SN2 direct thread chuck set for $79

[Thomas Wilson80]

Does anyone have any experience ordering from this site. It is way cheaper than any other site I've ever seen which makes me suspicious....

https://www.kukhi.com/1-4-direct-supernova2-chuck-nova-1-set-inch-gifting-bundle-thread-tk-23099

[Steve Eure]

I have never heard of that company. I definitely be suspicious because that set sells for well over $200 and normally if it goes on sale is around $180-$200.
If you venture to try, make sure you use PayPal or some other secure money transaction site so you won't be scammed.

[John K Jordan]

Does anyone have any experience ordering from this site. It is way cheaper than any other site I've ever seen which makes me suspicious....

https://www.kukhi.com/1-4-direct-supernova2-chuck-nova-1-set-inch-gifting-bundle-thread-tk-23099

Makes me suspicious, especially that price with the extra jaws. And that I can't find any reviews.

And the fact that the company is in China:
INFORMATION
+86 15030497201
customer@kukhi.com
Zhao Qinghui
No. 136, Linsheng Road, Tinglin Town, Jinshan District, Shanghai, 201505 China

Perhaps it is a fake. You could send this to Nova and see if they are an authorized dealer.

Also read some of their information. I found this: "It usually takes 21-28 business days to arrive in your country however, in some instances, delivery may be delayed " and the part about your responsibility for any import duties and fees and their lack of guarantee of delivery.

One minor point unrelated to the price or authenticity = the direct thread. While this sounds like a good idea it may make it harder to resell down the road. Also, I bought a direct-threaded Nova Titan and unlike those with inserts, there is no way to put a spanner wrench on it. You have to use a special wrench which doesn't fit properly or remove the chuck the crude and possibly damaging way by striking on the chuck key. I play on machining some flats on my Titan to allow me to use the wrench. Someday...

JKJ

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

There was recently a spate of chucks with the larger thread on sale for cheap on ebay. The standard 1x8 were running usual prices from the same suppliers. Don't know if there was an over run, or what.

[David Delo]

Aren't these SN2 chuck jaws the style where the inside profile is smooth & straight (non-dovetail) but the outside profile is dovetail for using in a recess?

[Mike Peace]

I was doing some price research on midi lathes and found a Rikon lathe for $89 from that company with $5 shipping. Crazy!

[John K Jordan]

Aren't these SN2 chuck jaws the style where the inside profile is smooth & straight (non-dovetail) but the outside profile is dovetail for using in a recess?

The Nova chuck jaws such as the 50mm and some others are made with a dovetail inside and outside. The dovetail inside is small - some who don't look carefully think it's just a line or smooth. It holds very well on a tenon.

JKJ

[David Delo]

Thanks for the clarification John.



The Nova chuck jaws such as the 50mm and some others are made with a dovetail inside and outside. The dovetail inside is small - some who don't look carefully think it's just a line or smooth. It holds very well on a tenon.

JKJ

[William C Rogers]

The Nova chuck jaws such as the 50mm and some others are made with a dovetail inside and outside. The dovetail inside is small - some who don't look carefully think it's just a line or smooth. It holds very well on a tenon.

JKJ

John, I don’t consider the 50mm Nova inside jaws dovetail. The 50mm Nova jaws have a what I call a “birds beak” on the inside They are straight with this “beak” at the end. Their website says not to cut the notch for this, but to cut a straight tenon. I know many cut this notch, but the idea is for the beak to draw the wood against the jaw face. The outside are true dovetail on these jaws.

[tom lucas]

I was just looking at that set. The cheapest I think I've seen is around $170. The GN2 with just the standard jaws is like $135. Maybe that low price is because they have a connection to the manufacturing. But no way would I give them any information about me. When it's too good to be true it is too good to be true.

[Jim Peck]

I recently ran across something similar (maybe even the same website--can't recall for sure), where a certain tool was priced WAY below market rate. I googled reviews of the site and several people reported it was a ripoff, just a means for a scammer to get credit card info from people and no delivery of the equipment. I suspect that is the case here.

I note they also have the WEN 4214 VS 12" drill press for sale for $89. On Amazon (whose algorithms usually make sure their prices are competitive) the same drill press is $264. So, I smell a scam.

If you order from them, make sure you use some means to keep your credit card info protected and know how long you have to get a the charge canceled by your card company or whomever.

And if I'm wrong and you actually get the product for that insanely low price--please let us know! I'll gladly eat crow for prices like that!

[David Delo]

On the Kukhi site, you can search for different products at the top left of the page. Type in words like lathe, saw or router etc. and check out the crazy prices on name brand products.

[Michael Mills]

Aren't these SN2 chuck jaws the style where the inside profile is smooth & straight (non-dovetail) but the outside profile is dovetail for using in a recess?

I agree with William C. on this.
Per the instructions (page 13). DO NOT CUT A RECESS FOR THE LIP TO FIT INTO, AS THIS WILL REDUCE GRIPPING POWER
https://www.teknatool.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/SuperNova2-Maunal-full-version-for-CD_8-Feb-2005.pdf

Some folks do cut for the the "lip" and that is fine, my eyesight is not good enough to gauge cutting a dovetail <1.5mm deep.
The following is pic of my 50 mm jaws but they may have changed.
The graph is what may happen if you cut a full dovetail as you would for the outside.

422894
422895

[John K Jordan]

John, I don’t consider the 50mm Nova inside jaws dovetail. The 50mm Nova jaws have a what I call a “birds beak” on the inside They are straight with this “beak” at the end. Their website says not to cut the notch for this, but to cut a straight tenon. I know many cut this notch, but the idea is for the beak to draw the wood against the jaw face. The outside are true dovetail on these jaws.

