Penn State Ind. Baracuda Chuck

well I saw that too and will wait for some reviews before getting one

Here is a review I just wrote for our club newspaper. Its not proofed yet, but the concept is there.

*********************** Being new to turning, I bought my first scroll chuck. I chose the PSI Barracuda with the extended chuck package that included all the extra jaws. The price was very attractive, $125 with all the jaws, but I was a bit concerned about the quality. A similar Oneway would have cost almost $300.

First impressions; The first thing I noticed and was thankful about is that it's packed in oil, not cosmoline. Anyone who has cleaned cosmoline off a tool will understand the happiness in this! The fit and finish looks good. The body of the chuck is chromed and the jaws are some kind of matt finish. The scroll mechanism works smoothly. It used a pair of tommy bars to tighten, where the Oneway uses a single key. If this is the only difference, I can live with the tommy bars and keep the extra $175.

The chuck comes equipped for both 1"x8 and 3/4x16 threading on the drive shaft. My Fisch lathe used 1"x8, which was the adaptor already installed, so I was ready to go immediately. I wiped the oil off as best I could, but when you first turn on the lathe, cover the chuck with the rag. The centrifugal force throws oil everywhere.

My next question was it accurate. I check the run out on my drive shaft and it was less then 0.002". I mounted the chuck and measured the outside of the standard jaws to have a run out of about 0.006" with them tightened on themselves. I then chucked up the worse case scenario I could find, a thin rectangular piece of wood that only contacted two or the four jaws. I mounted the piece in the worse case location, at the edge of the jaws. This will create maximum skew to the jaws as I tighten them. In this configuration I measured about 0.035" run out one the two jaws doing the holding.

To put these measurements in perspective, 0.035 is about 1/32", but that's in a extreme case where you would probably not ever turn. The 0.006 is a typical measurement of normal turning situations. I my book, this is pretty accurate for a woodworking lathe!

I have not yet used all the jaws, so I can't comment on them yet. I will say that I think this is a very good chuck at a bargain price. For any turner starting out, this is a good way to get into a scroll chuck, without a large layout of cash. If you just get the chuck with the standard jaws, you are down to $90, plus if you get it from Bob Urso, you get a club discount. I give this tool a big thumbs up!

************************************8

Hi Bernie, Didn't know you frequent here. Nice review, I wonder how it will look after Daryl gets it into the newsletter. I saw the chuck at the Woodworking Show 2005 at the Long Island Woodworking Supply booth, and was tempted to get it. I didn't get it at the time because there were other things I wanted to buy, and the budget only goes so far. For me it would be a second chuck and the attraction is you get several jaws and the two thread adapters for a great price. I like that you did some actual measurements on runout. I think when I get some spare change I will get one, from Bob of course. Martin P.S. Consider this the first plug for the next Woodworking Show.

Bernie You are comparing apples with oranges, the Oneway that has the tommy bars is $179.95 US and for the $50.- difference I would certainly not buy one of these wonderful items, I know the quality from Oneway is going to make their chucks to last me a lifetime, just long enough for me

If you want to do comparisons make sure you know what you are comparing.

Bernie Hunt wrote:

Leo, Bernie mentioned that the package included extra jaw sets, but didn't specify what they were. The package comes with the #1, #2, #3, and pin jaw sets. The chuck with just the standard #2 jaws is $89.95, half the price of the Oneway. I haven't priced it, but I could see the Oneway chuck with a comparable selection of jaws would come close to $300. You right he was not comparing the Barracuda to the tommy bar operated Oneway, but the numbers still show that the Barracuda costs about half of a comparable Oneway. I hope that clarifies the numbers a bit. I know that Oneway makes a top quality product, the question now is, is the Barracuda quality high enough to not discourage a beginner.

Martin

Hi Martin

Bernie never posted here before as far as I can remember, and according to him is new to turning, all that makes the posting suspect IMO, also there seem to be a few Oneway bashers around, and the Oneway people do not deserve this kind of postings, they make quality products and stand behind them. If a experienced person with more than just 3 months of turning under his belt and knowledge of the products he/she is talking/comparing about, and is able to give a product a good tryout, than a comparison might of some use for the turners that frequent here, so IMNHO don't compare apples to oranges, a known Quality to a lower cost (you can always make something cheaper) of unknown quality, or knock off, made in chiwan etc., and give new turners another doorstop they don't need.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Mart> Leo,

It seemed to me that Bernie wasn't bashing Oneway chucks with an apple/orange comparison. I thought he acknowledged their quality by using them as a frame of reference; a sort of gold standard. He proposed that a less expensive chuck with several jaws might be considered satisfactory as an alternate approach for beginners. He then made some significant measurements that others could check.

In his eyes, the results seemed to validate or at least bolster his proposition and he shared his results with us. If I got it wrong, as we all do at times, I hope Bernie will correct me. Regardless, his post fits rcw and I hope we see more of them.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Hi Leo, You right Bernie hasn't posted here before and is new to turning, but I don't understand why that should make the posting suspect or in what manner it is suspect. I don't remember seeing any Oneway bashing here, and I don't think Bernie was bashing Oneway. What Bernie posted was an article he submitted to the WOODWORKING club newsletter, and he did it to answer a post by Sierevello and seconded by Eduardo Sarmiento Hall, I left those posts attached at the end of this post. I think he was the only one to answer their post. The only comparison Bernie made to the Oneway was price, he certainly didn't say it was a better chuck than the Oneway. He made some runout measurements and concluded that chuck was pretty accurate, he in no way stated or implied that the measurements were equal to what you would get from a Oneway. Bernie voiced his opinions after examining the chuck. You voiced you opinions too, but I think that you may have read too much into Bernie's posting.

