Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
need smaller chuck advice
davidewhiting
>I have a NOVA chuck w/50mm mm jaws. In order to hold smaller pieces I am told to get the 25mm jaws. Does that means I have to take the jaws all apart every time I use them ? If so, thats a bit of time. What are my other alternatives, another chuck ??????????????
Re: need smaller chuck advice
John Lucas
>David
It is a hassle changing jaws but the alternatives aren't much cheaper than buying another chuck. The Beal Collet system works well for a variety of sizes. You can get a jacobs chuck with rounded out jaws from Craft supplies that will let you do roughly 3/8" dowels.
You can also buy #2 morse taper collets and make your own drawbar. You can get these from metal supply houses.
A standard jacobs chuck will crush most of the wood and not hold it affectively.
what are you going to turn? There are lots of ways to turn small items without a chuck.
Re: need smaller chuck advice *LINK*
Fred Holder
>Teknatool makes and sells SuperNova and Nova Chuck Jaw Slides. Set of 4 jaw slides (comes standard with the chuck). Many turners use extra jaw slides to mount their accessory jaw sets. Then changing the Accessory Jaws is as easy as unwinding one set of sides and winding in another set, with the Accessory Jaws already mounted.
I'm not sure where you can purchase these other than directly from the Teknatool web site; however, they are a much less expensive alternative to purchasing another chuck. Over the years, I simply purchased other chucks so that we have a chuck for each set of accessory jaws. This does tie up quite a bit of money.
I don't know the cost of the jaw slides, but they would be much less than a new chuck. Ray Key from England, uses one Axminister chuck and has an extra set of jaw slides for each of his chuck jaws. It is a simple and quick way to change jaws.
Good Luck
Fred Holder's Domain Site
Re: need smaller chuck advice
Peter Teubel
>You can get a power screw driver or a cordless drill to help speed things up. Other than that, another chuck will help. Personally, I have 4 chucks and STILL end up changing jaws.
morse taper collets *LINK*
Phil Joines in Krum, Texas
>Most of the machine shop suppliers have stopped carrying the MT collets. The only place I know who still have them is Little Machine Shop, They are $8.95 each or $49.95 for a set of 7. Way cheaper than I paid from ENCO. They also carry some other interesting M2 goodies, like an M2 ER-25 collate set somewhat like the Beal system for $139. it goes from 1/8 to 5/8. Unfortunately I have no affiliation ;>(
BTW I hand turn both brass and steel on my Nova 3K and Jet minis.
Little Machine Shop