Anyone can call the internal shape what they want, Technatool calls it a "lip". I call it a dovetail since it is angled in away from the jaw just like the outer diameter is angled out from the jaw. A minor difference to me is the angle and a bigger difference is the length of the angled part. Without getting out the big guns, I measured the outside angle on the 50mm jaws at about 10-deg. I measured the inside angle at about 12-deg. The outer 10-deg angle extends for about 8 mm before it ends at the radius at the base. The inside angle is shorter, about 3.5mm. Both the inside and outside angles have a bevel machined on their ends. The bevel on the inner rim is bigger than bevel on the outer rim.

I never cut a dovetail/notch/anything on a spigot (tenon) but rely on the inner dovertail/lip/beak to crush into the wood fibers on a straight cylinder. I don't rely on this feature to draw the wood against the jaw face but feel better applying considerable pressure while tightening the chuck, usually with the tailstock. But I rarely use a tenon on a face turning, mostly on end grain boxes, spindles, etc. The compression method is stronger and safer when it's biting into a spindle-oriented tenon than into a face-oriented tenon.

For a recess in face turning, I sometimes also use a straight cylindrical hole and sometimes cut a dovetail. For example, one quick and easy way to turn a bowl or platter is use a Forstner bit in a drill press to make a 2-1/16" shallow cylindrical hole (with no dovetail) in what will be the top of the bowl or platter, mount that in a 50mm jaw, and use other tools to cut either a tenon or a recess in what will be the bottom. (A recess can be much stronger than a tenon here depending on the size and wood). I like to cut a slight dovetail in this recess. Turn, smooth, and finish the outside, reverse, then turn the inside.

For anyone interested, I made this tool to cut the slight dovetail in the recess. It is angled to clear support by the tailstock if present. (easy to grind on a square-edged CBN wheel)

422896 422897

BTW, while on the subject of chucking into a dovetailed recess, a mistake some people make is when they cut the dovetail angle on the recess. If the angle is too much (relative to the axis) the outer dovetail can contact at the surface of the hole where the wood is thinner and weaker. It's better to make the angle less than the jaws so the outer dovetail grips only at the very bottom of the recess where there is a lot of wood for support. Examining pieces in classes that came off the lathe, I have sometimes seen this as the problem.

422893

Further on the subject of chucking into a recess, one demonstrator recommended a further improvement for the best precision when mounting. A little hard to describe without a diagram, but basically you angle the bottom of the recess a bit deeper at the "corner" so the outside edge of the dovetail doesn't sit in the exact bottom corner of the recess but grips ever so slightly higher, a bit away from the corner. The top of the jaws are, of course, pressed tightly into the bottom of the recess but contact the bottom at the inside radius instead of the outside radius. The slight bottom angle avoids any sawdust, fibers, or imperfect corner that might interfere with the precision. I've been doing this for some time now and it does seem to mount truer when reversed to hollow, especially in hard, dry wood.

JKJ

[John K Jordan]

I agree with William C. on this.
Per the instructions (page 13). DO NOT CUT A RECESS FOR THE LIP TO FIT INTO, AS THIS WILL REDUCE GRIPPING POWER
https://www.teknatool.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/SuperNova2-Maunal-full-version-for-CD_8-Feb-2005.pdf

Some folks do cut for the the "lip" and that is fine, my eyesight is not good enough to gauge cutting a dovetail <1.5mm deep.
The following is pic of my 50 mm jaws but they may have changed.
The graph is what may happen if you cut a full dovetail as you would for the outside.

422894
422895

I agree as well about not cutting into the tenon.

Hey, that's a nice diagram. If you drew it do you mind if I keep a copy?

My 50mm jaws look much the same (I have about 10 extra sets ranging from 20 years ago until recent and they all appear to be made the same way). The only details I can see different from your diagram are chamfers instead of sharp corners at the top and radii instead of sharp corners at the bottoms - I'm guessing those make machining easier and avoid sharp stress points.

Speaking of jaws, does anyone else turn their jaws if they get worn or dinged? I bought some used chucks and the jaws were in horrible shape. A Thompson scraper ground like a cutter for a metal lathe will easily "sharpen" and true the jaws. I first tighten on shims to keep from changing the radius since the originals are turned round then sawn into quadrants. Turn at slow speed, use lubricant, wear safety glasses!

JKJ

[William C Rogers]

I have always avoided calling the 50mm Nova jaw internal shape a dovetail. I dovetail to me is if the jaws were to have an angle that the tenon should be cut for maximum holding. Michael, that is a great diagram showing the proper tenon for those jaws.

[Jim Hipp]

Amazon has a Supernova 2 for $139. Insert not included. Description says 2" jaws which I don't understand.

[Michael Mills]

Hey, that's a nice diagram. If you drew it do you mind if I keep a copy?
JKJ

Use any way you wish John. I first posted it about 8 years ago, on here I think.

Sorry for the delay, not able to get on for a few days.
Mike

[Michael Mills]

Amazon has a Supernova 2 for $139. Insert not included. Description says 2" jaws which I don't understand.

The 50mm or 2" jaws are the same jaws.
Here are charts for their jaws in inches and another in mm.

https://www.teknatool.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NOVA-Standard-Jaws-Min-Max-Ranges-Jaw-Table-inch.pdf

https://www.teknatool.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NOVA-Standard-Jaws-Min-Max-Ranges-Jaw-Table-mm.pdf

That's a good price on the SN2 at Amazon.

If you get it and later want additional jaws the charts will help a lot. The jaws sizes are not always intuitive.
Most of their jaws are measured from the outside, however, the spigot jaws are measured from the inside. So there is only 1 mm difference in the 50mm bowl jaws and the 45mm spigot jaws.