New Turner Accessories Question

Norb Schmidt

Member
Messages
33
Location
Cumming, GA
I'm going to be a new turner as I will be picking up my new (to me) Nova 3000 lathe on Saturday. It's about 5 years old and well taken care of and a whole lot cheaper than the Powermatic 3520b I was going to buy. Yes - when I get it home I'll post pictures.

This is my first lathe. I've turned at some friends houses and I want to use it for some bowls as well as spindle turning for some chairmaking that I've been wanting to do. (Ladderback style) It has a variable speed D.C. motor so I should grow with it as my skills improve.

Anyway, Lee Valley is discounting their Nova chucks and I was wondering if I should buy one as it is seemingly on sale. And, if so, which one? I've heard great things about the Vicmarc chucks due to their wide supply of jaws, but I'm always in for a bargain.

Lastly, any brands of turning tools to avoid?

Thanks,
Norb

(BTW: I blew my achilles tendon just before Easter and I'm in a cast and on crutches - so I won't be doing any woodworking before June)
 
Hi Norb, I to am a new turner and bought the nova 1624-44 lathe, love that thing! I bought one of the nova chucks from Lee's Valley and some of the other jaws and things, It's a good buy, but call them, not sure how much they have left, I thought it was selling out there Tecknatools stuff. Good luck and sorry about the injury. Jack
 
Do check out the PSI line of chucks. They are pretty much knock-offs of the high priced brands. Lots of good comments about them mixed with some negatives. I have one of the first minis, a CMG3. Excellent value for the money. I'm looking at the new Barracuda 4 as soon as budget allows.
 
Norb welcome to the turning vortex. I have the Vicmarc VM100. I bought several different jaws for it but found out that the Grizzly H6265 and H6267 was the same chuck. So I have the Vic and 3 Grizzly's so I don't have to change jaws all the time. For $99 they are excellent and hold well. You could get one of those and use the Vic jaws. Just another thought.
 
I have a Vicmarc chuck and I am happy with it. I have not used any other chucks (other than the off-center chuck) so it I cannot do a comparison.

I own Robert Sorby, Crown, Glaser turning tools and Don Pencil's Hollowing tool and all of them get the job done.
 
Congrats on the upcoming acquisition, Norb. I've got a couple Nova chucks - the G3 and the Supernova 2 - and I've been happy with both. I did have a thread adaptor insert that was not true, so it caused some wobble in the SN2, but that was fixed easily with a new insert.

For either Nova or Vicmark chucks, I think Bob Gadd has the best prices I've seen. I've purchased a few things from him, and have been happy with his service..

http://www.woodworkerspecialties.com/
 
Top