Wanted: An accurate chuck

[Jim Underwood]

I want an accurate chuck.

When I first started turning, I had a Jet 1014 and a couple Nova chucks. The first one I bought new was the Nova midi with the tommy bars and and it had very small jaw movement.. The second one was a used original Nova chuck with tommy bars, and an assortment of jaws. Both of these had dovetail style jaws and for the money were pretty accurate.

Then I got a Jet 1642 lathe (since sold), and the Nova G3 chuck, and a Oneway Talon. I haven't been pleased with either one of these. They both have their problems. The G3 has some small jaws on it at the moment, but the thing wobbles despite my best efforts to get it running true. I've taken the insert out and put the dial indicator on it, trued it up, and checked again. There's less than .0005" runout on the insert at the moment, but the thing wobbles at the business end enough to see it.
The Talon jaws have never been right from day one. I tried and tried to get them trued up, but those serrated jaws are just... well... less than optimal if you want to re-turn something.

Anyway, I'm about fed up with these chucks, and wonder whether there are chucks that are accurate right out of the box? Vicmarc perhaps?

What say you?

[Jeramie Johnson]

I have been very pleased with my Hurricane chucks. I think they are similar to the Vicmarcs. I re-turn items 75% of the time, as I do not have the time to cut-prep-turn-finish. But my disclaimer is that I do not have investment in any other brands, but I love that the backs of these are sealed.

[Dick Strauss]

Jim mark your #1 jaw outline on the wood before removing the piece. When you want to return the piece realign the marks with jaw #1. You may have to wiggle slightly to get it to set in the same grooves made by the jaws.

[Michael Mason]

I have 2 vicmarcs, a 120 and 150. I am very pleased with both. They are very heavy duty, and both run true. I ordered a Hurricane a couple of weeks ago because they were on sale, and while it seems to be a good chuck, it is much lighter in weight and is not nearly as smooth as either vicmarc. I am not downing the hurricane, it works just fine, I just think the vicmarc chucks are in another class. Just my opinion.

[John K Jordan]

...The G3 has some small jaws on it at the moment, but the thing wobbles despite my best efforts to get it running true. I've taken the insert out and put the dial indicator on it, trued it up, and checked again. There's less than .0005" runout on the insert at the moment, but the thing wobbles at the business end enough to see it.
The Talon jaws have never been right from day one. I tried and tried to get them trued up, but those serrated jaws are just... well... less than optimal if you want to re-turn something.

"Wobble" as in runout or as in play (rocks if you grab it and push/pull)?

You might check the insert and body of the G3 and the lathe spindle for a scratch or burr or something preventing it from seating correctly. Even a bit of sawdust on the spindle can cause problems so a burr could be bad. Also, if you are using one of those plastic or fiber washers to make chucks easier to remove try removing it. They are notorious for causing wobble. I have 14 Nova chucks, some G3, some SN, and some SN2 and I haven't seen a wobble on any of them.

It is difficult or impossible to reinsert a tenon and get the piece to tighten perfectly. The best chance is as mentioned, mark the jaws and carefully tighten in the exact indentations. (and don't over-tighten) I just make a mark on the wood between jaws #4 and #1. However, I try to organize workflow so I don't have to rechuck. In my experience it is easier to reseat a chuck in a recess than on a tenon, especially if the recess is made correctly - just barely larger than the chuck jaws.

BTW, a slight wobble, as long as there is no play would be annoying but should not affect the turning. If consistent every time the chuck was remounted it wouldn't even adversely affect rechucking. Unlike the morse taper, lathe spindle threads are notoriously imprecise. Some are worn, some downright sloppy even when new.

JKJ

[Marvin Hasenak]

Accuracy and wood chucks don't fit in the same sentence, the wood will give and throw it off. But if you want an accurate chuck, look at the metal lathe chucks. They will repeatedly repeat their settings, but only if you do not squeeze the wood. They are usually a lot more expensive and will not have the variety of jaws that woodturners are used to.

[allen thunem]

just a thought here. how accurate do you need it to be to turn wood , which by nature is prone to constant movement??
Regardless of accurate the chuck may or may not be at the start of the project, the project wont end up that way when finished unless of course it is an engineered medium. Not seen many chunks of wood that maintain their shape after final finishing.
it is after all just wood.
just my 2 pesos

[John Keeton]

There is another possibility - the face of your spindle shoulder could be milled "out of flat." I have seen this on other lathes, and it will throw a chuck - any chuck - out of true because the chuck will not mount parallel to the spindle when shouldered/seated. Check this without a chuck mounted and make sure the face is flat and true.

