chuck question

[Richard Demler]

I have an older craftsman lathe now,I'm in the process of deciding which new one I can afford.For the time being is there a good chuck for bowl turning that I could buy now and use on my craftsman and use on any lathe I will buy in the future?The spindle on the one I have now is 3/4 16 so I'm thinking I will have to buy an adapter..For the record the lathe I'm leaning towards buying is the grizzly 0766,but it's a month or so before I can pull the trigger on it..Any help will be greatly appreciated..Thank you!!

[Bob Coates]

oneway makes good chucks, You just need to buy the adapter to move to another lathe. I bought one to use on shopsmith and later used the same chuck with different adapter for new lathe. I bought the oneway, not the tallon or stronghold. The adapter will run about 20. The adapters are inserts, you take one out and replace it with different one.

Bob

[Marty Tippin]

The SuperNova 2 will work fine for you. Various spindle adapters are available and there are lots of jaw sets to choose from.

[John K Jordan]

I bought a Technatool Supernova chuck when I had my first lathe. They sell a removeable insert that adapts any chuck to any lathe. When I got a bigger lathe I just swapped out the insert, for about $25. I think I have 11 of these chucks now, three different models, and the same inserts and jaws work on all of them.

I like the inserts far better than the adapters with two different threads that fit between the headstock spindle and the chuck.

I think I still have an old 3/4" insert for these chucks if you want it (and I can find it!)

JKJ

[Dick Mahany]

I also am partial to the Oneway chucks as discussed earlier. I have several Stronghold chucks and they are excellent. Oneway has (or can make) an adapter for just about any spindle, so if you change lathes, the chucks will still work great, with simply a different adapter, which are readily available from the OEM. I also bought a smaller PSI barracuda set, but don't care for it. It works fine and is smaller, but I have been spoiled by the Stronghold Oneways which have sooooo many options.

[Richard Demler]

Thank you gentlemen.I will check them all when I get home from work tomorrow..

[David C. Roseman]

Thank you gentlemen.I will check them all when I get home from work tomorrow..

Richard, also check out the Hurricane HTC100 and the HTC125 chucks that Steve Fulgoni sells online at The Woodturning Store. Both are highly regarded on this board and available with a 3/4" x 16 tpi insert to fit your lathe until you get your new one. I have both, as well as several Strongholds and Talons. All excellent chucks.

[Roland Martin]

Check out Ebay, search for Supernova 2. There are a couple of good deals with free shipping. $139 w/o insert and another $159 with insert of your choice. I have 5 of these and have had no problems of any kind.

[Michael Schneider]

There a many good chucks that will serve you well.

I have had mine for awhile, so I have oneway talons and stronghold and vicmarc 100 and 120.

They are all very good, but the vicmarc 100 seems to be my favorite chuck.

Hurricane chucks where not around when I bought mine, but would consider them.

I have a collection of jaws for my current ones, so will probably not add more brands.


good luck, and have fun. The choices with no real wrong answer are often the hardest to make.

Michael

[Steve Schlumpf]

Richard, I also started out with a Craftsman mono-tube lathe and picked up a Oneway Talon with the 3/4" adapter. Since I started some years ago, that same chuck has been used when I upgraded lathes to a Jet 1642-2 and then to my Robust AB - just changed out the adapter.. It still remains my favorite chuck and I highly recommend it!!

[Bob Bergstrom]

Hurricane chucks are a solid buy. Our club has 3 in use in the workshop with no problems and if you misplace the wrench a Allen wrench will work. I lost one of my Oneways and they want $20 for a new one.

[Brice Rogers]

Another approach is to buy a Grizzly G8783 chuck for $60. It fits a 3/4-16 thread. I have one on my craftsman lathe. I works well but only has one set of jaws (about 2" over a tenon/spigot or about 2-1/2 inches inside a mortis/pocket). It works well.

I also own a G0766 and bought the large Grizzly chuck kit for around $220 (T10811). It works fine. I made an adapter to go from the Griz 1-1/4 down to 3/4 inch so that I could use my old chuck in addition to the new chuck. It has a little runout but, fortunately (?), because my Grizzly spindle threads are a little undersize (and therefore a little sloppy) I can slip in a thin shim at the base of the adapter to get things lined up adequately. So, I am now using both chucks on my Griz. I doubt that I'll bother trying to adapt the larger Griz chuck to the little Sears lathe. I'm still trying to figure out what I do with that one.

[Richard Demler]

Brice how do you like your G0766??

[Richard Demler]

I believe I'll be calling in an order for the hurricane HTC 100 in the morning.

[Brice Rogers]

Brice how do you like your G0766??

I like it. It is quite capable. I like the variable speed, ability to run in reverse, the power, the swing.

I received one from the second batch. I think that the first batch was kind of a pilot run and was of high quality. I think that Grizzly is in the process of correcting things related to quality and functionality that have arisen. So, although I've had a couple of "bumps" along the way I think that people buying it in the future will have better luck. I also know that my experience may be unusual. My problems:
1. Some minor shipping damage related to about 7 or 8 fasteners not being tightened enough (a drop of lock-tite would have solved this). There were loose nuts and bolts laying in the bottom of the shipping crate and the motor was hanging by only a couple of threads. The lathe needed things put back together before it could be run. Irritating but fixable.
2. The spindle was ugly and the threads were undersized. Looked like an apprentice machinist's first attempt to single-point thread something. As an apprentice, he probably didn't get a passing grade on that attempt. I'm waiting for a new spindle to be sent - - probably in February.
3. The speed control was erratic when received and failed within a month or two. It's a $3 part that takes 45 minutes to replace.
4. The banjo was undersized. It would not allow a 22 inch cylinder to be turned. This has been corrected on new shipments.
5. The banjo/tool rest would not drop low enough. This was fixed when the new banjo was sent out.
There were a few other annoyances but they aren't worth mentioning.

I found these things irritating - - especially because they were very avoidable if the lathe mfr. used "best practices". But I am happy with the lathe. When I get the new spindle I'll be even happier.