Which chuck

[Tim Compton]

I am looking to buy a new chuck for my laguna 18/36. I have 2 nova G3's that are 1"X 8 tpi.. I am looking to stay with Nova for the new chuck. I am looking at the super nova or the Titan. Which one would be the best choice. I am starting to turn bowels.

[Michael Mills]

Not having used the Titan I think the Supernova2 would do anything you may want. If you want to turn huge hollow forms or bowls (22"+) then you may want the Titan. The SN2 weighs 5+ lbs and the Titan weighs 9+ lbs; the Titan is pretty huge.
Here is a listing of chuck jaws, the only jaws not recommended for the SN2 are the Titan Powergrips (5").
https://www.teknatool.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NOVA-Standard-Jaws-Min-Max-Ranges-Jaw-Table-inch.pdf
I have never needed anything larger than my SN2's.
Depending on what jaws you already have some of the current "sets" for the SN2 may include enough different jaws to make the higher $$ reasonable.

[tom lucas]

I have and use both SN2 and titan. Titan doesn't seem that big to me and I often use it with 2" jaws. It will easily handle small items/jaws but can also work well with the jaws and spigots needed for bigger projects. A second SN2 is on my wish list because I have the Titan and a Vicmarc VM120 for bigger stuff. Now if you are a cole jaw user, the Titan will handle a bigger set, if I recall correctly. The Vicmarcs have beefier jaws, but then I understand staying with Nova. They are a great value and more than adequate for most turnings. I wouldn't go for the sets in the SN2. The 2" (50 mm) is most useful. I just ordered a 35mm set for the smaller items that I sometimes turn. I have a set of step jaws that I don't much like and rarely use. The spigots are beasts, but they waste a good bit of wood, which is OK for bigger turnings. I have the 5" jaws but have not used them yet. Given you have 2 G3's, I'd get the Titan and an new inserts/adapter for the G3s. No matter which ONE you buy, you'll likely want the other one too.

[John K Jordan]

I am looking to buy a new chuck for my laguna 18/36. I have 2 nova G3's that are 1"X 8 tpi.. I am looking to stay with Nova for the new chuck. I am looking at the super nova or the Titan. Which one would be the best choice. I am starting to turn bowels.


I have a bunch of G3s, SNs, SN2s, and one Titan. I like the jaw interchangeability of the series.

I have a PM3520b, a couple of Jet 1642 lathes, and a couple of Jet Mini lathes and have used the SN2 chucks on all of them comfortably, although I usually use the G3 chucks on the minis. I and students have turned many bowls and platters of various sizes with the G3, SN, SN2 chucks. I feel comfortable turning 20" pieces with the SN2 chucks.

To me the Titan would be too large and heavy for a small lathe with a 1" spindle but seems like it would work OK for your larger lathe with the 1-1/4"x8tpi spindle. If your goal is to turn lots of large bowls, it certainly is a hoss and the biggest jaws can grab a huge tenon. If you might mostly turn bowls 16" or less I think the SN2 would certainly suffice (IMO) and is a lot cheaper. I save the Titan for the largest and heaviest things on the 20" lathe. The SN2s are my favorite for almost everything else I turn.

Hey, get one of each!! Go for it! You will change jaws less often! [Me with head held low, averted vision, mumbling the admission that I have 17 nova chucks in the shop plus two loaned out to a student.]

JKJ

[David Bassett]

Back when I had access to the lathe in a shared shop I was using a Powermatic 4224 and never felt the Super Nova 2 was too small. But...:


... I am starting to turn bowels.

I'm not a big bowl turner and I guess I can (just barely) imagine a bowl big enough the SN2 would be marginal with. I will say the folks hogging out bigger blanks than I'd risk all seemed happy with SN2. Seems to me it would be good for at least most of what you do and saving the expense of a Titan until you're at point you know you need the Titan might be a good plan.

ETA: IIRC- most of the bowl turners balanced their blanks and did their exterior roughing with a face plate. They would then create a tenon and rechuck in the SN2 to refine the exterior and rough the interior. So they never messed with 30-50+ pounds of off balance mass in the chuck.

[William C Rogers]

I’m going to give different advice. Get the best chuck you can afford. I see advice that we should stay with the same brand because of jaw interchangeability. But who really changes jaws. I never did, just ended up buying more chucks instead. At one time I had 6 SN2s with different jaw sets. Many rarely used. I have sold all my SN2s. I now have three chucks. One Axminister SK100 with 50mm jaws, One Axminister SK114 with O’Donnell jaws, and a HTC 125. For me I like all of these chucks better than the SN2s. The O’Donnell jaws are so versatile they eliminate several jaw types, The HTC is very good for larger bowls, and the 50mm is used a lot. ‘I have never used the Titan chuck. I have used One Way and Vicmarc chucks. If you put all of these chucks on a table the SN2 chuck would be the last one I would pick.

[Ralph M Cox]

I would get something better, i.e., OneWay Stronghold, especially since you're moving to a larger bowl lathe. One of the downsides of the Nova chucks is their short travel distance, resulting in the need to buy more sets of jaws because of the limited range of each set.

[Shawn Siegrist]

Woodcraft has the super nova 2 chuck on sale today only for 169.99!