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Dave Mcintire
04-28-2018, 3:10 PM
I,m trying to use a vacuum chuck on a Nova 16” belt drive lathe and can,t get good vacuum at the business end of the setup. Does anyone know if the spindle has holes in it? Everything is ok up to the lathe. Anyone use a vacuum chuck on a Nova?

Sid Matheny
04-28-2018, 5:10 PM
I use a Nova vacuum on mine that they used to sell. It uses a shop vac for the vacuum. Not ever had any problems with it.

JohnC Lucas
04-28-2018, 6:41 PM
Check the vacuum on the end of the hose just before it goes into the lathe. I just put a thumb over it. Install it and then check the vacuum at then end of the spindle using the thumb trick. If it works put your chuck on. then do the thumb trick where the vacuum exits the chuck. If it's still good them you possibly have a leak at the gasket where it meets the bowl. wood warps and you often lose the vacuum because of that. I keep a square of fun Foam from Walmart handy. It's larger than my chuck and has a hole in the middle to conduct the vacuum. Place this over your chuck and then put the bowl over that. That usually has just enough give to fill in any warped areas and seal the bowl. It is also possible that you have some holes or cracks in the bowl which will reduce the vacuum. I often seal the outside of the bowl with stretch wrap to seal up things like bug holes.

Allan Ferguson
04-28-2018, 6:48 PM
I use the Hold Fast Vacuum system. It uses a tube through the head stock with a seal at the attached hose end. The other end threads into the chuck head. Check all fittings for leaks and object you are trying to hold. Elm has large pores and will not hold a seal.

Brice Rogers
04-28-2018, 9:42 PM
Some woods are very porous and you can't get much of a vacuum. Have you tried sticking your finger at the chuck end or tried chucking up something non-porous (like a china plate)?

Ralph Lindberg
04-29-2018, 11:37 AM
I used the Nova system and was not entirely happy with it. I find the Hold Fast system to work much better... Except I don't use the Hold Fast vacuum generator, I use an actual vacuum pump.

JohnC Lucas
04-30-2018, 6:04 AM
You can make one similar to holdfasts using threaded lamp rod. I just turned a wooden morse taper and drilled it for the pipe. Glued the morse taper to the pipe for one end. For the other end get some threaded nuts or adaptors to fit the pipe and build those into a knob used to screw up against the handwheel to tighten everything up. Then bore the end of it to accept a bearing. Attach this bearing to your hose to the vacuum chuck and you have an EZ vacuum adaptor. Thought I could find my handout on that but didn't succeed. If you need a photo I'll shoot a shot this afternoon. They are reallly easy to build and solve the problem of having drive spindles that might have a hole in them. I keep mine for when I travel and do vacuum chuck demo's because I can make it fit just about any lathe.

JohnC Lucas
04-30-2018, 7:21 PM
Here is my version of the EZ vacuum chuck adaptor as mentioned above. I do put a gasket in the end that holds the bearing.

Tom Hartranft
05-05-2018, 2:58 PM
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?260747-Nova-Vacuum-Adapter
(https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?260747-Nova-Vacuum-Adapter)

Take a look at the info in above link for Nova lathe adapter option.


Tom