Requested : A discussion in simple terms about lathe chucks

John, I've got a Nova G3, which is somewhat of an economy chuck, although it's priced a bit higher than the PSI chucks. I'm very happy with it. That said, the PSI chucks have a lot of fans, and they seem to be a good value. Whatever you get, I'd suggest getting one with a key instead of the dual "Tommy Bars". There are times when you'll appreciate being able to tighten the chuck one-handed. (I expect some people will argue that you can use Tommy Bars one-handed, but it's still less than ideal.)

As far as the jaw types, I've not had enough experience with all the different ones to give solid advice, but PSI Barracuda and Barracuda II come with an assortment of jaws, which should cover a lot of bases.

Ditto what Frank said regarding the pics of the completed cherry. ;)
 
John....I use a Super Nova 2 by Technatools.......It's a great little chuck but spendy.....It works well on my mini and it'll work well on the bigger lathe I hope to buy shortly.

Buy a 4 jaw chuck and I'd recommend on that you can tighten with one hand. Mine uses a special T handled allen wrench. I can hold the bowl in place on the chuck with my right hand and snug the chuck up with the left hand. Then I can use both hands to tighten the chuck if I want but Turning Gorilla rarely needs to use 2 hands to tighten the chuck!

The PSI 4 jaw chucks have gotten good reviews and so have some of the Grizzleys.
 
John I got one of these chucks from Grizzly. They are $99. You can find them here: http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2007/Main/121 and it is a 3 3/4" chuck. The number is H6265. This is a chuck you can hold the blank and tighten with the other hand. If you get this one and upgrade it is the same as the Vicmarc and the jaws of a good Vicmarc chuck will fit it. I almost wish I hadn't spent the $219 for the Vicmarc and just bought 2 of these with the extra jaws. This thing held a 33 lb. 15 1/2" bowl blank with no problems. Of course I keep the tailstock up till the last minute in hollowing out the bowl. I bought the Vicmarc cole jaws for reversing bowls, the shark jaws and spigot jaws and they will fit it just fine. Just another thought. I looked at the $42.50 one but wanted something that when I did upgrade I could interchange the jaws.
 
Yep, I believe BusyBee and Grizzly are loosely connected (independently run by two brothers IIRC). Looks like pretty much the same chuck.
 
Another vote for the Nova G3, I like it very much.

I want to get a larger chuck too, I think I'll be getting the Nova Titan.

The PSI chuck looks like a great deal, too bad it won't fit my lathe, as I have the 1 1/4" spindle. :doh:

Cheers!
 
I'll be a bit of a dissenter here (so wats new? :rolleyes: ). I have a tommy bar chuck and a key chuck. Personally, I don't find the tommy (two) bar thing a big deal at all. In shopping for a new chuck, I would give that feature a very low priority in my overall consideration.
 
Steve was right on, I too have the four jaw non centering chuck for my Sears lathe. It does a good job, holds from two different directions, and have used it a lot. But, and this is a big but, if you have to take the piece out for some reason and then put it back on, it is nearly impossible to get it centered.
 
I descent with Frank. :rolleyes: I had a PSI tommy bar chuck and didn't like it. I didn't hate it but I didn't like it.

I have the OneWay Stronghold now. Not cheap but it was the only thing that fit my lathe threads without going custom adapter route.

I think it is safe to say 4 jay round jaws are for wood working. The skinny 3 jaw or 4 jaw are metal working. Of course there are exception to that rule too.
 
John, I have two PSI Barracudas and had a PSI Utility chuck and I've been happy with all of them. My first chuck was the Barracuda 1 w/the tommy bars. It works quite well, runs true and I've never had a problem with it. My second was the PSI Utility chuck (uses the same jaws as the Barracuda 1) and I never had a problem with it either, but I let it go when I sold my 15" Craftsman lathe. I also had a Supernova2. I ordered it when I ordered my PM 3520B, but had to send it back. I couldn't get it to run true at all (about 1/16" runnout at six inches). So I ordered the Barracuda 4 (note to Stu: My PM 3520B is 8 x 1 1/4" and it fits fine with the adapter:thumb:) and it runs dead on. My next chuck will be the Barracuda 2 (this is the keyed model of the original w/tommy bars). Dollar for dollar, I'll stack my PSI chucks up against any other. For example, I gave about half as much for the Barracuda 4 set w/4 sets of jaws than I did the SN2 w/only 2 sets of jaws.

Note: The Barracuda 4 is a large chuck designed for larger lathes. The SN2 also had the ability to be adapted for larger lathes. Turning larger chuck mounted items CAN cause the chuck to spin loose of the spindle if you aren't paying attention. The SN2 had a set screw that prevented this. The Barracuda 4 does not (nor do many others) and I wish it did. It does come with a large lock washer to keep this from happening, but I have found that the washer tends to keep the chuck from running true unless you play w/it a while (not worth the effort). This is the only negative I can say about the Barracuda 4. BTW, I'm seriously considering taking it to a machine shop and having one put in.
 
I don't know much about any of the chucks available except for the Oneway brand. They're a little pricey but the value is there and Oneway has excellent customer service. But for me the selling point is that they use a threaded insert to screw onto the spindle that can be changed if you want to use it on a different lathe. Most people start out with a smaller lathe and a less expensive chuck, but then if they get hooked on turning they want to upsize their lathe. That usually means that bargain chuck won't work on the new lathe. But for about 25 buck you can change the insert on a Oneway and then it ends up being less expensive than buying another new chuck. A good chuck should last indefinitely so being able to change it from lathe to lathe over the years makes the Oneway a really good buy.

Plus John, the Oneways are Canadian made so you're money is staying close to home.
 
Curt, Nova uses the same insert thing, I agree, it is a good idea.

BTW, Oneway has "Blank" inserts as well, so if you have an "odd" spindle, they will cut you an insert for it as well, which is a life saver it you get an older lathe that might not have the standard spindles.

Cheers!
 
I have the Grizzly H6265 chuck also. Seems to work fine for me, but I am a little new to turning. Bernie, thanks for the info that other chuck jaws will work on the Grizzly. I didn't know that. Anyway, that is my not so much wisdom on the matter
 
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