[Jim Underwood]

Jim mark your #1 jaw outline on the wood before removing the piece. When you want to return the piece realign the marks with jaw #1. You may have to wiggle slightly to get it to set in the same grooves made by the jaws.

That's standard practice for me.
It's ok, but doesn't really do the trick. I think the problem with my Oneway is that the jaws were manufactured all crookedy to start. There's a forum thread on this chuck somewhere here that shows the problem. I should have contacted the reseller or Oneway immediately but failed to do so. Instead I tried to make it true using a scraper. Limited success.

[Jim Underwood]

Accuracy and wood chucks don't fit in the same sentence, the wood will give and throw it off. But if you want an accurate chuck, look at the metal lathe chucks. They will repeatedly repeat their settings, but only if you do not squeeze the wood. They are usually a lot more expensive and will not have the variety of jaws that woodturners are used to.

Ok. We're just going to have to agree to disagree on that... When turning a tenon on kiln dried wood, and IMMEDIATELY rechucking it, the effects of wood movement are negligible. And no, I don't want one of those knucklebusting metal lathe chucks on my wood lathe. Just not gonna happen.

[Jim Underwood]

There is another possibility - the face of your spindle shoulder could be milled "out of flat." I have seen this on other lathes, and it will throw a chuck - any chuck - out of true because the chuck will not mount parallel to the spindle when shouldered/seated. Check this without a chuck mounted and make sure the face is flat and true.

Yep. I should have measured that. It's a brand spanking new lathe, so I didn't think it would be a problem. I'll check it next time I'm up there...

[Jim Underwood]

just a thought here. how accurate do you need it to be to turn wood , which by nature is prone to constant movement??
Regardless of accurate the chuck may or may not be at the start of the project, the project wont end up that way when finished unless of course it is an engineered medium. Not seen many chunks of wood that maintain their shape after final finishing.
it is after all just wood.
just my 2 pesos

It should be accurate enough that when I turn a tenon on kiln dried wood and then turn it around, that if I get a 90 degree shoulder flush with the jaw faces, that I should see very little wobble once I turn the lathe back on. I see demonstrators do it all the time. If you're turning boxes, then you NEED to have this kind of accuracy...

[Jim Underwood]

"Wobble" as in runout or as in play (rocks if you grab it and push/pull)?

You might check the insert and body of the G3 and the lathe spindle for a scratch or burr or something preventing it from seating correctly. Even a bit of sawdust on the spindle can cause problems so a burr could be bad. Also, if you are using one of those plastic or fiber washers to make chucks easier to remove try removing it. They are notorious for causing wobble. I have 14 Nova chucks, some G3, some SN, and some SN2 and I haven't seen a wobble on any of them.

It is difficult or impossible to reinsert a tenon and get the piece to tighten perfectly. The best chance is as mentioned, mark the jaws and carefully tighten in the exact indentations. (and don't over-tighten) I just make a mark on the wood between jaws #4 and #1. However, I try to organize workflow so I don't have to rechuck. In my experience it is easier to reseat a chuck in a recess than on a tenon, especially if the recess is made correctly - just barely larger than the chuck jaws.

BTW, a slight wobble, as long as there is no play would be annoying but should not affect the turning. If consistent every time the chuck was remounted it wouldn't even adversely affect rechucking. Unlike the morse taper, lathe spindle threads are notoriously imprecise. Some are worn, some downright sloppy even when new.

JKJ

Wobble as in runout. There's no play. Brand new lathe, tight chuck. No plastic washer.
I'll buy the idea that the spindle threads are sloppy, but seems like tightening against a flat spindle shoulder should line it up...
I think John Keeton might be onto to something. I'll check the shoulder runout.

[Jim Underwood]

I have 2 vicmarcs, a 120 and 150. I am very pleased with both. They are very heavy duty, and both run true. I ordered a Hurricane a couple of weeks ago because they were on sale, and while it seems to be a good chuck, it is much lighter in weight and is not nearly as smooth as either vicmarc. I am not downing the hurricane, it works just fine, I just think the vicmarc chucks are in another class. Just my opinion.

That's been my impression too. One of the best woodworkers I know, Don Russell, has a whole fleet of them in custom made boxes. I'll check into them.

[Jim Underwood]

I have been very pleased with my Hurricane chucks. I think they are similar to the Vicmarcs. I re-turn items 75% of the time, as I do not have the time to cut-prep-turn-finish. But my disclaimer is that I do not have investment in any other brands, but I love that the backs of these are sealed.

Thanks Jeramie, I'll look into those too.