nova chucks and lathes manufacturing moving to china?

[tim mathis]

i found this on the robert-sorby wood turning , carving site. i am considering them for a new dvr lathe. one reason was that they were not made in china.http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon9.gif
www.robert-sorby.co.uk (http://www.robert-sorby.co.uk)
on the left side click on bulletin board
it is the 3rd paragraph down dated may 09 2007.

[Lee DeRaud]

Well, you could always just buy a New-Zealand-made one from Woodcraft's current inventory...or is that just too simple?

(We'll ignore the question of why you would buy one from a UK distributor rather than a local one.)

[Bernie Weishapl]

I found out a month or so ago that they (Teknatool) was going to do that. So I jumped on one from Woodcraft. Seems to me that if I were you that is what I would do quick. I don't think there is any difference between the Woodcraft or the Sorby sold lathe except the one sold by Sorby will most likely be 50 cycles instead of 60 cycles. I am like Lee and wonder why you would want to buy one from Sorby?

[Gordon Seto]

Where it is made is irrelevant. It all depends on the quality standard the company demands.

Rolex are made in Switzerland; but not all Swiss made watches are Rolex. Rolls Royce are made in England; British also make less quality cars. Powermatic, Jet and Wilton are all owned by the same WMT Tool Group. Their wood lathes are mostly manufactured in China/Taiwan; I will take Powermatic over the other 2 any day.

South Korea is not known for high quality appliance as short as 10 years ago. I think their LG washer and dryer are much better than the Maytag today.

Recently, the low tech hand tools at Harbor Freight are no longer from China.

China has cheap and abundant labor; they can produce very cheap products. For the same reason, they can produce very labor intensive products at competitive price.

We have to judge the quality product by product.

Gordon

[tim mathis]

sorry, i meant to say i am considering a dvr from nova. not from the sorby site in the uk. i found the sorby site by accident. this is the first i have read about them moving manufacturing from new zealand to china.
i checked their site (nova's) and i did not see anything about it there. and as many searches that i have done over the internet trying to eliminate one of my choices, it took me over a week to find this out. i just wish that a store or stores around me had 1 - 3 of the 3 that i am considering .i do plan on purchasing at woodcraft.

[Dario Octaviano]

I've read that Nova chucks and lathe have been manufactured in China for a while now. They used to ship them from China to NZ for inspection (further QC). Now, Nova believes the quality is consistent enough to ship direct to the US from China. Thus they cannot label them made in NZ anymore. ;)

[Bill Blasic]

The lathes are being made in China as is the ornamental turner, the chucks and jaws are still being made in New Zealand. They made it known on their website that they were opening a factory in China. They own the factory and control the quality of the lathes. If you have seen the DVR XP and the Nova 1624 you know they are doing this. I believe that you can count US made lathes on two fingers and delivered to your door they will run about $6,000. Now if I had $6,000 to spend the Robust 3HP would be right here in my shop. If you have $1,000 to $2,000 to spend you are not going to get a US made lathe. So now you have to look at bang for the buck and quality in a non US made lathe. Hey it is now a fact of life - what can you buy that is not made in China? Good luck in your pursuit of your lathe, I hope you find something you will enjoy turning on as turning is the optimal word.

[TYLER WOOD]

I have a General International lathe. First cousin to the Generals. The only difference is the GI are made in Taiwan/China, while the Generals are made in Canada. I have worked on both, my Gi and a friends 12 year old G. They both have great quality. I think most people need to instead of worying about the quality of China made products, wory about if the factory is owned by the company. That will determine most of the time if the product is good quality China or cheap China!

[John Gornall]

The folks at Nova must be spread thin these days as they work to get their new China venture up and running. There is a lot of confusion about their products and their website is far behind. I just got a 1624 lathe and a Supernova2 chuck. The chuck says made in New Zealand on it and the lathe doesn't say where it was made - it says made by Teknatool of New Zealand AND Qindao Teknatool Fortune Manufacturing Company China.

After 2 weeks turning I am pleased with the lathe. It's a simple lathe and everything on it works well. It's very smooth and has the power that was lacking in the mini lathe I had. The manual is weak trying to cover a number of variations of the lathe as it's shipped in different configurations to different parts of the world. I asked about a bed extension from my supplier and after a few questions realized they had an extension for the old Nova 3000 which I don't think fits a 1624. I'm also looking at the outrigger and trying to find out if there is a different outrigger for the 1624. I don't want to go through the hassel of getting the wrong parts. The Nova website confuses a lot of information about the discontinued 3000 with the new 1624.

The new SuperNova2 chuck has been a dissappointment and there seems to be some differences in the chuck I received and the Nova marketing information. For example the literature talks about the alloy of the base jaws and their distinct copper color - mine aren't copper colored. The plating on the main body is spotty. I chucked up a piece of wet cedar and worked on it over a couple of days. When I took it out of the chuck the jaws were well rusted and the face of the chuck body has rust spots all over it. The base jaws are numbered 1 thru 4 and the jaws have prick punch marks on the back of them showing 1 mark, 2 marks, etc - nothing in the manual about this - do they need to be mounted to their own specific base jaw? The grub screw to grip the lathe spindle is cross threaded and stuck.

