Nova small chucks

[William C Rogers]

I am looking at a small chuck for my older midi lathes, Delta LA200 and Jet 10 inch. Both have 1/2hp motors. I am currently using a small PSI chuck, but would like to upgrade. Want dovetail jaws. Price wise the Nova chucks fit my budget. However there are three possibilities. Supernova 2, Nova G3, and Nova precision midi. Which one? Is the Supernova 2 too heavy for these lathes at 5 lbs?

edit: I need to add the Grizzly small chuck to the list as it comes with multiple jaws.

[Mike Cutler]

I use the G3 on my 11" older Delta/Rockwell lathe with a 1/2hp. I haven't had any issues with it. It's seems nice and holds everything very securely. I have some Cole Jaws to work with it also.
I purchased the G3 at a Woodcraft many years ago because it was on the shelf, they had the thread adapter I needed, and I could start using the lathe, which I had been given, that day. Not exactly an informed purchase. ;)
I'd take my reply with a grain of salt though. I do not consider myself, in any way, an expert turner at all.

[Don Jarvie]

I have the Midi which came with the Jet Mini lathes. It's a good chuck but the tightening mechanism is a pain. It's 2 levers that are squeezed together. Looking at the Nova catalog the G3 would be a good choice.

[Roger Chandler]

G3 Nova hands down!

[john snowdon]

I had a Jet 10" lathe before I moved up. Actually, it still sits in the corner as I hope my son will someday find time to start turning. The G3 works great and I was able to keep all of my sets of jaws for the (5) Super Nova 2s I now own.

[Robert Henrickson]

The G3 is more than adequate. I bought mine when I first had a mini lathe. I still use a G3 frequently on much larger lathes for small turnings. Any Nova jaw set which fits the G3 also fits any of their other chucks. f

In the interests of ease of future use on potential larger lathes, buy a G3 which takes a screw-in adapter. That will mean you can change adapters for lathes with a larger spindle. Since I originally had a minilathe, I first had a 1" insert. When I moved to a larger lathe, all I had to do was buy the 1 1/4" adapter. When I do demos, I still use the mini, so all I need to do is switch back to the 1" adapter.

[Mark Greenbaum]

I've had the G3 for 5 years, and used it on the Shopsmith which is 1.125 HP with a special 5/8" bore adapter, and now on the Grizzly G0766 with the 1-1/8" adapter. I like it a lot, but it is a reverse screw. Not righty-tighty. But it is a fine piece to have.

[William C Rogers]

Thanks for the response. G3 looks to be the winner. I put one in a cart, however looking at the PM 90 I had a PSI barracuda 2 that I was only using for Cole jaws. I know that barracuda's are not one of choice, but I have it. I also have a barracuda 4 for the PM 90, but when I raised my PM 90 to 18" swing I bought a HTC 125 because I wanted dovetail jaws and the barracuda's are grip jaws. I'll put the jumbo jaws on the barracuda 4 and use the barracuda 2 on the midi's. I don't use the midi's that often, but still like to turn on them. I can't bring myself to sell them as they're only worth about $200 each.

[John K Jordan]

I have some supernova, supernova II, and G3 chucks. I use all sizes on both my Jet Minis and Powermatic 3520b, and lathes in between.

JKJ

[Alan Trout]

I have two G3's and I also own a Oneway Talon. I hate to say it but I prefer the Talon by quite of bit to the G3's. It is a little more expensive but I do like it more. Just another option to look at.

Alan

[Robert Hayward]

(5) Super Nova 2s I now own.

And I thought I was a decadent turner with my 3 SN2's and two G3's. :rolleyes: Okay, I want only one more SN2 for another size jaw. :D

[john snowdon]

I HATE changing jaws. ;-) I kept a G3, as well, for small things and if I ever get to give the Jet to my son. He will not get my Thompson or D-Way tools tho!

[William C Rogers]

I hate to change jaws also, but that's what I must do. If I get a second chuck it will be a G3. I must say that the barracuda works well for me. I guess they make good ones and bad ones and I got a good one. Very little runout. I'm not sure what jaw style is better serrated or dovetail. The barracuda is serrated. I have never had a piece come loose, but I am very careful about the tendon. It's better for me to invest in more tools like Thompson and Dway than a chuck. Thanks for the advice.

[John K Jordan]

I HATE changing jaws. ;-)

You and me and lots of others! I keep extra chucks too, (14, at last count) and the dislike of changing jaws is only part of the reason.

Reason #2: I like to have several chucks with identical jaws, those I use the most. This way I can keep a partially finished piece chucked while I stop and work on something else.

#3: An extra chuck with the same jaws is helpful when I have a visitor or two come to the shop to learn or play on the lathes.

