chucks

[Brandon Speaks]

I am planning on upgrading to a full size lathe soon. I know my nova G3 will have to be replaced by a bigger chuck as well. I am trying to budget out what all will be needed besides the lathe and 240 power when I upgrade.

My main turning will be bowls from 6-14 inches. What would be a good chucking system I would be happy with for some time? I looked at super nova and one way so far, also which size jaws would you start with?

[Joe Bradshaw]

I use Oneway talons on my Robust Liberty. I have also used them on the Powermatic 3520. The talons come with the #2 jaws. the spigot jaws and the #3 jaws would be a good choice. Be aware that you will get tired of changing jaws and will want a chuck for each set of jaws.
Joe

[Roger Chandler]

Oneway talons, and Strongholds are good chucks, but I have 5 SuperNova 2's and have over the last 3 years picked up 3 Hurricane Chucks, which are Vicmarc clones, and I really like them a lot! They cost about 1/2 of what the Oneways do, and man they are fine equipment! I have 8 chucks and have used most brands of chucks at the two clubs I belong to, and actually prefer the Hurricanes and Vicmarcs the most. The Hurricanes have a sealed back plate, which keeps dust out of the scroll gears/pinions, and I have had one apart just to see the inner parts, and they are heavy duty!

http://www.thewoodturningstore.com/hurricane-htc100-4-woodturning-chuck-dovetail-jaws-with-insert/

The link is for the HTC-100, but they also have the large HTC-125 which I also have.........great value and quality.

[Eugene Dixon]

I use a G3 on my 25" swing lathe. I also use a Stronghold. It's not the size of the lathe. It's the size of the piece that you are turning. Keep the G3 and outfit it for the bigger lathe. I got an adapter so that I can put the G3 on the tailstock.

[Steve Nix]

Are the Huricane jaws compatible with the Vicmarc chucks?

[Michael Mills]

I have mainly Novas but do have one Hurricane. My Novas are 4 G3's and 3 SN's and I use the G3's as much or more than the SN's. Assuming you only have the 50mm jaws you probably want to go up in size. They make a 75mm bowl jaw but the spigot is almost identical to the 50mm. The two I would consider are the 70mm bowl or the 100mm Powergrips for a SN2. The powergrips are not a lot more $$$ than the 100 bowl jaws but allows you to use a very long tenon if you turn an enclosed or hollow form. The 70mm are usually available on Amazon for about $30 and I find them to be a nice in-between size.

[Robert Henrickson]

I use a G3 on my 25" swing lathe. I also use a Stronghold. It's not the size of the lathe. It's the size of the piece that you are turning. Keep the G3 and outfit it for the bigger lathe. I got an adapter so that I can put the G3 on the tailstock.

I use a G3 frequently for smaller projects on my 20" and 25" swing lathes. Any jaws you have for the G3 would also fit on a SN2.

[John K Jordan]

I am planning on upgrading to a full size lathe soon. I know my nova G3 will have to be replaced by a bigger chuck as well. I am trying to budget out what all will be needed besides the lathe and 240 power when I upgrade.

My main turning will be bowls from 6-14 inches. What would be a good chucking system I would be happy with for some time? I looked at super nova and one way so far, also which size jaws would you start with?

Brandon,

I think the G3 is an excellent chuck; the SN2 is fine if you want a larger chuck. Teknatool says "the Nova G3 is a mid-size chuck designed for use on lathes up to 14" capacity" and "The small 1.79″ body length delivers less overhang from the spindle than the larger geared Chucks – the SuperNova2 Chuck and the Nova Titan Chuck, reducing stress on smaller lathe spindles." Note the selling point is to protect the lathe. This says nothing about the size and weight of the blank.

I've turned 18-19" things on SN and SN2 chucks - they are plenty strong enough and and will hold a large chunk of wood with the right jaws. I think using the correct jaws, properly sizing/shaping the recess or tenon AND the lathe speed, balance and the skill of the turner are far more important than the model of chuck. Both the Teknatool Powergrip and 75mm bowl jaws are designed to do what you want. The will both fit on the G3 but the mfgr doesn't recommend it - I think the chuck itself is plenty strong but perhaps they would prefer we buy some larger chucks too.

There are many useful chucks and each brand has their own fan base. Often it seems to boil down to which chuck a turner gets first - whatever it is there is an advantage to getting more of the same so the jaws will interchange. That said, I keep enough chucks so I rarely have to change jaws. At the moment I have 16 Nova G3, SN, SN2, and Titan chucks. I find it very useful to have more than one chuck with identical jaws so I can hold several projects or several parts of the same project and not have to remove them from the chuck.

