8 drill rod long enough to go full depth in the collet and chuck adapter.
It was a nice fit in the adapter after a quick scuff with a scotchbrite pad on the drill rod... the G3 and adapter machining is spot on. The whole assembly turned true without any messing around.

I think I spent 30 minutes just finding things around the shop to chuck up and see how true it turns.. It didn't disappoint.

A a bonus the adapter and jaws uses the same size key as my pulley setup so I already have the right allen wrench hanging on the peg board ready to use when needed.

I'm very happy with my selection.. Thanks!

zXfxkwjl.jpg
 
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