Decent chuck

[Cliff Holmes]

My wife works on an ancient Craftsman lathe we inherited from my dad. Spindle work only. But I've gotten interested in doing bowls and with WC's upcoming sale on Powermatic, I'm planning to "surprise" her for Christmas with a new 3520b.

My question is on chucks: What do I need? Given that the lathe will stretch the Christmas budget (ok, blow it up) I don't want to spend a fortune on one if I can help it. Right now, WC has the SuperNova2 on sale for $140, is that a good chuck? On the other hand, the Stronghold Chuck at $300 is pretty much my limit, but I can swing it if I need to.

[Al Wasser]

I have and use the SN2 chuck. It does a good job for me. Over time, you will likely want to get some different size jaws as you turn bigger bowls. All the jaws made by Nova will fit that chuck. Let's see......what comes next to break the budget?????? Enjoy!!!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wow! You are going to be making some major points this Christmas!!

I have the Oneway Talon chuck and almost all the jaws - and love it. I think when you get into the major brands of chucks - just about any of them will work quite well.

[Richard Jones]

Cliff,

The SN2 is a good chuck, keep in mind that you have to add the 1 1/4-8 adapter, something like an additional $23. Still a good deal and a good chuck.

Hope you get to turn on that beast, she may not let you anywhere near it!!!

Rich

[Mike Minto]

i use a SN2 chuck, and it has performed flawlessly for me. much better price than oneway chucks, and while i have some accessories that i like very much from them, i can't see what oneway's could do that the SN2 can't. mike

[David Walser]

Cliff,

The SuperNova2 is a quality chuck. It should do everything you and your wife might want to do on that Powermatic lathe. If you start turning very large bowls, the Stronghold or the 5.5" or 6.5" Vicmarc chucks might be a worthwhile investment -- but that's a step you can put off for now.

Having said that, I strongly urge you to consider getting several face plates instead of a chuck. Learning how to use a face plate is a skill I wish I'd cultivated when I was starting to turn. Face plates are less expensive and hold items more securely and more accurately than chucks. Chucks are faster and more convenient. While you're learning to turn, the speed of a chuck is NOT always a good thing!

Until quite recently (the last 20 years), scroll chucks were not made for wood lathes. (Turners borrowed chucks from metal lathes if they wanted a chuck.) So, there are few things you can turn with a chuck that cannot be turned without one. That doesn't mean I'm going to be giving away my chucks! I like them and use them. But I'm also using face plates more and more.

There are lots of suppliers of face plates. Don Pencil's one of my favorites. Here's a link to his website:

http://donpencil.com/

You can also buy his face plates through Craft Supplies USA and the other major turning supply houses.

HTH!

[Cliff Holmes]

you will likely want to get some different size jaws as you turn bigger bowls

That's the one thing that truly frightening about turning, the seemingly endless parade of accessories ... expensive accessories :eek:

[Bill Bulloch]

Who are you buying this lathe for: you or your wifehttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon5.gif I wish I could get away with that....One Christmas years ago, as a joke, I gave my wife a set of router bits. She's not a wood worker, but to this date has not let me use the bits.


I have three Nova Checks: the old Nova, the Mini and the Super Nova 2. They all work nice. You'll like the Super Nova 2 the best; it has that T Bar Handle, which makes life easier.

Lucky you.

[William Payer]

Wow! Is she going to be happy! ( I'll never forget the year I bought my wife her gifts and thought it was practical to include a new vacuum cleaner since ours was on its last legs! She liked all the other gifts (some were major) but the vac is something she still remonds me of 35 years later! :D


I have Talon and Sn2 chucks. They are both good. Vicmarc are also very good. There are followings to each of these brands, and honestly, I don't think you could go wrong with any of them. Talons can use SN2 jaws, so there is some interchangeability. Talons use profiled jaws and require straight tenons , while SN2's come with dovetail jaws (profiles are optionally available) and require a dovetailed tenon to be cut. The above mentioned chucks all are of excellent quality and have established track records.

