Scroll Chucks- Quality?

[roger wiegand]

I have no idea if my Vicmarc is the "best", but it works very well for me, better than my Nova chuck for anything bigger than a few inches in diameter. I used the Nova for years turning a variety of things, so I know it will work fine if that's what you have. There may well be better chucks available, but I can't afford to find out just now. What I particularly like about the Vicmarc is the one hand adjustment with a beefy hex key. I find it much easier to use than the drill chuck type keys on other chucks I've tried-- it engages very solidly, with no tendency to pop out, and miles easier than the two lever system on my Nova, where one of the little handles is invariably dropped onto a pile of chips requiring a 10 minute search before the next step of whatever I was trying to do. If I had three hands to hold the two handles and the workpiece at the same time I'd probably like it better.

I recently bought the cole jaws for the Vicmarc and found them to be flat, true, and concentric. I'm enjoying not having to make so many jam chucks.

[John Keeton]

Good post, Roger. I do not own any Hurricane chucks as I have not had any issues with any of my SN2 chucks. However, I have heard good things about the Hurricane chucks. They do include the insert, and that puts them within $30 or so of the SN2. The features are impressive, though the jaw selection is not as broad as the Nova line. I also did not see much information on the specs as one sees on the other brands, nor warranty info, but I may have just missed finding that info.

I can’t see a reason to ever change, but for someone buying their first chuck the Hurricane line looks to be a good choice.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I have no idea if my Vicmarc is the "best", but it works very well for me, better than my Nova chuck for anything bigger than a few inches in diameter. I used the Nova for years turning a variety of things, so I know it will work fine if that's what you have. There may well be better chucks available, but I can't afford to find out just now. What I particularly like about the Vicmarc is the one hand adjustment with a beefy hex key. I find it much easier to use than the drill chuck type keys on other chucks I've tried-- it engages very solidly, with no tendency to pop out, and miles easier than the two lever system on my Nova, where one of the little handles is invariably dropped onto a pile of chips requiring a 10 minute search before the next step of whatever I was trying to do. If I had three hands to hold the two handles and the workpiece at the same time I'd probably like it better.

I recently bought the cole jaws for the Vicmarc and found them to be flat, true, and concentric. I'm enjoying not having to make so many jam chucks.

Roger the Vicmark is right up there with the Oneway chucks, but they do rust and don’t have the Oneway patented Jaws, it is especially the jaws why I went with the Oneway chucks, rather than the Vicmark.

The Oneway chucks are not “GOOD DEAL” chucks, as it seems a lot of people go for, even where you read that someone is very happy with their “good deal” chuck, where as soon as they get them, they will take the chuck apart to clean all the metal shavings out, and then get their file out to smoothen the edges (soft steel) and lubricate the innards (wood dust sticks to it) and then the brand new chuck works.

I have always gone for quality, not “good deals” or lowest cost, it pays in the end, while it is a joy to use it and with no frustration.

The Oneway chucks jaw slides travel farther and the jaws hold better at all opening sizes, meaning fewer chucks and even less different jaws needed or to having to change.

No one here is “going over the top” I have stated why I choose the Oneway, and giving the reasons for it, too bad if you choose the “best deal chuck’ and find now you are stuck with something less.

Good enough ???, end of story

[Bill Blasic]

The right way to hold on a tenon is to have all of the jaw circumference holding on to the wood no matter what chuck you are using. To state that the jaws open wider are a good thing for turning is kind of silly, the further the jaws are open the less contact you have with the jaws. With the jaws wide open you are gripping on just 8 points instead of the 100% (or near 100%) of a right sized tenon. The only reason I have Oneway chucks is that for ten years I brought in Pro turners and I wanted them to be on hand and yes one Pro asked for one. Now that I'm not doing that I changed out the jaws to dovetail jaws so I could use the chucks. Serrated jaws are not my cup of tea. And just to let you know that I have actually purchased over 40 chucks and never did I have to take one apart to fix anything.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

