Chuck

Me too, I have to get a good chuck for my mini lathe. Any good referrals would help a lot. Being new at this turning, I am learning I don't know s... at the moment. such as which chuck to get for my mini. and of course all of the tools needed to turn bowls, etc, and burls.

also, how do you attach things to the chuck??/

Maquah

Me too, I have to get a good chuck for my mini lathe. Any good referrals would help a lot. Being new at this turning, I am learning I don't know s... at the moment. such as which chuck to get for my mini. and of course all of the tools needed to turn bowls, etc, and burls.

also, how do you attach things to the chuck??/

Maquah

Mixed reviews over at

I would buy the best one you can afford. The Jet Mini is more than capable of spinning virtually any chuck out there comfortably. I have a SuperNova I've been using for over 4 years, which works well, but there are plenty of others out there that would work, too. You're really only limited by your budget, rather than any limitations of the lathe.

The Teknatools Midi works well for me, plus the cole jaws for it will clear your bed (unlike the cole jaws for the SN2)

Does it use tommy bars or is it an allen tool type to open/close it?

Tnx, Mark

Ralph,

The mini cole jaws, which fit any of the Nova/Supernova series, will comfortably clear the bed of the Mini, also. AAMOF, I believe they are the same jaws.

Just a personal opinion, but I bought a Oneway Talon for my shopsmith a year or so ago.. love it! When I got my jet mini, I bought an adapter for $20 and I was turning on the mini... I bought a jet 1442 in June and just screwed the chuck off the mini and onto the new lathe... I don't know if this is an endorsement or not, but I just got my 2nd Talon last month so that I have one on each lathe...

They AREN'T cheap, but I figured that it was a long term investment and $200 wasn't gonna bankrupt me... I have no experience with any other chuck, so this is NOT an objective post..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

THere are several "how to" web pages, but basically, you either leave a short stub on the end of your work, called a "tenon", which is gripped in the jaws like a big drill bit, or you turn a "recess" into the end of the work, which the closed chuck jaws open out into to grip it... sort of like expanding a sanding drum to hold the paper on..

There are also chuck screws or pin chucks, (which I use a lot), which are held in the chuck jaws and screw or wedge into a small hole drilled into the wood, usually used on the part of the wood that will be hollowed or cut off...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

It's not the grip on the tenon but the registry of the nose of the jaws to the piece which counts. As with a mortise and tenon joint, the shoulders, where the load is spread over a wider area, is where the real resistance to racking lies. Keeps the piece from flopping itself loose. If you have a dovetail tenon, you can have the jaws of the chuck draw up for you rather than having to press and tighten.

Actually, you make an undercut mortise to accept a wedged tenon. The interior doesn't "grip," it draws the piece tight up against the nose of the jaws by wedging action. In this case the shoulders are inside the recess, not outside, but they still work the same way.

Unfortunately tommy bars

I was trying to keep it simple for a beginner, George... He can read a tech manual later...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Unfortunately, Mac, you've given inappropriate, not simple information. Which is why it's important that he should understand what's happening.

You're an old hand, and when your tenon-hold feels floppy, you know enough to loosen a bit, jam the piece back into register with the jaws, maybe rotate a bit to avoid crushed areas, then tighten. The reason you do this, of course, is that you know tight isn't what really counts, rather registry of chuck nose and tenon shoulder. Tight can have a half inch of runout if only one point registers.

Same applies to the interior dovetail.

You want to think of what's important first - registry. No sense learning it wrong if you're just beginning.

Once you understand this, it's also easier to understand why wider jaws, though they grip as deep, are more appropriate for heavier loads.

Mac thanks for the information, much appreciated, have tried to send two responses with system failure, not sure what is happening here. Now have to go back and order the chuck I want, however, forgot what damn favorites page it was in.

You have also given me more info to peruse. The chuck screws and pin chucks. But first I will look and do the chuck thingy first.

Got to get a new chain saw as I found three big maples out in the woods with burls all the way up the trees. So, guess who is coming home to dinner? Gots to make some more fire starter materials from them.

