PSI Barracuda 2 Chuck Question

[Lee DeRaud]

This is the key-style chuck, not the older "tommy bar" unit.

UPS delivered it arrived yesterday, and it appears to have a part missing. On the headstock side, the chuck is open: you can see the gears that open and close it. There are two threaded holes in the rim of the chuck body that look for all the world like they're intended for screws to hold on a cover plate. So I looked at the instructions (yeah, I know that's a radical idea) and there's a picture there where they show how to mount the spindle adapter: it looks like there's a cover plate. PSI tech support says, no cover plate, the back of the chuck has to be open for cleaning.

I can believe either way...possibly earlier versions had a cover plate and they removed it because there were too many problems with crud building up in the gears. For that matter I can easily fab a cover for it once I figure out the thread size for the attaching screws.

Anybody got one that can verify whether it should have that plate or not?

[kenny mayes]

Three people in my club have this chuck. None of them came with a backing plate. In my eyes it should have one. One fellow said he has problems with dust getting into the gears and making it hard to adjust. He takes his lathe to do demonstrations so he doesn't have air with him to clean it out.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Lee I have the Apprentice chuck which is the same as yours. It does not have a back and I called them about it. They said no back. I just blow it out when I take it off the lathe but I always blow things out before I put them up when I am done with it.

[Lee DeRaud]

Sounds like "no back" is the answer...wonder what those two threaded holes are for?

[Mike Jory]

Hi Lee;
Both my Super Nova and my Talon are open in the back. It's never caused a problem, I easily blow them out often. Interesting that the Super Nova II has a closed back.
Mike

[Lee DeRaud]

Sounds like "no back" is the answer...wonder what those two threaded holes are for?Never mind...took a closer look (with the right glasses on): those holes have setscrews down in the bottom. Don't know what they actually do, but at least they're not just random empty holes.

Unless of course the setscrews are just there as plugs...:p

[Lee DeRaud]

Both my Super Nova and my Talon are open in the back. It's never caused a problem, I easily blow them out often. Interesting that the Super Nova II has a closed back.Yup, I've seen other chucks with an open back. Wouldn't even have questioned it except for that picture of a closed-back chuck on the instruction sheet.

[Ben Werner]

I have this chuck. Show a pic and I'll tell ya if its like mine which works fine or if its different.

[Lee DeRaud]

I have this chuck. Show a pic and I'll tell ya if its like mine which works fine or if its different.It's the one on the cover of the new PSI catalog. Here's the backside:
46381
And now I see that the "setscrews" I was talking about go down through the body and hold the pinion gears in place...easier than using a C-clip, I guess.

[Ben Werner]

everything looks like mine.

[Mike Henderson]

I got one of the very early ones and it has an open back. Stuff can build up in there so you have to blow it out now and again. When I'm not using it, it sits on a shelf below my lathe so it gets filled with swarf from other turnings that I'm doing. Never seemed to hurt it but I'd prefer having a back on it.

BTW, one thing that I did was send a note to PSI and ask them for some extra screws that hold the jaws on. Every time I'd change the jaws, I'd visualize dropping one of the screws into a pile of shavings and losing it. The sent me about eight screws free. Having them gives me some peace of mind.

Mike

[Lee DeRaud]

BTW, one thing that I did was send a note to PSI and ask them for some extra screws that hold the jaws on. Every time I'd change the jaws, I'd visualize dropping one of the screws into a pile of shavings and losing it. The sent me about eight screws free. Having them gives me some peace of mind.Yeah, they're odd ones: M5 thread IIRC, but I've never seen heads quite that profile, kinda halfway between flathead and capscrews.

[Steve Hayes]

I've had numerous screw heads strip out. Called and they sent half a dozen new ones. They said they had an issue with the screws at one point.

[Lee DeRaud]

I've had numerous screw heads strip out. Called and they sent half a dozen new ones. They said they had an issue with the screws at one point.The metal in that T-handle hex wrench seems pretty soft. There were a couple times I thought I had buggered up a screw head, but it was always the wrench...needed to grind it down to some "fresh" corners. (I've also got a CMGC3: same jaws/screws.)