Did I muddy the waters enough? ;)

[Dan Forman]

I would recommend t he Talon over the SN2. I have both, and the Talon runs truer (less runout). The profiled jaws hold very securely, and you don't have to dovetail the tenon. The dovetailed jaws hold the most securely when they are exactly the size of the tenon when closed. When the tenon is larger, they only contact the tenon at either tip of the jaw. The Oneway, on the other hand, have flattened contact points, so have much greater contact area on any sized tenon. The flattened area have ridges to increase the grip as well. In addition, you don't have to be fussy about turning a dovetail to match the angle of the jaw. I have Vicmark chucks too (also dovetailed), but since getting the Oneways, they get the first nod. I seldom use the Nova chuck at all.

Check the Home Depot website, they have been having a great sale on Oneway chucks.

Eventually you will want a herd of chucks, so that you don't have to change jaws every time you want to do something different.

Dan

[Cliff Holmes]

Check the Home Depot website, they have been having a great sale on Oneway chucks.

I have to admit, Home Depot is one website I would not have checked for Oneway chucks. Too bad they're mostly out of stock, the prices are great. Strongholds for <$200

[Nathan Hawkes]

I have 2 stronghold chucks for my 3520B, and will probably end up with a third eventually; 1 for # 2 and #3 jaws, and I have a set of #1 pin jaws that I use for small work or finials. I got them from Hartville Tool; good deals are frequent with them; don't know what current prices are. If you're a member of a turning club you likely might receive a discount at a number of specialty suppliers.

[Ron Bontz]

+1 vote for Oneway Talon, stronghold, or Vicmarc VM100, vm120.:)

[alex carey]

I think it depends on what size turning she plans to do. If she plans on using the full 20" swing definitely go with the stronghold, otherwise the Talon can handle just about everything in the 14" and lower.

[Dan Forman]

I believe that Hartville tool gives a nice discount to SMC members. Wouldn't hurt to call and see. Great folks to do business with.

Dan

[Hilel Salomon]

Being a tool nut, I have lots and lots of chucks. For what it's worth, this is my take on them.
If you're going to be doing spindle work, the SN2, talon and Vicmarc (smaller one) are fine. I've also had pretty good luck with a cheapy from Grizzly which will take all the Supernova jaws as well as the smaller Vicmarc's. For about 100 dollars, it is really a good chuck.
For bowls, however, I would rate the Vicmarc 120 way ahead of all the others. It has the best repeatability of any that I've used-meaning that you can take a bowl or even a spindle out and put it back in (you can mark it) and be relatively assured that you won't have to true the piece up again.
The stronghold is a very good chuck (I have over 12, thanks to Hartville's great discounts) w/lots of different jaws), but repeatability is not great, the back is open and gets lots of dust. I find now that almost 90 % of the time, I use my vicmarcs on bowls.
I am now doing spindle work for the first time, having done about 150 bowls, and if I had it to do over again, would have started with spindlework and then gone to bowls.
My feeling on buying tools (and it is a very, very deep vortex) is that you're always better off getting a very good piece of equipment that you can grow into, rather than starting with a cheapy.
Your choice of PM3520 is excellent. A very good chuck would make it complete.
Luck, Hilel.

[Dennis Ford]

+ 1 on getting some face plates. A chuck is great for small items and lots of folks use them on large bowls but I prefer a face plate for most bowls. Leave the faceplate on the wood until the bowl is finished, alignment will be perfect each time you put it on the lathe. A faceplate is also more secure making it safer for beginners.

[Jake Helmboldt]

Talons can use SN2 jaws, so there is some interchangeability.

Huh? Others have said the machined grooves allow Talon jaws to be used on the SN2, but not the reverse. Are you sure this is accurate? I was hoping to be able to use the Nova dovetail jaws on my Talon but assumed they wouldn't work.

JH

[Allen Neighbors]

I have a Nova Compac, Two Supernova2 chucks, and the Nova Titan. The Titan will hold anything you can put on it, and all the Nova jaws are interchangeable between the SN2 and Titan, except the Titan Power Grip Jaws (that come with it) will not fit the SN2s. I don't know anyone that would want to attempt that, anyway.
When I first got the Titan, I tried their advertisement gimmick... I put a 16" log, 4.5" diameter (the size I had on hand), in the Titan with Powergrip Jaws, and turned a 6" long stemmed goblet on the end, without support. It works.
Until I got the Nova Titan, I used the SN2s to turn some 18-23" bowls, using the 100mm jaws.
Anyway... just wanted to add my satisfaction with the Nova Chucks. The threaded insert came with my chucks, I didn't have to pay extra for them.