first chuck question...

Ned Bulken

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Lakeport NY and/or the nearest hotel
OK gang...
help spend money I don't have... but I'm saving up for a chuck.

Right now the teknatool nova G3 is in the lead... gets me a geared chuck vs tommy bars, but are there similar or better chucks for less $? Or should I just get a tommy bar unit to start and keep saving for the g3?
 
Depending on the kind of lathe you have or one you could purchase later may influence your decision. I use a PSI Barracuda 3 and added a flat-jaw chuck for my Jet Mini. The chuck itself was $129 with 4 sets of jaws...I don't remember what the flat-jaw cost. I'm gonna bet that there will be no shortage of opinion's on this subject. Good luck and make sure to consider not what you are going to do, but what the possibilities could be well into the future for a chuck.
 
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I've got a G3, and I recommend it highly. That said, I think the Penn State Barracuda 2 might be a good bang-for-buck package, since it does come with several sets of jaws. I've used one, and had no complaints. On the other hand, any jaws you get for the G3 can be used on a bigger Nova chuck in the future, too.

I do think you're wise to go for a geared chuck instead of a tommy bar setup. I've seen a few folks say the tommy bars work fine for them, but I've never seen anyone say they'd rather go back to them after owning a geared chuck. ;)
 
I have the G3 and my only complaine is that it doesn't follow the "lefty loosey, righty tighty" rule. I had the original nova and the nova midi, both with tommy bars. I used the tail stock to hold the blank in place while I tightened the chuck. One day I forgot to take out both bars and turned the lathe on. The bar launched itself and stuck in the garage wall. That's when I got the G3.

Dale
 
drat....
just found that lee valley is closing out their entire line of teknatools chucks...

two days of brown bagging lunch (well, three) is the difference between the precision midi chuck $85 and the G3(without insert $100, with insert is another $17).

*sigh*... looks like insulation waits another few weeks... might just have to pull the trigger on one of those this weekend.
 
i use the super nova on my jet lathe with a spigot jaws.....I have no complaints about it and it performs very well but i read alot of reviews before purchasing and price is important but the big factor was a well constructed chuck.
 
i use the super nova on my jet lathe with a spigot jaws.....I have no complaints about it and it performs very well but i read alot of reviews before purchasing and price is important but the big factor was a well constructed chuck.

Dan,
good point. I've used the barracuda 2 system a couple of times, and another 4 jaw with breaker bars (Don, what brand was that chuck on the midi?), and both worked well. As Vaughn pointed out, and as most everyone recommends the geared chucks are where I'm leaning. Thanks for the feedback... the supernova is on my serious drool list, but the G3 is (barely) in my budget range.
 
You may want to look at the Nova Scroll chuck for $50 from Tim Geist.
http://www.timstoolcrib.com/products.php
Tim is the service rep for Nova.
This is the discontinued Nova chuck. It is direct threaded and you can't replace the insert when you upgrade to lathe of different spindle size.
The jaws are not compatible with the face plate rings.
You have to learn to use the tail stock as your third hand. Tommy bar chucks are faster acting than those with keys.
 
First Chuck

Ned,

That black chuck you used to drill the pen blanks is an older Nova like the one Gordon mentioned. I also have the same one with #2 jaws which was my first chuck. I never had any trouble with them and have used them pretty hard over the years. If you can still get them for $50, I'd say it's a steal since mine cost about $140 ! I may have to call and get another one my self ;-)) Make sure they come with a screw center too.
 
I'll weigh in on the PSI Barracuda's with the tommy bars... they work great for me, but for the convenience of being able to close the jaws with one hand while holding a piece in them, I would really like to have one of the single key/geared chucks.
 
My new chuck is the PSI Barracuda 4, comes with four jaw sets. Plus I bought the big adjustable faceplate. I find it well made and extremely versatile. I like. I also have one of the GMC3 Mini chucks that I have had a long time. Between the two, I feel I'm covered.
 
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