A couple of chuck questions

[Patrick Ely]

I just got my first lathe jet 1220 and love it! I am a complete beginner and have taken a couple of classes and am now jumping in head first. I have been looking at a couple of chucks and am having a little difficulty deciding. As I am a student money is certainly and issue. The three options I am looking at are
1. Supernova 2 - I found a thread here advertising it for $180 with a free set of cole jaws - seems like a good deal but that is about all the money I have to spend on a chuck - will I need other jaws immediately? also do the grizzly jaws fit the nova I thought I read something about the nova jaws fitting the $99 grizzly? does it work in reverse?

2. Grizzly $99 special this would allow me to buy a couple extra jaws but am guessing the quality is not as nice as the nova

3. PSI barracuda 2 some people seem to really like these I have read a bunch of reviews and it comes with everything

so any recommendations are appreciated if the nova is a lot better than the other options then I will go with that but if quality is comparable then I would love to save a few bucks.
Great to meet you all and I will post picks of the new lath first project soon
Cheers
Pat

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have 3 of the $99 grizzly chucks and they are as good as any. I have been using them for over 3 yrs. I don't like changing jaws around is why I have 3. By the way the jaws for the Vicmarc VM100 will fit this chuck also. The grizzly is a clone of the Vicmarc VM100. I also have one of the VM 100. As I have not used the others I can't comment on those.

[Scott Conners]

I feel strongly that it's hard to beat the value of the Barracuda 2 with everything it comes with. It certainly is not the very best chuck around, but it's very functional and hasn't let me down.

[Thom Sturgill]

I have two of the barracuda 2s, but haven't used any of the others. If you buy the barracuda, also get PSI's dovetail jaws. They seem much better than the stock jaws and cost about $23. You can buy the Barracuda2 without jaws for about $140 or with several sizes for about $180. I find that I rarely use the sizes other than the #2s, but its nice to have them if you need them.

[David Hostetler]

I had the same quandry and decided to go with the Woodriver Self Centering 4 jaw chuck from Woodcraft. $86.50 with the thread insert to match my lathe included. I am pretty sure I won't be able to kill it... And it definately works smooth as butter...

If it's not obvious, I am pretty new to this turning thing as well. Just letting you know about the chuck I got, and my impressions of it... It seems to work very well for not a lot of money... That seemed to be important to you too...

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Hi Pat,


1. Supernova 2 - I found a thread here advertising it for $180 with a free set of cole jaws - seems like a good deal but that is about all the money I have to spend on a chuck - will I need other jaws immediately? also do the grizzly jaws fit the nova I thought I read something about the nova jaws fitting the $99 grizzly? does it work in reverse?
I have one of these as well. I got mine though for $72. That was the only reason I bought it. It is a good chuck. But there are things about it I don't like. The big reason I bought it was it was an easier fit for my new 1 1/4" x 8 tpi spindle size. My older chucks, those you listed weren't. To be honest I would not buy another one. It just isn't that much better. And in some ways it is worse than my cheaper ones.

I talked to a number of people before I bought it about other jaws fitting. I got told that with minor modifications the Grizz jaws and the vicmarc jaws both work. Apparently the nova jaws will fit the vicmarc again with very slight modifications. I was told something needed to ground/filed off a bit. I have never tried so your mileage may very.


2. Grizzly $99 special this would allow me to buy a couple extra jaws but am guessing the quality is not as nice as the novaFor the price difference get this one. I got a chance to see one up close and personal and this was as good a quality chuck as any that I have seen. I am told the actual Vicmarc is better and that the OneWay tops that. But that is largely personal preference from what I can tell. Oneway has an interesting patented(??) jaw pattern that I would like to try at some point but haven't has the chance as yet.


3. PSI barracuda 2 some people seem to really like these I have read a bunch of reviews and it comes with everythingI own one of these and it was the first one I bought. I like it very much. It is a good chuck and it has seen hundreds of hours of turning on my lathe. Never had anything go wrong with it or come loose and orbit. Well nothing major. It has an open back so it got sticky at one point. Just wouldn't open and close smoothly. A $5 spray can of PB Blaster, a penetrating oil, and it was fixed. I didn't use the whole can by any means. I figure for the amount I used I have about $4.97 left in the value of the spray can. Other than that one thing it has spun true and worked perfectly for me. I really do highly recommend this one.

I also have the Craft Supplies USA version of this chuck. They call it the apprentice chuck. I like it as well. But it is just the above. It was just local to me and I needed it right then... So I bought it.

Lately, read sometime in the last 2 years, PSI altered the chuck a bit. I like the older version better but that is just personal pref again. Mine has this large square T-Key that is used to tighten and open the chuck. The new one has a geared pinion style. I am not saying it is worse just that I like the older one better.


For me the big issues with this cheaper chucks, not the Grizz but the PSI and CSUSA, is that they were a direct thread. They are 1x8tpi and that is it. So to get them to 1 1/4"x8tpi which I now need takes an adapter. I really really fought with mine to get it true. Finally realized it was the "new old" lathe that was off. Got it fixed and bingo even with the bulky external adapter it runs true now. So most of my frustrations with these chucks is gone.


My personal advice. Get the Griz with the adapter you need. It is threaded, if I have it figured out right, at about 1 1/2" internal direct thread. Then you but a very small "internal" adapter to get down to what you need. My guess a 1x8tpi for your Jet. Then if you ever get something bigger you can get a new cheap insert and you are back to the races.

I have almost never switched out the jaws on my chucks. When I got the second chuck I put my PSI cole jaws on it and they have never come off. So i have 1 with standard #2 jaws on it and one with cole jaws. Recently I got the Nova chuck but then got to use someone else's, and a nova G3 as well. So that one is still new in the box. I should probably try to sell it. :)

So if you are like me and never really change jaws then 1 chuck with #2s and 1 chuck with some cole jaws and you are set. Rather than $180 on 1 nova, spend ~$200 on 2 grizzlys and make your own cole jaws.

Here is a link to Darrel Feltmate's explanation of exactly how to make these out of wood.

http://www.aroundthewoods.com/jaws.shtml

Simple and straight forward. I made one minor change to these to make them more useful for me. If you decide to make your own ping me and I will tell you what I did to make them, imho, a bit better.

Joshua

[Richard Madison]

Also have two of the $99 Griz. chucks and have no complaints. They grip the wood well and cause it to rotate when the lathe is turned on. That pretty much covers it for me. Extra jaw sets are about $20, and when you get a bigger lathe with larger spindle threads, the chuck insert is also only about $20.

[curtis rosche]

i have the grizzly, mine was 60$ works great, the only problem i have had with it is once in a while i forget that it doesnt need to be super tight and i bend the tommy bars. but i guess that is better than messing up the hole they go in. the chuck stays tight on what ever you put it on