Penn State Ind Barracuda chuck

[William McAnelly]

Are the Barracuda chucks any good from Penn State Ind? They are on sale for a few days(20%) thinking about getting one.

[Brian Brown]

I like both of mine, but I have never used a different chuck, so I have nothing to compare it to. The best part of the Barracuda is you get a lot of jaw configurations for the price. They cost extra from most other manufacturers. The PSI price for the titanium nitride is the same as the regular barracuda, but if you don't need the T/N coating, try this.

https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/100/1111/Apprentice-4-Jaw-Chuck-8-Piece-Set?term=apprentice+chuck

It is nearly the same chuck, with a slightly larger and more heavy duty body, but the jaws are interchangeable with the Barracuda. I have one, and I really like it. It also has a solid back, and the Barracuda has an open back. Dust gets in easily.

[Wayne Lovell]

I have several One Way chucks, several years ago I won a Barracuda set it came with a case and several sets of jaws. It is now the chuck I use the most and the One ways gather dust.

[Doug W Swanson]

I had 2 of the Barracuda chuck and while they are decent chucks with many jaws included, I think the Nova G3 is a better chuck. The drawback of the Barracuda chuck is the jaw style. It has serrated teeth and I prefer the tapered jaws of the Nova line. I think the fit, finish and tolerances of the Nova chucks are better than the Barracuda as well.

Another drawback is that the PSI chucks are direct thread to 1"-8. If you have a different size headstock, you'll need an adapter and that can affect runout because the chuck will be further from the headstock. With the Nova G3, you can get a version that uses an insert that is easily changed should you ever upgrade your lathe.

When I upgraded a few years ago I had to sell all my direct thread chucks for the threaded version I didn't want to use an adapter.

[John K Jordan]

I haven't used the Barracuda but I like the idea of additional jaws. I don't particularly like that style of chuck key but perhaps it will work better in practice than those with some of the Teknatool Nova chucks. I have a number of the Nova chucks and I much prefer the type of key that comes with the Supernova II chucks - a large hex allen key.

The Teknatool chucks are often quite reasonable in price although you do have to buy the extra jaws and possibly an insert. The advantage is they have inserts to fit nearly any lathe which would be very helpful if you ever sell the chuck or upgrade to a larger lathe. Most of my lathes use 1-1/4"x8 TPI inserts.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=teknatool+chuck

JKJ

[Thom Sturgill]

I started with the barracudas and launched many pieces with them until they came out with dovetail jaws (which I think they no longer sell). The serrations are too shallow and do not hold well. Other than that they are good chucks. I shifted to the SuperNova2 chucks (I have 5) but still use the barracuda with an adapter for its pin jaws.

My club turns tops during the County Fair every year - typically around 700 of them. One year we had three chuck for two lathes. We had a PSI, a OneWay and a SN2. The SN2 was the only one that never launched a blank all week, and it was the most used of the three.

[William C Rogers]

I have the Barracuda 2, 4, PSI utility, Hurricane 125, Nova G3 chucks. I have a PM 90 and a Jet midi I use them on. The Barracuda's are the chucks I started with. I have never launched a piece from them. Starting out with all the jaw sizes offered they fit my needs. The one thing I don't like about Barracuda 4, ithas a splined key that I don't like. It tends to ride up when tightening. My Barracuda 2 has a square drive key and is fine. However looking at the PSI picture of the Barracuda 2 it looks like the changed it to the same design as the Barracuda 4, but not sure. I mainly use the G3 on my midi and the HTC 125 on my PM 90. The Barracuda 4 has Cole jaws on it. I use the Barracuda 2 on the midi and the PM 90 (with adapter) when I need a different jaw set or have very soft wood that I like seraterated jaws. To me the Barracuda's are decent chucks for what you get for the price.

[David M Peters]

I've had the "special edition" Barraduda 2 for a few years still use it for odd jobs because of the variety of jaw sizes it comes with. But also having a Hurricane 125, I'd never "design" a piece to work with the Barracuda because it doesn't have dovetail jaws.

I think it would be worth picking up if you foresee yourself needing a "spare chuck".

[Jon Shank]

I've got one of the Barracuda 3, 2 1/2" diameter chucks. For a small chuck it's really good, haven't had any issues with it even when I've used it with slightly bigger projects than I probably should. I bought it for eccentric turning thinking the smaller cuck would be a little less weight spinning around off axis and it's worked fine for that as well. That said it's a heavy little chuck for it's size, feels good and solid and hasn't let me down.

Jon

[William McAnelly]

I have a grizzly huge a$$ chuck and wanted a smaller chuck to do small bowls and odd things with so I ordered one today $139.95 will have it on March 15 and we will see how it works.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I think you just spent your "Best Bang for Your Buck". They are not the best out there, but the price with all of the jaws make them the best bargain.

[William McAnelly]

I have used the PSI chuck now I can give everone the good and the bad. Good -small,has lots of additional jaws,easy to use. Bad jaws only have grooves not dovetailed (like my Grizzly chuck) back of chuck is open wood chips can get into gears. I think I am going to realy like this chuck seams to hold wood, even if it leaves marks that I can remove after it iturning is complete.

[Joe Bradshaw]

William, I have that PSI chuck and it has served me well. I use it for back-up now. As a side note, Wayne, if you would like to get rid of your old dust covered Oneway chucks, shoot me a PM.
Joe