Again, thanks for the help. This is one good group and I do enjoy hearing all the comments and information. May have to lurk here for awhile you know.

Maquah

Hi George

You are the one that knows best and all ??? Only your way is the right way ???

Thought we had been over this before. The Oneway patented design has proven to be far superior in holding wood turnings.

For those that like to see the holding power of the Oneway Jaws, a link that shows there is no crushing and the hold is unequaled by any tenon shape jaw, which is the reason many always have to use the tailstock to hold secure.

George wrote:

Well, Leo, you can believe what you want, and you certainly are much less flexible - dare I say know-it-all? - in your reply than I in my assertion, though you might want to cite your methods of "proof" sometime. Frankly, I think it's subjective. There are many fine chucks out there, though only one for you, it appears. Intellectual rigidity noted.

For the benefit of those who are not so "tight" however, I'd like to review some basic concepts. I maintain that all that's required of a squeeze is to maintain the nose of the jaws in a constant relationship to the work. As I noted with Mac, habitually squeezing harder when some form of misalignment occurs is more likely to continue or exacerbate trouble than cure it, because you can squeeze a misaligned piece just as hard as an aligned one.

I would like to call your attention, once more, to the reality that the strength of wood is measured in resistance to force per unit area. If you diminish the contact area, as you must when you grip a circular object with non-circular jaws, the same force which would be harmlessly distributed over a broad area can exceed the force required to deform the contacted surface. That surface, once deformed, cannot be put back, because wood is more air than solid.

The mindset of the chuck user should be toward maintaining the _original_ position on the piece, which is best accomplished by creating and maintaining as much contact area as possible, to distribute both rotational stresses and the occasional catch broadly. That's why optimum hold is achieved when the size of the tenon or mortise closely matches the size of the jaws.

Of course, it is also true that resistance to cutting force is better when the lever arm perpendicular to the axis of rotation is greater. Larger diameter jaws allow not only more area in contact - load distribution - they also create a wider footprint in the load direction. Easy to see why this works when you attempt a narrow base on a broad form, though we do have the option of extra weight in the bottom to lower the center of gravity on a finished piece. Which personal choice sometimes leads us to use a mortise rather than a tenon, so we can get the interior depth and exterior sweep we want. We know that we sacrifice leverage, but we also know we can gain extra help by employing the tailstock - always a good idea - or a steady to distribute the load even beyond the chuck. Which, once again, provides a lower force on any unit of area. Couple these with skillful technique, and the force applied to "grip" becomes almost insignificant

In short, in spite of your attack on me, I am only the messenger, recounting the truths of physics and wood technology. Take up your argument with Newton and Archimedes, and the folks who test strength of woods at the FPL.

I think that most quality chucks come with a chuck screw or equivalent, but not sure... i know they're included with the Oneway chucks:

Please remove splinters before emailing

Hi Leo & George,

Some 'statement-questions' for two true believers that cloud more than clear.

A jam chuck held axially by a tail center needs no radial grip at all? It's the face of a face plate, not the screws that rotates the blank? The screws mostly keep the interface tight? Some advocate roughening or letting faceplates rust, yet shiny smooth aluminum ones work well?

The faces of scroll chuck jaws not the radial grip of the jaws turn the blank. The grip mostly assures a tight axial interface, yet much is made of the design of jaws?

A tenon or mortise is tapered so as to 'slide' the blank & chuck jaws together, yet the ridged jaws that some believe hold so well tend to prevent this? A scroll chuck held tightly with a tail center doesn't need the jaws to grip for rotation, so the only need to tighten them is for alignment? Yet it's not so with Jacobs chucks and pin chucks?

Enough with the physics. No eternal verities there? Like old Newton, my head aches. I heard he discovered all this while sitting under his lathe. An apple blank fell from the chuck and hit him on the head?

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

L. & G., I meant to say that I caused the dark cloud to hover overhead, not you two good net friends.

Sincerely, Joe Bsplickt

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter