Lathe Chucks- where should I invest?

[Glenn Torbert]

I currently own several PSI lathe chucks, and I just upgraded to a Jet 1642, I would like to keep using the jaws from my previous chucks, but I need a larger chuck for bigger projects, any suggestions, Talon, Stronghold, Barracuda 4, Techo? Can someone give me their opinion for the best value long term?

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

I have both the One Way Stronghold & a Vicmarc. Either of these chucks will give you many years of trouble free service.

[Roger Chandler]

The psi jaws will not work with other chucks...............

The oneway is great, the SN2 is very good, and vicmarc is also very good.........with the teknatool [sn2] any of their jaws will fit any of their chucks..........usually the price is about half of a oneway stronghold.............

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Any reason you left out the Nova line? I have 2 Super Nova 2s and like them. They are not as "good" as a Oneway, but they are significantly cheaper. If you can afford a Oneway, I'd go with that.

Oh a little while back, there was a thread on SN2s being tight and hard to operate. I just got my new one a few days ago. It was a bit tight. Not terribly hard to operate, but everything is relative. Come to think of it, my first SN2 was just as "hard" to operate. Cleaned the cosmoline and sprayed with teflon dry lube. After several turnings, it operates much more freely. I like to think of it as "high quality tight tolerances" rather than bad castings and sloppy assembly..... LOL

[David E Keller]

I'm not sure about the compatibility of your existing jaws with other chucks, but the barracuda 4 looks like the logical extension of your existing line of chucks. I seem to remember seeing a chart in the PSI catalog which outlined the possible chuck and jaw combos for the stuff they sell... I could be wrong about that.

[Jake Helmboldt]

The only time I wish I had a bigger chuck for my 1642 is when coring with the McNaughton. I'd like the big jaws for a Stronghold or the big Vicmarc jaws. Otherwise a chuck that big is overkill on pieces up to 16". I even turn bigger platters off the end with the #3 jaws on the smaller chucks and it holds just fine.

[Justin Stephen]

I will simply say this and keep in mind that I am a fairly novice turner. I started out with an SN2 and a few months later, when I wanted a second chuck for convenience, I decided to buy a Oneway Talon. I now find myself almost exclusively using the Oneway. I prefer it over the SN2 by quite a wide margin and definitely found the extra $$ to be money well spent.

I do not own a Vicmarc but did spend several days using one at a clinic I went to this past spring and was pretty fond of it as well.

[Clint Baxter]

I have, and use, a Stronghold and Talons by Oneway and Supernova 2 and G3 by Nova. I think each of them are worth the money paid for them. I will use whichever chuck that has the size jaws on them that I need at that time. If, however, I don't need a specific jaw set and I'm turning a tenon to hit the chuck, I, like Justin, tend to use one of the Oneway chucks, Stronghold for bigger items and Talon(s) for those items that don't need as much holding power. It seems to me that when you buy chucks, like most other quality items, you typically get what you pay for.

I think you will end up happy with any quality chuck you invest in. One selling point on the Nova chucks, as stated earlier, is that all their jaw sets will fit either the Supernova 2, their G3 or even their Midi chuck. Just don't want to be using too big a jaw set on their smaller chucks.

Good luck with whichever you choose.

Clint

[Montgomery Scott]

After doing some research I bought the Vicmarc VM120 for my 1642. From the information I could gather it has greater capacity than the Oneway stronghold or talon and better repeatability. When I am ready to buy a larger lathe the VM120 will still be capable.

[Michelle Rich]

If you want your old jaws to fit, you will need to check with PSI for compatibility. I love my talon, and I have Tecknatool also, but my favorites are Vicmarks, becasue of all the jaws avail for them. Unless you are turning 50 lb bowls the smaller chucks do fine