Shopsmith Forums

Quick question folks. From what little I can see in the chuck manual it appears the jaws can be removed with two bolts per jaw. My intention is to purchase one and make a set of cole jaws to fit. Is this doable?

Yes, but, the side that attaches to the slide is not flat, but has both raised and indented areas in the shape of an arc. The purpose of them is to align the jaw independent from the screws.

So does the slide that the jaws attach to protrude past the face of the chuck or are they recessed?

BlackieSmith wrote:So does the slide that the jaws attach to protrude past the face of the chuck or are they recessed?

The slides are proud of the face.

Cole jaws are only one type of jaws that might serve your purpose but lets look at them for now.

They are a cast (I believe) metal (AL) and yes they are designed to align to nova chucks by way of their design. They have very precise fit.

They can be used alone or with a combination of other jaws, adding that feature would at least double the complexity of making them.

The maximum rpm on the store bought ones is just 600 rpm meaning that using them on a conventional head stock alone is questionable, a home made version is likely to need to run much slower.

A lot of questionable effort to save $55 or so for the mini set, I didn't attempt to find the best price but this came up early in the search:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/NOVA-Mini-C ... lsrc=aw.ds

Anyway it is possible.........

For me it was far easier to just buy them.

Ed

The cost really isn’t the factor. I’m looking at holding a bowl with a 15 1/2” inside diameter. I have lowered my rpm to approximately 125. What little I’ve researched the nova cole jaws I haven’t found any that size. Metal work being my profession I figured why not make a set if the chuck sliders protrude past the face of the chuck.

Are you using a shopsmith as your lathe? Not sure that a 15-1/2" inside diameter works???? As I recall the shopsmith claims 16" but I don't know if even that is true.

Anyway Nova has the large cole jaws (12") and adds an extension (6039) that takes it up to 15". So far as I know that is the largest they make. I'd check with them to see.

Would the 15" do or do you really have to have the larger size?

Ed

Yes, using a SS. 15” would do.

reible wrote:Are you using a shopsmith as your lathe? Not sure that a 15-1/2" inside diameter works???? As I recall the shopsmith claims 16" but I don't know if even that is true.

Anyway Nova has the large cole jaws (12") and adds an extension (6039) that takes it up to 15". So far as I know that is the largest they make. I'd check with them to see.

Would the 15" do or do you really have to have the larger size?

Ed

I've owned the 12" Nova for years. And just recently purchased the extension.
Only use it for turning the bottom of my bowls. The extension allowed me to finish some bowls I made years ago that the 12" Nova could not do.

I have seen wooden extensions. Once attached you can turn them to be true.