I'll be sending a long email to Teknatool to get some answers - I hear they are good at responding.

[Gordon Seto]

Send Tim Geist, the US rep for Nova an email: service@teknatool.com

or call him (304) 295-8166

The service has been superb.

Let us all know how it turns out. Forums like this is our bargaining power to get quality products and services. Individually, we are nobody; but no company wants to lose us collectively.

Gordon

[Ken Milhinch]

The new SuperNova2 chuck has been a dissappointment and there seems to be some differences in the chuck I received and the Nova marketing information. For example the literature talks about the alloy of the base jaws and their distinct copper color - mine aren't copper colored. The plating on the main body is spotty. I chucked up a piece of wet cedar and worked on it over a couple of days. When I took it out of the chuck the jaws were well rusted and the face of the chuck body has rust spots all over it. The base jaws are numbered 1 thru 4 and the jaws have prick punch marks on the back of them showing 1 mark, 2 marks, etc - nothing in the manual about this - do they need to be mounted to their own specific base jaw? The grub screw to grip the lathe spindle is cross threaded and stuck.

I'll be sending a long email to Teknatool to get some answers - I hear they are good at responding.

John,

I was so dissatisfied with my Supernova chuck, I sold it and bought a Vicmarc. Like chalk & cheese.

My Nova had some of the nickel peeling off after just three uses, and the jaws let go of two blanks in the space of a week. I have had no such problems with the Vicmarc. As to the jaw numbering, I think you will find corresponding numbers on the side of the chuck, and yes, they are meant to be fitted in sequence. I also had the problem of the grubscrew sticking and then when I managed to release it and clean the threads, I found it didn't hold the insert anyway !

[Bill Blasic]

I guess I'm at the other end of the spectrum. I have a Super Nova, a Super Nova II, 2 G3's and a Nova Midi, I have not had a single problem with any of these chucks and the fact that all jaws fit all chucks is a bonus.

[Mark Cothren]

I guess I'm at the other end of the spectrum. I have a Super Nova, a Super Nova II, 2 G3's and a Nova Midi, I have not had a single problem with any of these chucks and the fact that all jaws fit all chucks is a bonus.

Same here... I have two SN2s and one G3 and have not had one problem with any of them that I can recall. Mine get used a lot - on both big and little blanks - both wet and dry wood. I know a few others who also use these chucks w/o any problems.

Sorry you other guys have had - and are having - problems with your's. Hope you get everything resolved.

[Gordon Seto]

Almost the same here:
I have a Titan, 2 SN, 2 SN2 and 2 Midi and have most of the jaws except the Step Jaws. I have no problem with them. I chose them because all the jaw sets can be used cross platforms (except the PowerGrip for Titan).

The only dislike is the pivoting chuck key for the SN. They are less convenient than the ball head hex key of the SN2.

I wonder if there are knock-off counterfeits in the market. Grizzly makes the clone for Vicmarc chuck. What if some small factory making the clones and selling them as the real thing. Sometimes, it may also have to do with the factory rejects. If they were not destroyed under supervision, someone may salvage the rejects and have a small machine shop to add the missing parts.

Counterfeiting is a big problem in Far East; they are more than software, video, music, high fashion accessories and watches. I was in Hong Kong several months ago, it was reported that most of the table salt are counterfeit in Southern China, especially the eatery. The alleged salt was not purified as it should; it contained lead.

If the plating peels off after 3 using, that's unacceptable. I don't think you will have problem getting a replacement under warranty. Do everybody a favor, let Teknatool know about their poor quality products. Competition is good. When we have more choices, we have better quality products at affordable price.

Gordon

[John Gornall]

Mark and Gordon,

I put a green blank of red cedar in the chuck and worked it over a couple of days - when I removed it the chuck jaws were completely rusted and pitted and the face of the chuck body was rusted and stained. This was my first use of this chuck.

Does this sound like the Nova chucks you have?

I was working another piece of the same wood in my Oneway Talon, switching chucks back and forth and I had zero corrosion in the Talon.

[Gordon Seto]

I don't leave green wood or my chuck. Sometimes when I return from lunch, the blank is no longer round. I don't see the reason to leave the green wood on the chuck for days. I don't intend to buy enough chuck for rough turn and wait for re-turn.

I notice so green wood would turn black wherever it has contacted with my chuck jaws. I never thought about doing anything to them. I just assume stainless steel jaws may be the solution. But I don't know if SS is the proper material for jaws; what if the turning tools accidentally hit the jaws.

I don't run a clean shop. If I turn KD wood, I may just step on the wood chip for weeks. But if I turn green oak, I found my lathe bed starts spotting before the end of the day. I would have to do a thorough clean where chips has contact with metal, WD-40 and "Slipit" lubricant to protect the metal.

Gordon

I have so many Nova chucks and jaws, so far they serve me well. I don't think I would diverse into other brands of chuck unless they are compatible with my existing jaws.

No doubt, Oneway and Vicmarc all have excellent chucks. I choose Nova mainly based on economic sense. I would rather use the extra resource of multiple jaw platforms to get extra chucks; so I don't have to swap jaws. If I have to one set of jaws for Talon and another set for Stronghold; at $40~50 a pop, they would cost a lot of money.