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#4, extra chucks make it easy to loan one out, perhaps along with spare lathe (a Jet mini also bought used, so cheap it was almost free.) For a three-week turning class at a children's ranch four of us brought or sent mini lathes, tools, and chucks. (You should have seen the kids faces when they made their first turning!)

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#5: Jaws I rarely use (for example, Cole jaws) can stay mounted on one chuck for instant on-call use. Hey, I'm very busy, er, lazy...

And #6: With enough chucks so jaws don't need to be changed, the interchangeability reason to stick with the same brand of chucks is not as important. Some day when I win the lottery or a rich uncle dies I might buy a big honkin' high end chuck just to see how the big boys play. (might be a while since I don't play the lottery or have any rich relatives...)

My Lovely Bride beats me with a baseball bat blank when I buy a new chuck so I keep an eye out for used chucks, especially very inexpensive used chucks. I found two more used chucks not long ago. There is a certain risk with used chucks - once I bought three supernova jaws from a club member then had to spend hours repairing two since his 500-lb gorilla tightening technique actually warped the chuck body. He did mention that one was a little tight and might need cleaning...

One very minor problem with three different type of chucks is keeping up with three different chuck keys. I mount them on my tool wall within arm's reach.

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JKJ

[William C Rogers]

You and me and lots of others! I keep extra chucks too, (14, at last count) and the dislike of changing jaws is only part of the reason.

Reason #2: I like to have several chucks with identical jaws, those I use the most. This way I can keep a partially finished piece chucked while I stop and work on something else.

#3: An extra chuck with the same jaws is helpful when I have a visitor or two come to the shop to learn or play on the lathes.

347440

#4, extra chucks make it easy to loan one out, perhaps along with spare lathe (a Jet mini also bought used, so cheap it was almost free.) For a three-week turning class at a children's ranch four of us brought or sent mini lathes, tools, and chucks. (You should have seen the kids faces when they made their first turning!)

347444

#5: Jaws I rarely use (for example, Cole jaws) can stay mounted on one chuck for instant on-call use. Hey, I'm very busy, er, lazy...

And #6: With enough chucks so jaws don't need to be changed, the interchangeability reason to stick with the same brand of chucks is not as important. Some day when I win the lottery or a rich uncle dies I might buy a big honkin' high end chuck just to see how the big boys play. (might be a while since I don't play the lottery or have any rich relatives...)

My Lovely Bride beats me with a baseball bat blank when I buy a new chuck so I keep an eye out for used chucks, especially very inexpensive used chucks. I found two more used chucks not long ago. There is a certain risk with used chucks - once I bought three supernova jaws from a club member then had to spend hours repairing two since his 500-lb gorilla tightening technique actually warped the chuck body. He did mention that one was a little tight and might need cleaning...

One very minor problem with three different type of chucks is keeping up with three different chuck keys. I mount them on my tool wall within arm's reach.

347441https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif

JKJ


John, I agree with every point you made. I would love to have multiple chucks and a full assortment good tools. However there many turnings things that I need also. For now more chucks are at the bottom of my tool list. It's going to take me a while to acquire tools. My large lathe is a PM 90 that I raised to get 18" swing. I did buy 5 Robust tool rest and a HTC chuck for that. The PM 90 is a old lathe, but I'm not going to break it. Even though I have some of the minimum equipment, I have more that some and thankful for that.

So so if you had all the chucks you need, what tool is the next most needed tool?

[John K Jordan]

I would love to have multiple chucks and...
So so if you had all the chucks you need, what tool is the next most needed tool?

Note that it took me almost 15 years to accumulate my chuck collection. Can't do everything the same day!

Hmm, next most needed tools for turning? "Next" depends. Some of it depends on the type of turning you do, green wood, dry; large, small; bowls, spindles/boxes; purchase blanks, harvest and process; etc. Also the space in the shop. And, of course the budget. Just thinking quickly, for general turning...

Tools and things I find the most useful:
A cooperative (or tolerant) spouse.
Good books (Raffan's and Darlow's intro books are my favorites)
Big, heavy lathe.
Parting tool, roughing gouge, skew, spindle gouge, bowl gouge
Face shield
Dust mask
Sharpening system (grinder, etc)
Chuck
Good lighting
Ruler, pencils
Cheap calipers (several)
Scissors (one reserved for cuttiing sandpaper)
Jacobs drill chuck and bits
Sharpening jig
Diamond hones, flat and round
A notebook
Bandsaw
Small very thin saw
Steb drive center (1/2" for smaller work)
Steb live center
Screw chuck
Sharpies
Tool rack, tool box for small tools
Negative rake scrapers
Set of Hunter carbide tools (Small Hercules first)
Point tool
Drill press
More skews and gouges (larger/smaller + duplicates of favorites)
Beale buffing wheels
Scalpels