{MAJOR SNIPPAGE}

Bernie is an old regular on rec.ww - he and I go way back with regard to the Porter-Cable 557 plate joiner - back at least 4 or more years. The reason I mention this is the "suspect" term - as in, he might be a troublemaker who isn't who he says he is.

(Howya doin Bernie? Glad to see you've expanded beyond the flatwood society. Be careful though - you just might find yourself becoming obsessed with round things and not find any time for flat. I used to have a DJ-20 on my wish list year after year... now it's a Oneway and I can live with my Jet 6" jointer for quite a while.)

Owen,

I've actually make a reasonable argument that taking up a crack habit might be less expensive and addictive than woodturning, hahahaha.

Don't worry, I'm starting out slow. I'm just in a mini, but collecting parts for vacuum turning and such. It's a long slippery slope. I do have a dream of a big Oneway, but I need to hit the lottery first.

Bernie

Leo,

You are not comparing apples to oranges. The Oneway chuck with tommy bars is $179, plus the cost of three more sets of jaws and you are in the $280 to $300 range. Comparing apples to apples, it's about $120 cheaper than a Oneway.

Bernie

Leo,

Hmmm, because I'm new to turning it makes my ability to measure and observe suspect? Just because I'm not so good at truning wood does not limit my ability to examine, measure and evaluate devices made out of steel. All of my observations were made after clearly stateing that I was new to this and may not even know what I don't know. My review was clearly within the guidelines that I stated.

Regarding my not posting, according to deja.com, I have 2050 posts on usenet, I guess it will be 2051 now. A simple review of any of these will show that I am not a hater or disparager of any product. If I have spoke out against a product, and I have before, I have given exact reasons for my dislike. In this case, I did not say a single negative about the Onway chucks. I would love to own one and being new to this portion of woodworking, I have limited funds that I am willing to through at a new experience until I decide I want to keep it up.

There also seems to be a double standard here, if you haven't posted before, you can't have a valid opinion, but how do you get a history of posting without expressing some opinions? I gladly let the experienced hands here in the group handle Sierevello's original question, but after 45 days no one had responded. I got my hands on the chuck so I offered my opinion.

If the desire is to have new people come into the world of turning, there has to be a way for them to get their feet wet, without spending a ton of money. Mini lathes are a great start, chucks and other items need to follow. I have written both positive and negative reviews about PSI products. As turners we cannot stuck to high brow standard that only the best can be used. My review it an indication that good enough may work in this situation.

OK, I'm done ranting. Feel free to respond if I've gone overboard or out of line. I'm going back to trying to learn to turn better. The neighbor cut down a tree and I think it's time to get out the chain saw and see what I can do with some of the scrapes.

Bernie

You're thinking ahead. 'Scrapes' is what you'll get on your knuckles from that new chuck! :o)

Thanks for the review.

Hello Bernie

I feel like a jerk, sorry for the harsh kneejerk reaction to your post.

The reason, some posters with a fake name come in and make some self-serving or back stabbing claims, not to be heard from ever again, they do get me on edge some times, so this was an over reaction of me, and again I apologize for that.

But, as for the chuck or any of the real important pieces of "needed tools/machinery" I am of the opinion that proven quality is still the way to go, it hurts only one time, and with new turners trying to get the hang of it, they don't have this question is it me or the tool, and the frustration that goes with it, and good tools and equipment can always be sold again , try that with a doorstop.

Anyway what my experience has taught me is that you get there with good shoes faster and with less discomfort than with 3 pair of cheap ones.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Bernie Hunt wrote:

I gave up on the wreck years ago, so I don't know what your history with Leo or Owen is, and don't know diddley about the Porter-Cable 557 plate joiner that Leo mentioned, or if you're who you say you are but I did appreciate your post. Except it was about 3 weeks late!

I got a Jet mini for Christmas, and needed a chuck for it as I didn't want to spend the money or time to swap out the adapters for my existing chucks everytime I wanted to use the mini. Ended up getting a Oneway tommybar model, body only - no jaws - from Island Woodcraft. Good prices, good service, no vested interest and all that. I was tempted to try the Penn State chuck but didn't want to be the first penguin in the water so to speak. At the price, it does seem to be a pretty decent deal. Post again in a few months and let us know how it's holding up.

Welcome to woodturning...

...Kevin

No problem. I'd say let's kiss and make up, but the others would insist we get a room, hahahahaha.

I normally agree on the buy the best you can and cry only once. I was going to get a Oneway Talon and a buddy in our club bought a PSI. He works in the national labs here on Long Island and they measure only in ten thousands. He said the Barracuda was pretty good, so I figured to give is a chance, but to objectively measure it's abilitiy. So I then took the almost $100 I saved and spent $200 on vacuum adaptors, Oneway live centers and such, hahahaha. Lots of money saved.

Bernie

Hi Bernie

Hope you won't regret the chuck, but do let us know in a year or two how it's holding up, anyway some of your money is spend wisely (G) in my opinion, O and keep the kiss in storage, I might need it someday. Thanks.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Bernie Hunt wrote:

Lemma see, you get jumped for defining the "best" against the job it does, and then start brand-naming as a standard?

Damn! Once again a flicker of hope for Nova chuck owners burns out....