I've been playing around with the obligatory light pulls and the odd adventure with my bowl turning attachment and I have decided that life would be a lot easier with a chuck and a screw chuck. So what do I look for in a chuck? what is good and what is bad and any recommendations of where to buy them, either in Yorkshire or mail order I'm in the UK
You don't say what type of lathe you have, but I'm guessing that it is a Record Lathe with the bowl turning attachment. There should be several good options for you in the UK: (1) a SuperNova Chuck (Robert Sorby imports them from New Zealand)I have three of four of them; an Axminister Chuck; a Record Power Four Jaw Scroll Chuck; and one of the line of Oneway Chucks. I suspect that you can get all of them by mailorder right there in the UK some place such as Craft Supplies Ltd or Yandles.
Be sure you get a four jaw scroll chuck for greatest satisfaction.
Quality is the difference in price. I suspect that the cheap chuck is exactly that a cheap chuck. The SuperNova will give you excellent service. I have four of them in my shop, plus four regular Nova Chucks, a SuperNova Deluxe, and a Nova Titan they are all quality chucks. Go with the Nova chuck and you'll never be sorry.
Hi: Like Fred, I have several chucks in my shop. Two Oneway Stronghold and one Oneway Talon. I am very pleased with their performance and the accessory jawsets available for them. I prefer the Profile Jaws that Oneway use to that of the NOVA.
Usually you get what you pay for. I avoid the cheapest, because it usually looks, works and performs like the cheapest, and the most expensive, because I feel that value (price/performance) rarely requires the highest price.
You will find brand loyalty, or maybe it's just pride of ownership is a major factor in chucks as elsewhere. Some people have other points to make, for instance a favorite pair of jaws - I've already mentioned mine - or open versus closed construction, gear versus hex adjustment, even direction of "tightening" comes up from time to time.
Bottom line, you'll learn to use what you own, favoring its strong points and working around the weak ones. Of the big three - Teknatool, Oneway and Vicmark - I don't think there are serviceability problems, just differences. Acquaintance with a Oneway wants to use pin jaws like my Nova, but finds that his chuck has a serrated hold, so centering and recentering become problematic, where with smooth sides, it's a jiggle and go. Some like their spigot holds serrated, some like them dovetailed, and so on.
I like a variety of holds, so the option with the greatest number of jaws for the money appeals to me. That's how I got started, then I "Normed" and now I change chucks, not jaws, like he does with routers.
I've decided to go for the supernova chuck as it seems to be highly rated here and elsewhere. The best deal I could get was £119 in vat including some free 45mm spigot jaws
Question is what is the difference between spitgot jaws and other types and when do you use one rather than the other.
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