[Corey Hallagan]

The Nova G3 is made the same way I believe without a back on it.

corey

[Richard Madison]

Should be easy enough to make a back cover plate (sheet metal, plastic, even wood), if you could find a couple of those M5 cap screws to hold it on.

[Chuck Hanger]

I have a box of M5 flat head 3/4 in long. In our little town I could not find a supplier in order to buy 6 or 10 (some spares) in order to hold my M12V router to the plate. Only place that I could find them local was Fastenal and had to buy a box of 100. They did let me have them for contractor price though. $7.60 which was better than burning anymore $3 gas hunting.
Chuck

[Lee DeRaud]

Should be easy enough to make a back cover plate (sheet metal, plastic, even wood), if you could find a couple of those M5 cap screws to hold it on.If I decide it needs a cover, looks like the simplest way is to cut it out of 0.1" acrylic on the laser and use the spindle adapter to hold it on. At this point, I doubt I'll bother, now that I know coverless is normal.

[Samuel Brooks]

Do you like the Barracuda 2 chuck?

I am new to Wood Turning, I have done a few pens and some spindles, but now I want to try some bowls and it looks like I really need a chuck.

All I have is face plate that came with my Jet 1442VS. :confused:

I did some searching and there were comments that the quality control was not so hot and that you might have to send it back multiple times to get a good one. Since I do not know what I am looking at, I might not realise it is a bad one until it's too late to send it back.

The latest catalog show sthe Barracuda 2 including the Jumbo Flat Jaws for $169.95 which looks like a pretty good price.

My question I guess is this, once you talk about spending $150 for something that is a hobby for myself, the difference between spending $150 and $300 for something like a Oneway which goes for $269 plus I would need to buy accessores that are included with the Barracuda. Does not seem like that much more.

Again this is a hobby for me.

So let the comments begin :)

[Richard Madison]

Sam,
Just a matter of priorities, with respect to the other wants and needs of yourself and your family. If you can spare the 150 now and expect to be doing this for some years, buy the best available. Years from now you will never miss the money, and will still have the better tool to use every day. But if your wife or child needs/wants something that is important to them now, you gotta think about it.

Spent a year in Saginaw one summer. Wasn't the "Horseshoe" in Bay City in 1964?

[Frank Fusco]

Do you like the Barracuda 2 chuck?

I am new to Wood Turning, I have done a few pens and some spindles, but now I want to try some bowls and it looks like I really need a chuck.

All I have is face plate that came with my Jet 1442VS. :confused:

I did some searching and there were comments that the quality control was not so hot and that you might have to send it back multiple times to get a good one. Since I do not know what I am looking at, I might not realise it is a bad one until it's too late to send it back.

The latest catalog show sthe Barracuda 2 including the Jumbo Flat Jaws for $169.95 which looks like a pretty good price.

My question I guess is this, once you talk about spending $150 for something that is a hobby for myself, the difference between spending $150 and $300 for something like a Oneway which goes for $269 plus I would need to buy accessores that are included with the Barracuda. Does not seem like that much more.

Again this is a hobby for me.

So let the comments begin :)

Samuel, I may be the one you saw making comments about sending PSI chucks back several times. For me, that was (note past-tense) correct. I bought one of the first of the China import knock-offs from PSI, the GMC3 mini-chuck. It did have problems. The only reason I stuck with the annoyance of sending it back repeatedly (at PSI expense) was that they practically begged me to keep trying as they wanted a pleased customer. This was about two years ago. It is my understanding that this experience, and probably others like it, have resulted in new and improved quality control measures with the Chinese factories. There is considerable savings in money compared to the famous originals. I am pleased with this item and believe it to be a great value. As for tommy bars vs. key, again IMHO, that is only a minor factor. The tommys are not all that difficult to use. As with anything, you have a decision to make. Personally, I would do it again and spend the savings on something else.

[Samuel Brooks]

I am just a young one so I am not sure. I was not even a twinkle in my mom's eye in 64 :-). Besides, I grew up in Indianapolis. I made it Michigan via Arizona.

I can say however that Bay City is a nice town.