JKJ

[Roger Chandler]

Are the Huricane jaws compatible with the Vicmarc chucks?I do not know if Hurricane jaws will fit Vicmarcs....most chucks use proprietary hole spacing, so as to make purchase of their particular jaw sets a given,.....that is the general state of things. Maybe someone else knows for sure.

[Michael Mills]

For more info here is a chart for Nova jaws and chucks.
The G3 is ok for the 75mm jaws.
The reason I suggested the 70mm over the 75mm is the spigot.
Your 50mm is 1.65, the 75mm is 1.83 or .18" larger. The 70mm spigot is 2.20 or .55 larger.
The G3 is 3+ lbs where the SN2 is 5+ lbs
http://www.teknatool.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NOVA-Standard-Jaws-Min-Max-Ranges-Jaw-Table-inch.pdf

[John K Jordan]

For more info here is a chart for Nova jaws and chucks.
The G3 is ok for the 75mm jaws.
The reason I suggested the 70mm over the 75mm is the spigot.
Your 50mm is 1.65, the 75mm is 1.83 or .18" larger. The 70mm spigot is 2.20 or .55 larger.
The G3 is 3+ lbs where the SN2 is 5+ lbs
http://www.teknatool.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NOVA-Standard-Jaws-Min-Max-Ranges-Jaw-Table-inch.pdf

That's an excellent chart, have never seen that one. Thanks.

JKJ

[William C Rogers]

I have one Barracuda 2, Barracuda 4, PSI 2000, Hurricane HTC125, Nova G3, and two Supernova's 2.

to answer your question since you already have the G3 I would get a Supernova 2 and 70 mm jaws.

The Hurricane HTC 125 is a very good chuck for large blanks. I use that for the larger stuff. The chucks I mainly use are the two Supernovas, one with 50 mm jaws and one with 70mm jaws, but I also use the G3 a lot. For small things I use the PSI 2000. The main thing I use the Barracuda's is with cole jaws, but they have multiple jaws for those unique things, but I rarely use them. They are ok, but prefer my other chucks.

[David M Peters]

I recently bought a new midsize chuck and went with a Bulldog 375 because it's compatible with VM100 jaws. At the same time I got a few VM100 jaws as well as the Bulldog ripple jaws. The Bulldog check is very nice and is $40 less than the Vicmarc. So the Bulldog/Vicmarc combo is a decent option because you essentially to pick from two distinct-ish ranges of jaws.

For large work I have a Hurricane 125. Very happy with it as well although it doesn't have quite the same variety of jaw options. That's why I went the Vicmarc route because for small & medium work I tend to need more varied jaws.

[Bill Blasic]

I have just finished a review of the newly released Nova Titan III. They have gone back to the the 3 screw slides and it comes with the 5" Power Grip Jaws like the original Titan. And to make it even better Nova has come out with 2 new bowl jaw sets for it. The Titan 6 and the Titan 7. I believe the review will be in the October edition of More Woodturning Magazine. Every 2 screw jaw from Nova will fit all Nova chucks even the Titan but the 3 screw Titan jaws will only work on the 3 screw hole original Titan or the new Titan III. J.K.J. above states it very well, and yes everyone has their own brand they like. I do have a few more Novas than he has but it is not a contest:):):)

[Brandon Speaks]

Thanks guys.

I did intend to keep the G3 but wanted something bigger to go with it. I also know that I will add multiple chucks over time to not have to swap jaws. I made the assumption that it would still be better to have matching chucks if possible (nova with all jaw sizes vs some nova, some one way, etc) but it seems that may not be important. That makes it easier since I can build a basic collection of some less expensive and then build up from there.

[terry mccammon]

+1 on Hurricane products. In my view the best price-quality deal going. Plus their customer service is great.

[John Keeton]

I am one of the multi - SN2 folks. Some of my recent works are 18-22" platters, some turned off axis and I use the 50mm jaws on the SN2 with no difficulty. I would not want to try a deeper bowl with that setup and would opt for larger jaws, but I think the SN2 body is well capable of that.

[Richard Dooling]

+1 on Nova and the SN2s are my go to chucks. I like that so many of the jaws can transfer between the different chucks. This is a very flexible system.
I'm also looking at the Oneway Talon because the way it grips looks very sturdy.