Ed Morgano
04-12-2012, 11:22 PM
I'm getting into doing some live demos and needed a lathe that I can carry with me. After checking, I settled on the Rikon 12-16 lathe. It weighs in at 70 lbs. and I figured that would be as good as I could do for portability. I also bought a Super Nova 2 Chuck and adaptor to fit the Rikon. Anyway, the lathe arrived today and I've had some time to try it out. Here's what I found: As to the Rikon lathe, I'm very happy with it. Fit, finish and function were all good right out of the box. I tried about an 11" BLM Burl that I had already roughed out on my other lathe. To be honest, that is more that I would like to turn on this lathe. It could be done, but with a 1/2 hp motor, it's a slow go. Other than that, the lathe performed very well in all three speed ranges. I turned a couple of finials and the lathe is quiet and smooth.
Now, for the bad news: The Nova chuck was a disappointment. The first thing I noticed was the chuck was VERY tight. I could barely turn the key. I took it up to my shop and proceeded to run the jaws in and out with a drill hoping they would loosen up. After about 10 times they hadn’t improved at all – still very tight. I took the C-clip off the back and removed the plastic backing plate. Immediately, the jaws were free. I ended up sanding some off the plastic backing plate, re-assembled the chuck and it was fine. However, the set screw to lock the chuck on the adaptor wouldn’t fit because the slot in the plastic backing plate didn’t line up with the threaded hole for the set screw. I had to take it apart again and widen the slot in the plastic backing plate. Next, the adaptor that Woodcraft sent would not screw all the way on to the spindle of the lathe. It needed some relief on the start of the internal threads. Also, it wouldn't screw all the way into the chuck. Also, it needed some relief on the beginning of the external threads. After grinding the appropriate reliefs with my dremel tool, the chuck was running out by about .010" which was an improvement from the .020"+ it was running out without the reliefs. If I mark which jaw I chuck something up in, and put it back that way, it is repeatable and will run true, so it's useable, but I'm not happy with .010" run out. Next, the internal threads on the nova chuck are 38mm x 3.0. That is very close to 1.5" x 8 tpi. Why not make it 1.5 x 8 so one would not need an adaptor at all if I had a 1 1/2" x 8 spindle...like I do on my home made lathe. Next: I've been running lathes for about 40 years..... ALL of them tighten clockwise and loosen counter-clockwise. Why did they decide to make theirs just the opposite. As compared to the Grizzly chuck that I bought a while back, the Nova chuck has less holding power. I also noticed that it’s manufactured in PRC. That slowed me down a little till I put it together (Peoples Republic of China). In short, for less money, I’d recommend a Grizzly (also made in China) chuck.
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Now, for the bad news: The Nova chuck was a disappointment. The first thing I noticed was the chuck was VERY tight. I could barely turn the key. I took it up to my shop and proceeded to run the jaws in and out with a drill hoping they would loosen up. After about 10 times they hadn’t improved at all – still very tight. I took the C-clip off the back and removed the plastic backing plate. Immediately, the jaws were free. I ended up sanding some off the plastic backing plate, re-assembled the chuck and it was fine. However, the set screw to lock the chuck on the adaptor wouldn’t fit because the slot in the plastic backing plate didn’t line up with the threaded hole for the set screw. I had to take it apart again and widen the slot in the plastic backing plate. Next, the adaptor that Woodcraft sent would not screw all the way on to the spindle of the lathe. It needed some relief on the start of the internal threads. Also, it wouldn't screw all the way into the chuck. Also, it needed some relief on the beginning of the external threads. After grinding the appropriate reliefs with my dremel tool, the chuck was running out by about .010" which was an improvement from the .020"+ it was running out without the reliefs. If I mark which jaw I chuck something up in, and put it back that way, it is repeatable and will run true, so it's useable, but I'm not happy with .010" run out. Next, the internal threads on the nova chuck are 38mm x 3.0. That is very close to 1.5" x 8 tpi. Why not make it 1.5 x 8 so one would not need an adaptor at all if I had a 1 1/2" x 8 spindle...like I do on my home made lathe. Next: I've been running lathes for about 40 years..... ALL of them tighten clockwise and loosen counter-clockwise. Why did they decide to make theirs just the opposite. As compared to the Grizzly chuck that I bought a while back, the Nova chuck has less holding power. I also noticed that it’s manufactured in PRC. That slowed me down a little till I put it together (Peoples Republic of China). In short, for less money, I’d recommend a Grizzly (also made in China) chuck.
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