Things I would hate to be without in the shop:
Fire extinguisher
Heat and air in the shop (not quite a tool)
Compressed air
Assortment of hand scrapers
Anti-fatigue mat
CBN wheel
Texturing tools
Dremel
Tiny hand drills
Depth gauges
Cyclone dust collector
Camera, photo cube
Gimlets (hand twist drills)
Grex random orbital sander
Taper bits
Magnifier
Second grinder
Graph paper
Robust tool rests
Work bench
Radio/CD player
Water cooler
Chain saw (Stihl electric)
Moisture meter
Second lathe
Strong magnets
Many clamps
Cordless drill


Things which may make life a lot or a little easier, depending on the type of turning:
Pen mandrel, accessories
Coring tools
Table saw
Carving tools (hand, rotary)
Planer, drum sander
Stationary belt sander
Vacuum chuck
SCMS
Jointer
Indexing wheel
Router
Axe
Sphere jig
Air cleaner
Threading jig
Bench vise
Spindle and tailstock thread taps

Things I wasted money on:
Easywood Carbide tools
Massive scrapers


It might be interesting to get similar lists from others.

JKJ

[William C Rogers]

Thanks John. I'm good on about 90% of the list. Missing coring and carving tools as biggies. Do want them. As far as turning I like just about anything. I like 12-15 bowls, lidded boxes and I am getting ready to try some minatures using palm nuts. I done pens, pepper mills, kaleidoscopes and other kit types. Just made a bunch of Christmas ornaments.

"Things wasted money" items

What do you mean by massive scrapers? I hane the 1 1/4 Thompson and like it. Is that massive?

i don't really like the carbide tools and made some using Captain Eddies inserts. However I was/am getting ready to buy the Easy Wood detailer. Didn't think I could make a proper holder for the pointed carbide insert. Intention was using that for finials. What do you use for finials?

[John K Jordan]

Thanks John. I'm good on about 90% of the list. Missing coring and carving tools as biggies. Do want them. As far as turning I like just about anything. I like 12-15 bowls, lidded boxes and I am getting ready to try some minatures using palm nuts. I done pens, pepper mills, kaleidoscopes and other kit types. Just made a bunch of Christmas ornaments.

"Things wasted money" items
What do you mean by massive scrapers? I hane the 1 1/4 Thompson and like it. Is that massive?

i don't really like the carbide tools and made some using Captain Eddies inserts. However I was/am getting ready to buy the Easy Wood detailer. Didn't think I could make a proper holder for the pointed carbide insert. Intention was using that for finials. What do you use for finials?


Massive scrapers: years ago I bought some huge honkin' scrapers, long and heavy. One is maybe 3/4" thick and 1-1/4" wide and maybe 30" long with the handle. This was back when I was starting out and thought brute force was the way to go. I have since become a believer in finesse! Another curved scraper is maybe 2" wide and 1/2" thick - massive catch waiting to happen. I recently reground it to a negative rake but it is still not nearly as useful as the smaller negative rake scrapers I ground from Thompson steel.

I use 3/4" and 1" negative rake scrapers made from Thompson steel. I think an 1-1/4" scraper like that would work very well on the inside of a bowl. BTW, I don't even put handles on these scrapers since they just kiss the surface for final smoothing, but I might for control if turning a larger bowl, say 14" or so since it would probably be extended more over the tool rest. These are what I use, the middle one ground from a Thompson skew chisel:

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I never tried the EW detailer. Last night I made a finial from af.blackwood using a 1/2" skew, a carbide Hunter Hercules tool like a gouge for the curves, and a 3/8" Thompson detail gouge and skew for the detail. I used to use the detail and spindle gouges for almost all of it but I find myself picking up the Hunter tools more often these days. Those made with the cutter at an angle give incredibly smooth cuts in the bevel-rubbing mode (needing only 600 or 800 grit paper). I like one with a small cutter mounted flat to smooth the inside of my handbell christmas ornaments, like this one (cut in half to show the inside):

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The other carbide tools I've used, those with flat faced cutters, leave horrible surfaces, worse on some woods than others. The Hunter cutters are entirely different.

For some detail in certain woods I like a point tool ground from a round rod. My favorite is my own "wicked point tool":

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I love doing miniatures! Fine grained wood like ebony is my favorite. Here are some things that fit on a penny:

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(Sorry, I love photos!)

You should "see" some of the tiny goblets John Lucas made once. You actually need a magnifier to see the smallest! (He got into a friendly contest once with a friend and ended my making special tools from sewing needles and things.)

JKJ