The right way to hold on a tenon is to have all of the jaw circumference holding on to the wood no matter what chuck you are using. To state that the jaws open wider are a good thing for turning is kind of silly, the further the jaws are open the less contact you have with the jaws. With the jaws wide open you are gripping on just 8 points instead of the 100% (or near 100%) of a right sized tenon. The only reason I have Oneway chucks is that for ten years I brought in Pro turners and I wanted them to be on hand and yes one Pro asked for one. Now that I'm not doing that I changed out the jaws to dovetail jaws so I could use the chucks. Serrated jaws are not my cup of tea. And just to let you know that I have actually purchased over 40 chucks and never did I have to take one apart to fix anything.

I suppose you don’t know about the patented Oneway jaws, or never bothered to try or use them.

Using dovetail jaws do exactly what you say, they ONLY hold well if fitting exactly the one size tenon, where the jaws are fitting 100%.

The Patented Oneway jaws will hold as well at that exact size, and then on the smaller or larger sizes just as well, where the dovetail jaws fail to hold.

Have a look at this picture where you can see why the dovetail jaws are failing every size tenon but at the exact size, also meaning one is forced to only use one size tenon or buy a whole slew of jaws if one wants to make the right size tenon for the turnings size.

Where the Patented Oneway jaws will hold perfectly at all sizes the chuck will open up to, and so a better hold on changed sizes of drying wet wood tenons, and freedom to use the right size for the turning, without having to buy a whole slew of jaws.

Oh I have only half a dozen Oneway chucks, that covers all the jaw sizes and the Jumbo and Mega Jumbo jaws, I have used them for better than 20 years, they will last me and my grand children will still be using them with no trouble I’m sure.

​Chuck jaw differences.jpg

Oh ja, the talk about the marks on the tenon with the Oneway jaws, I finish my turnings and that includes removing the tenon, or cleaning up the recess.

[JohnC Lucas]

I've used the ONeway jaws several times in demos and classes when I couldn't bring my Vicmarc's. The Vicmarc jaws hold better when mostly closed. A lot better. Wide open of course they don't hold as well. I think ONeway makes a very good chuck although changing out the inserts is a pain if you have to do that often. Since I do travel and do demos on other lathes it's necessary to be able to change the inserts quickly and easily.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I've used the ONeway jaws several times in demos and classes when I couldn't bring my Vicmarc's. The Vicmarc jaws hold better when mostly closed. A lot better. Wide open of course they don't hold as well. I think ONeway makes a very good chuck although changing out the inserts is a pain if you have to do that often. Since I do travel and do demos on other lathes it's necessary to be able to change the inserts quickly and easily.

The precise fit of the tapered Oneway insert is made so you can change it if/when you get yourself another lathe, so you do not need to purchase another chuck, but it hardly meant to change it on a daily basis, even though it can be done.

Threaded inserts are easier to change, but very often not as precise and concentric fitting, as the treaded parts do need clearance in order to be able be screwed together, take that and the chuck having to be threaded onto the spindle and you have twice the chance of runout.

As far as holding, the profiled and serrated jaws hold as well as the smooth jaws at design size, anywhere under and above and the Profiled serrated jaws will hold better, especially on green and wet woods.

It is when roughing green and wet bowl blanks that the extra secure hold of the Oneway jaws come to fore, not really needed with turning small dry wood, used to turn things like mirrors or boxes.

The Oneway profile jaws have proofed themselves to me time and again while turning large and roughing large bowl blanks and half logs.

I am and have always been very satisfied with the performance of the Oneway chucks with their profiled jaws as well as the Jumbo and Mega Jumbo jaws.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I think I have stated why I think the Oneway chucks and jaw system is best IMO, and I don’t want to be repeating myself time and again, so if you disagree that is fine with me.

