Advice on a chuck

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Looking for "decent", not best ever invented, chuck for my HF lathe. It looks to be a 1", 8 TPI. Any advice would be helpful as I have never dealt with one before.
 

Cuthriell

Cuthriell
Senior User
I've had a stronghold chuck for over 25 years and like it. I purchased a Barracuda4 chuck several years ago from Penn State as well, The PS chuck comes with 4 sets of jaws and a screw chuck which makes it a great buy. I don't think the PS chuck is made as well as the stronghold, but it is made well enough that I would recommend it to others. I'm sure they have chucks that will accept a 1x8 adaptor. The barracuda came with a fixed 1-1/2x8 thread.
 

Raymond

Raymond
Staff member
Corporate Member
Scott, I have three chucks - the first came with the appropriate adapter - the Oneway Talon Chuck. The other two are SuperNova2 chucks and for both I had to buy the insert to match my drive screw - they took the IDNS, Insert D which is threaded for 1" x 8TPI. Make sure you read the instructions that come with the chuck before you purchase.
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
The Stronghold is the best ever and made for larger lathes. my lathe spins up to 19 inches and the Stronghold easily handles that. I've turned 40 pound chunks of wood that were held by it. But, at nearly $300 plus extra jaws you can quickly exceed the cost of your lathe.

I also have a SuperNova2 but I haven't used it yet. will be testing it on one of the small lathes I'm rebuilding.
It looks like it will be ideal for that smaller size and the cost is more inline with the lower end lathe.
 

beloitdavisja

James
Corporate Member
Nova G3 or SuperNova2. G3 is a decent chuck that pairs well with smaller lathes. The SuperNova2 is a slight step up from the G3. All Nova jaws are mostly interchangeable with any nova chuck (except some jaws made for their Titan chuck), and they offer a wide variety of jaws.

I have two G3's and a SuperNova2. I mainly use the SN2 on my full size lathe. I started with the G3 on my midi lathe. Now my midi lathe has the G3 with pen jaws as a dedicated pen drilling station, and the other G3 has cole jaws I use on my full size lathe. Everything else I use my SN2.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
I looked quickly and the Klingspor price is REALLY competitive!
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
OK, now I have 5 "standard" threads. I love standards. There are so many to choose from!

Off to look all the above up.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Hard to tell, but it looks like the Nova chucks are 1/8 and when they say "insert" they mean one of their adapters to everything else. Maybe? I think I should head over to Klingspor and and/look/feel/spend too much. Happens every time.

Yes, most of the chucks cost mote than I paid for the lathe, but I knew that going in. Of course, the first two projects I set off to do woudl have been easier with a chuck.
 

beloitdavisja

James
Corporate Member
Nova chucks (and others?) come in two varieties: Direct thread and inserts. The benefit of getting a chuck with an insert is if you change lathes and the new lathe has a different thread size, then all you do is get a new insert for the chuck to match. For a direct thread chuck, you'd need to get an adapter if the thread size changes. My two G3's are direct threaded 1x8tpi. When I got my full size lathe, it was 1-1/4x8tpi. The SN2 was just a matter of getting an 1-1/4 insert. I bought an adapter for one of the G3's so I could use it on the full size, but I only use it with my cole jaws. It also adds 2 inches to the back of the chuck.

The Klingspor staff will certainly point you in the right direction as well.
 
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Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
the good part about the chucks, specially the ones that use an insert, is you can move the to the next lathe when you decide to upgrade :D
 

walnutjerry

Jerry
Senior User
Looking for "decent", not best ever invented, chuck for my HF lathe. It looks to be a 1", 8 TPI. Any advice would be helpful as I have never dealt with one before.
Have you checked out Penn State Industries? Lathe Chucks at Penn State Industries I have 2 chucks from them and a Oneway , one from Grizzly, and another small off brand . OneWay is the best and most expensive. The "Barracuda" chucks from PSI have served me well------they come with several sets of jaws, a screw center, tommy bars, and chuck key. Sometimes a special will include jumbo jaws. I probably use them as much as the OneWay.
 

awldune

Sam
User
I don't own a chuck from PSI but I have always been impressed with the deals on their Barracuda chucks that come with 3-4 accessory jaw sets.
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
Good call about wanting a 4-jaw scroll chuck. Regardless of which price range chuck you choose, having one the heck out of not having one.
 

Rushton

Rush
Senior User
Nice thing about buying a good chuck to begin with is that it will last you the rest of your life and progress into any new lathe you may purchase down the road. Mike Peace has a few YouTube videos about making chuck purchases with advice I found helpful.
Buying Your First Chuck for your lathe
Buying a Chuck for Your Wood Lathe - 2020
Chuck jaws for woodturners

A brand not yet mentioned here is Record Power. Cost will be in the same ballpark as Nova. Keep in mind that the better chucks (Oneway, Vicmarc, Axminster, Nova, Record Power) are supported by their manufacturers with a very broad selection of jaws. This makes for a more flexible investment.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Went down to Klingspor. The miracle is I only bought a couple of things. They confirmed my thread is a 1 x 8. The $200 Nova kit looks pretty good. Lots more to check out. Big point is I guess the selection of jaws. So best to stick with a major brand? I assume jaws are not interchangeable between makes. In other words, Record won't fit Nova? I see some of the cheaper offerings on fle-bay. I see only darn near full price for better ones on Craig's list. ( Some actually higher)
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
I assume jaws are not interchangeable between makes.

That's a safe generalization but would not be a 100% correct assumption. I've got an old Teknatool (New Zeland) chuck that will use the Oneway jaws for the smaller (Talon, etc) size chuck.
 

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