titan chuck

[jeff oldham]

I upgrades to the jet 1642 lathe and wanted to upgrade to a larger chuck,,i looked at the stronghold and vicmarc,,,and choose the titan chuck by nova,,it is massive and about 200.00 dollars less than the vicmark,,,,can anyone tell me if the 200.00 dollars is worth the difference,,and if anyone has this chuck how well do you like it,,thank you

[Peter Blair]

Lots of threads about chucks. I have absolutely no experience with a titan but for my money the Stronghold is the way to go. As a matter of fact I know there is a second one under the tree for me this year!!!!

[Steve Doerr]

Jeff,
I have a Titan chuck and am very happy with it. I went with the Titan because I already had a couple of Super Nova 2 chucks and several sets of jaws that allowed me to interchange them between the different size chucks. I am getting a 2nd Titan for Christmas and found that the cheapest place to purchase them was online thru Home Depot. It comes with a 1 1/4" x 8 tpi so it will fit your 1642 with no additional adapter needed. Another bonus was no shipping charge and delivered right to my house.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I have Oneway Talon and Stronghold chucks, and over the time I have had them and many more years of use in them, the difference in $ is less than a dime a week, and have the use of a better chuck I can rely on.

I would NOT go for a cheap chinese made chuck

Lee Valley stopped selling them

[Ralph Lindberg]

I have several Titan's actually and two of the old (no longer sold) Titan jumbo jaws (three screws vrs two).
They are bigger and heavier then the SN2 chucks, but take any jaw set that fits on the basic Nova chucks.
To me one of biggest advantage of the Titan was the old jaws

[daryl moses]

I use a Titan chuck almost exclusively. It is a large chuck. I like it a lot and have had no problems with it.

[Bill Blasic]

I do not know why Nova changed the Titan from having 3 screw 5" Power Grip Jaws to 2 screw 4" Power Grip Jaws but I know this - I would have never bought the new Titan knowing that fact. The 4" Power Grip jaw set works very well with the Super Nova II so you gain nothing by buying the new Titan. I was very disappointed as the 5" Power Grip jaws with the three screw holes has a lot more holding power. The chuck itself is a heavy duty well made chuck but they handicapped it. I would love to see Nova come out with some 8" or 9" jaws which would do well with the Titan.

[Michael Schneider]

Jeff,
Couple of questions that may assist other people helping you.

Do you already have a large investment in nova jaws?
What do you look to turn? (size and style of turning)


Vicmarc 100 can turn to 16inches and great job with small to medium - $238 https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p...0-Chuck-w-Jaws

Vicmarc 120 is a great chuck and can max out a 24" lathe- $288 https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p...0-Chuck-w-Jaws


I am not a turning expert, but have Vicmarcs (150,120s and 100s) and Oneways (stronghold and talon). They are both great manufactures. I got the vicmarcs first, and I grab them first. Both are well made and do the job. I like the jaw variety and style better on vicmarc, but that is just me. The long nose jaws and shark jaws are my favorite.

I also like the allen wrench keys in Vicmarcs, but again, these are personal preference. More of a Chevy vs Ford, Toyota vs Honda, ...

I inherited a set of supernova2 jaws and chucks that look nice and seem capable, but I have not used them yet.

I will likely to continue to buy vicmarc first. I am looking at a bulldog chuckzilla to add between my vicmarc 120 and 150. I don't have any bulldog chuck's yet, but their jaws are great.

I do think that vicmarc and oneway are a cut above the nova from a manufacturing standpoint. I don't know if you need that extra quality and attention to detail in a wood chuck, but I do enjoy grabbing the hex key, and smoothly adjusting the jaws on the vicmarc just a touch more than the rest. Again, someone else will feel the same way with the oneway and they would also be correct in their judgement.

I also prefer the closed back, but others would prefer the open back for cleaning.

Note: I have never used axminister, Record, or easy wood.

Summary:
- buy the best quality that you can (several to chose from, I chose vicmarc first)
- It is very likely that you will prefer the first really high quality chuck that you use for any length of time. You will swear that it is better than the rest. This is likely because you will get to know it well and it will become the old friend you go to when you are in a jamb. Old friends have strengths and weakness, you just learn to stick with the strengths and try to stay away from the weaknesses.

[John K Jordan]

- It is very likely that you will prefer the first really high quality chuck that you use for any length of time. You will swear that it is better than the rest. This is likely because you will get to know it well and it will become the old friend you go to when you are in a jamb. Old friends have strengths and weakness, you just learn to stick with the strengths and try to stay away from the weaknesses.

Very well said! I've noticed for years that people tend to recommend what they have and you gave the best reason why. (Another reason is justification for a purchase. Another one is "some friends/demonstrator/review said so.") I'm perfectly happy with my two drawers full of Nova chucks but I haven't used other brands enough to make an honest and useful comparison. I primarily turn small things and the novas are perfect (for me).

I have been thinking about purchasing one heavier chuck for occasional larger turnings. My good friend John Lucas has several brands and slightly prefers the Vicmarc so I might try one of those. I know nothing about them - do you recommend the 120 or 150? And which jaws would be your first choice for heavier things? I have a bunch of slabs I'd like to turn into platters and some big wood which suggests a bowl or three.

JKJ

[Michael Schneider]

John,

Either the 120 or the 150 would do the job.

The 150 is unique in that it has two modes for operating the chucks: 1) standard allan key, or 2) tommy bars. It is very easy to switch between them.

I bought the 150 this fall to learn the tommy bars. I have been very busy with house projects and have not had much shop time this past year. To date, I have only used the 150 in allen key mode.

With an extra inch in size, and only $100 between them, I would likely go with the 150. Jaws are interchangeable between the 120 and the 150, so if you change your mind about which chuck you want, you can easily sell the chuck body and buy the other one. Demand is high for Vicmarcs, so you will not be out much cash. Warning: kinda like potato chips, hard to buy just one...

I confess that I usualy overbuy when the price is close. I am still working full time now, so I am blessed that my shop is funded by my full time job.

I think that you will enjoy the large vicmarc. Like the nova, there are many types of jaws.

You might ping John Lucas about jaws choice. I do mostly medium size, he may have an alternate suggestion for you rather then the mega dovetails for very large pieces. Wish you were closer, I would let you try mine.



Thank you for all that you post, your work has been an inspiration to me. I must confess, I do have a soft spot for lamas and alpacas :-)

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.
Michael

[John K Jordan]

Either the 120 or the 150 would do the job.

Thank you, very helpful! Maybe I'll just get one of each... I'll call Sir Lucas tomorrow. Or maybe just go visit - he's only an hour and a half away. (And we old retired guys have flexible schedules)

Last week I got a call from a woman who got my name from somewhere - she wanted animals to enhance a Christmas program at their church. So tonight I took my PR llama Bubinga, young 2-year-old female alpaca Dria, and one mini donkey to her church. They dressed me up in a costume and had an animal "stall" on the stage next to a live manger scene for a 1/2 hour program. (I don't think llamas are period authentic but no one seemed to care ) The animals were a little squirrelly but not nearly as much as the kids packed into the audience! They (the animals) were, as usual, SO glad to get back home. Whenever I drive the trailer into the field after an event like this the other animals always run out and surround the trailer as if their buddies been gone for a week! The alpaca's mother was the first one to the trailer: "Where's my BABY???" They are extremely sociable animals - so much fun!

JKJ