Lathe chuck compatibility?

phillsam · Post by **phillsam** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 1:32 pm

Hey guys,

I have been wanting to get an inexpensive chuck to try for a while before committing to a nice one.

I am seeing chucks (per Grizzly's site) that say 5/8" unthreaded. How do they secure? Will this be a direct fit?

here is a link --

5/8” unthreaded 4 jaw—http://www.grizzly.com/products/H8047

5/8” unthreaded 3 jaw (self centering)—http://www.grizzly.com/products/H8032

I have also seen adapters to 1x8tpi, but I would prefer not to buy adapters.

Please let me know if those would work on the shopsmith spindle

ChrisNeilan · Post by **ChrisNeilan** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 1:55 pm

You probably want a four-jaw chuck. That being said, let me recommend the Hurricane Chuck, fairly new on the market. I have the big one, but the smaller one is probably more suited. I find them almost on a par with my Oneway brand chuck, but half the price. You will need an insert and an adaptor, but with shopsmiths that is something you will get used to... Penn State Industries have some very good adapters for the shopsmith.

http://www.thewoodturningstore.com/cate ... cks-5.html

Chris

phillsam · Post by **phillsam** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 2:01 pm

ChrisNeilan wrote:You probably want a four-jaw chuck. That being said, let me recommend the Hurricane Chuck, fairly new on the market. I have the big one, but the smaller one is probably more suited. I find them almost on a par with my Oneway brand chuck, but half the price. You will need an insert and an adaptor, but with shopsmiths that is something you will get used to... Penn State Industries have some very good adapters for the shopsmith.

http://www.thewoodturningstore.com/cate ... cks-5.html

Chris

Thank you for the response.
That does look like a nice chuck.
For now tho, even that is out of my range.

Did you have a chance to look at the 4 jaw style chuck i linked to? Do you know if the unthreaded one would be a direct fit?

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 2:26 pm

That particular 4 jaw chuck you listed is NOT a self centering design. IMHO, a chuck is not something to scrimp on.

Other things to factor on a lathe chuck, availability of additional jaws for holding things (Nobody does this better than Nova IMHO), runout of the chuck while mounted, Grip strength of the chuck.

If I were to purchase another chuck it would be the Nova that SS sells, the price is actually fair considering it includes the specific adapter for SS.

phillsam · Post by **phillsam** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 4:05 pm

terrydowning wrote:That particular 4 jaw chuck you listed is NOT a self centering design. IMHO, a chuck is not something to scrimp on.

Other things to factor on a lathe chuck, availability of additional jaws for holding things (Nobody does this better than Nova IMHO), runout of the chuck while mounted, Grip strength of the chuck.

If I were to purchase another chuck it would be the Nova that SS sells, the price is actually fair considering it includes the specific adapter for SS.

Terry, thanks for the reply.

I understand buying quality the first time...But, as of now, i have a very small budget for tools, and that budget has Zero dollars going into it. (our new little boy at home seems to be sucking the tool budget dry...)

Hence the reason I am looking at a grizzly chuck, price is cheap enough that I wont feel bad about replacing it if I actually use my lathe more and more.
I would prefer to have a chuck capability rather than not have it, and see if its something I want to do more of.

That all said, do you know if a chuck labled 5/8" unthreaded would mount on the shopsmith without an adapter? would it have the set screw much like our drill chuck?

reible · Post by **reible** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:21 pm

Hi,

Shopsmith uses a tapered flat on the spindle, and yes it is 5/8" dia. If you want to have the safety of a shopsmith tool you need to use something truly built for the shopsmith as they will have the set screw that angles to match the tapered flat.

Most things that say for a 5/8" shaft are not designed for a shopsmith. The set screw is perpendicular to the flat shaft rather then at an angle to match the flat on the shopsmith.

I personally want to use the safety built into the shopsmith so I have gone so far as re-drilling and taping adapters to achieve this and have had some success having manufactures change their design to the angle. For me this is a big deal.

The likely hood is that the chucks you are looking at are not designed for a shopsmith.

When I was a lad in HS the wood shop had lathes but no "chucks". Everything we did was done "chuck-less". That is still the cheapest way to go.

So if you really want to save your money and get a good Nova (or like quality) start off by getting your feet wet with tools available from shopsmith, the face plates, screw centers, drive centers, and the like. One of the first of these might be a live center for the tail stock.

If you don't already have a copy of the Power Tools Woodworking for Everyone (shopsmith bible) get one of those, they show many lathe set ups san-chuck.

Ed

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:26 pm

Are you also on Lumber Jocks?? Same question was asked there.

You may want to look into penn state industries
economy 4 jaw chuck
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/CUG3418CCX.html?prodpage=1CU

Adapter
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/L5818.html?prodpage=1L5

As stated previously, I have the Barracuda 2 and that same adapter and have had no problems with them. I also have the collet chuck from PSI as well. A scroll chuck does and a new dimension to wood turning.

phillsam · Post by **phillsam** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 6:11 pm

Thanks everyone.

Reible, youre right, there are ways around a chuck...unfortunately the only lathe piece I have is a small faceplate and the cup center (non bearing one).

I have made a glue block before when turning my bowl but will look again at the shopsmith bible for other ways to fashion my own lathe pieces.

And I had no idea the flat was tapered on the shopsmith, thank you for letting me know that!

Terry- yes I did also post this on Lumberjocks

wa2crk · Post by **wa2crk** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 8:36 pm

I would highly recommend getting a chuck that is dedicated to woodworking. The chucks that you showed look to be designed for metal working. Woodworking chucks have different style jaws designed specifically for holding wood. The serrated jaws have greater holding power for wood.
My son was visiting a while back and we were using two machines with a Penn State chuck and a OneWay Talon. He made several pens and a bowl and came to the conclusion that he would save his coins for a little longer and get the Talon or the Nova.
A good chuck will not let go of a project and send it spinning across the shop.
Nova states that all of their accessory chuck jaws are interchangeable across their product line which is a distinct advantage if you decide to buy a larger body chuck in the future, but you may want to verify this with them before buying. My Grampa used to say "buy the best tools on the market and you will only have to cry once" meaning that a top quality tool will not let you down.
Good tools aren't cheap and cheap tools aren't good. Buy high quality tools at reasonable prices. You will be a lot happier.
In the meantime, use a faceplate and a waste block and save your money.
Bill V

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 10:24 pm

I TOTALLY agree with Bill V here. Ya buy the cheap one, then decide later to buy the other one. Well ya just spent for 2 of em and are satisfied with only ONE of em.