This will be the last reply in this thread on this, thank You

[David C. Roseman]

This thread is a hoot! What would the turning world be without a debate on scroll chucks every few months? Add in the too-human elements of confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance that Bill Blasic and John Jordan touch on, and things never fail to get lively. Fortunately for my own peace of mine, I, as with others, am confident of my complete objectivity. So here's my view. I happen to have Oneways and Hurricanes. Two Strongholds and two Talons. All work great. But I also have two Hurricane HTC 125s and two HTC 100s. I happen to prefer the Hurricanes. Excellent mass, very smooth and precise. The fully-closed back (like the Vicmarc) is a plus, as is the square-drive key design, compared to the open-back and the beveled pinion-gear drive key design of the Oneway. Less exposed to dust and debris.

So, there it is. Having no confirmation bias, nor concern with cognitive dissonance, I, too, am going to drop the mic and depart the building.

[Roger Chandler]

... So here's my view. I happen to have Oneways and Hurricanes. Two Strongholds and two Talons. All work great. But I also have two Hurricane HTC 125s and two HTC 100s. I happen to prefer the Hurricanes. Excellent mass, very smooth and precise. The fully-closed back (like the Vicmarc) is a plus, as is the square-drive key design, compared to the open-back and the beveled pinion-gear drive key design of the Oneway. Less exposed to dust and debris.

So, there it is. Having no confirmation bias, nor concern with cognitive dissonance, I, too, am going to drop the mic and depart the building.

Okeeedokeeee, then! No further debate needed, huh?

[David Delo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74a1d0J-4sE

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Full disclosure - I’ve only got Oneway chucks in my shop - 3 Stronghols, 2 Talons and a Oneway tommy bar chuck that takes the Talon jaws. While I have the profiled jaws in a couple of sizes - #2 and #3, and tower jaws for both OW and Talon, I think, I switched over long ago to the Oneway smooth dovetailed jaws for the vast bulk of what I do. I did this after using two different sizes of Vicmark dovetail jaws (in Oneway Versa Jaws made to fit Vic jaws) on primarily green blanks while roughing and coring.
I am fairly careful when making the tenons, so they fit well at design size for the jaws (using a sizing template to get it pretty close), and there is virtually no difference in holding power that I can notice betwen the Oneway and the Vicmark smooth dovetail jaws. I find the OW profiled jaws a little too aggressive on green wood blanks. Perhaps I’m more of a brute than I suspect, but I’ve had the tenons shear off when coring more than once. Ever since, the smooth dovetail jaws are on most times - whether they are Oneway or Vicmark is only based on what slides are on the chuck and what size the tenon is. Both the smooth jaws and the profiled jaws seem to hold equally well on the oval tenons of dried blanks when squaring everything up, but once the tenon is cleaned up, the dovetails are what I go to...

[John Keeton]

And.....the conclusion is.....each to his own!!! As previously stated (in this thread and many others) we all seem to think that the brands of lathes, tools, chucks, and on and on, that we bought have to be the best as they are based upon our individual diligent research and infallible judgment!!

But, feel free to ride this horse for another lap around the track.

[Bill Splaine]

I believe Bill is confusing Robust with Record. Both Woodcraft and CSUSA carry the Record Power chucks, a fairly new product to the US market. They are NOT made in the UK.

John, you are correct.. I mis-typed.. it is the Record.. not Robust.. I can't even blame that on a fat finger mistake hitting the incorrect keys

[Bill Splaine]

Back to my OP... Turns out Nova sent me two sets of JCole Jaw sets and both were warped pretty badly. They upgraded me to the larger Cole jaws and they work very well... in that they lay flat as they are supposed to. There are still quality issues.. In this latest case, whoever does the castings does not check the counterbore holes that the setscrews that attach the jaws to the chuck fit into.. phew.. long running sentence. The diameter of those mounting holes are a few thousandths undersized and I have to grind the diameters of the flats down a scosh to make them work.. Chinese quality control that Nova is not double checking..

Anyhow, thanks to all the contributors to this thread.