Chuck advice

[William Herzig]

Hello,

New guy here looking for a little help. I know there are a ton of chuck threads on here but none of them cover the models that I am interested in so I have to start a new thread, sorry.

I have done a little turning here and there, mostly pens and similar small items, on my Nova Mercury mini lathe. I have recently decided that I want to turn some pepper mills and chess pieces so I decided to ask for a scroll chuck for Christmas. My budget is limited, since it will be from my my I will be paying anyway, and I do not have any plans to get a larger lathe anytime soon (i.e. maybe never) so I want to go with something small. The ones that I was looking at were the Nova G3, the BullDog BD 275 and the new Grizzly T10808.

I pretty much ruled the G3 out because of the cost of the additional jaws, if I add them in the future. I can get a G3 reversible with 2 set of jaws for $150 which is a good deal but I will need the pin jaws which are over $50, which bring initial investment to $200.

I have not seen anything about the new Grizzly chuck, which would be my best option cost wise, $159 for chuck and 5 set of jaws. Most of the other Grizzly reviews complained of excessive runout, I do not need perfect but I do need good. Most people said they eventually got one that ran true but it took returning 2 or 3 to get a good one, not a hassle that I want to deal with.

That brings me to the BullDog BD 275, $140 for the chuck, $27 for the pin jaws and my initial investment would be $167. Any of the other jaws that I would look to purchase would also be much cheaper than any of the Nova jaws.

If anyone has any experience with either the Grizzly T10808 chuck set or the BullDog BD 275 could you please help out.

Thanks,Bill

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

I'm not familiar with that lathe - but making pepper mills on any mini you will run into a big problem - SPACE.

by the time you put on a chuck, your blank, a jacobs chuck and a forstner bit, you may not have room for very much of a pepper mill.

It looks like the max spindle length for the Mercury (without a bed extension) is 12"

you could drill on a drill press, that solves the problem.


I would also recommend looking at the Nova Midi chuck. it's more compact than all the others - uses almost all Nova jaws, and is at the lower end of your price range.

[Jeremy Killingbeck]

When I had my mini lathe I purchased the Utility Grip 4 Jaw chuck system from Penn State Industries (see link below). For the money & limitation of a mini lathe I think that it was a very good chuck. It only cost $90 and comes with multiple jaws including the jumbo jaws. This chuck would be equivalent in design to the Nova Midi chuck, which is designed for a mini lathe.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/CUG3418CCX.html

[Bill Blasic]

Bill I have two of the BD 275s and I like them very much. I use them on my midis and then can move them over to my Rose Engine. These are small chucks but well made. I think Shawn is right about your lathe size and peppermills. I have the Mercury lathe with the bed extension but still would use at least my Delta 46-460 as drilling with the Mercury would be tedious at best.

[William Herzig]

Thanks for all of the input guys. I honestly was not thinking about the length limitations at the time, very glad that you all mentioned that. I now think that I will be asking for a WC gift card instead so that I can start saving up for a slightly larger lathe. Do you think that the new Rikon 70-220VSR, at 20" between centers, would have adequate length for pepper mills?

Thanks again and Happy Holidays

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

you can buy a bed extension for your Mercury lathe.

that'd be cheaper than a new lathe.

but yes - you should be able to make mills on the 70-220 lathe. You might not be able to do a 12" mill, but a 10" should be fine.