Nova midi chuck?

Re: Nova midi chuck?

Don Henthorn Smithville, Texas

>Realize that I am no expert. If I were going to buy a chuck (which I am NOT) I think I would get the Vicmark 100.

Re: Nova midi chuck?

Travis Stinson

>"I don't see a full size lathe in my future any time soon."

Do you want to date this and stick it next to your lathe? ; )

Re: Nova midi chuck?

Barry Turner

>The Nova Midi Chuck is a replacement for their Compac Chuck, which is no longer in production. The Compac Chuck got mixed reviews on several news groups. I have a Compac Chuck and use it on my Jet Mini lathe. I have been very satisfied with it. Apparently, I got one of the better ones. The Midi looks like a decent chuck, although I haven't seen or used one. I am getting a larger lathe, but I intend to hang on to my Jet Mini lathe.........and my Compac Chuck. You might want to consider a Super Nova chuck. I have one of those, too. It works on my Jet Mini just fine. I think you will be happy with your Midi purchase, even if you do trade up later.

Ohhh, Travis

Carole in VA

>Don't make me do that! LOL

Re: Nova midi chuck?

Jerry Whitaker

>You can't go wrong with a Talon from OneWay either.

Re: Nova midi chuck?

Sam Dean

>I woud have to say go for the Vicmarc 100 as well. Even when you do get a bigger lathe, you can still use it for the smaller pieces. I have the 120 and am very pleased with it.

Thanks,

Sam

Re: Ohhh, Travis

Travis Stinson

>Ha Ha, I think it's a conspiracy!

Re: Nova midi chuck?

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>Carole,

You raise a good question. My take on this is that you are quite likely to appreciate a compact chuck both now and in the future, even if you should get a larger lathe.

For now, a compact chuck (be it the Nova Midi, the Vimark 100, the Oneway Talon, or the smaller Axminster) is a good match the size turnings you will be doing on a Mini lathe. Unless you have a bed extension for your mini, you are looking at limited between centers distance as well as limited swing. A more compact chuck allows you to preserve maximum BC capacity. The smaller diameter gives you greater clearance around the chuck for small scale projects. The Nova Midi is a very good choice in this regards as it has perhaps the lowest height of any of the major chucks, and one of the smaller diameters.

In the future, as Barry says, you are likely to keep you Mini lathe, whether or not you should obtain a larger one. There are so many uses for a second, portable lathe, that it is hard to consider parting with one. So, it is likely you will want a chuck for it long into the future. Even with a large lathe, it is advantageous to have both second and smaller chucks. A second so you aren't always changing jaws, a smaller to have better access to the back side of smaller turnings.

So I think you won't regret getting a chuck well matched to your present lathe, even if you should upgrade in the future.

As for which chuck. I repeatedly state that you won't go wrong getting any of the current chucks from any of the big four manufacturers (Teknatool, Vicmark, Oneway, Axminster). To me the biggest issue is whether the chucks in question can be outfitted with the type of jaws that will work best for the projects you are most apt to use them for. So I always suggest you examine your jaw needs (both present and future) first, and work backwards from there.

With respect to jaws, and specific to your future concerns, one of the really nice things about the Teknatool chucks is that no matter what size chuck body you choose, all the jaws will fit on virtually all the chucks they have made, both present and past, regardless of size (the are a couple of rare exceptions, such as the huge Powergrip Jaws for the Titan, and the 43 mm jaws for the Compac, but thats about it). Teknatool chucks will also take the largest range of jaws of any chuck on the market. They will take all of the wide range of Teknatool jaws, they will take all the jaws for the original Oneway chuck and the Talon, and Vermec makes an adapter that will allow you to even fit the Vicmark jaws on a Teknatool chuck. One of my few complaints about the Talon, is that it has the most limited range of jaw choices available to it of any of the major chucks. But of course, all this is meaningful only if you might have a need for a number of different jaw sets, and the jaws most useful to you are limited to one or two brands of chuck.

If you can wait, I have a review of the Teknatool Midi and the new SuperNova 2 that will appear in the January issue of More Woodturning. That should start arriving for people in just a few days. A week or so after that, you can obtain a pdf version at the web page Fred keeps for my reviews. I make some comparisons between the current and earlier Nova chucks in the review, as well as make some comparisons to the Talon.

Feel free to get a hold of me directly if you believe I might be of any help.

Re: Nova midi chuck?

Kenneth George

>I own this chuck as well as several others (Never too many chucks) so I think I would like to add a few comments about it. First off since it is a scroll type chuck it will normally take both hands to operate it and this can be a pain sometimes when mounting certain pieces. The chuck body is directly threaded which takes away the possibility of moving it to a lathe with a bigger or smaller spindle thread. The chuck works fine on my mini lathe but on the bigger lathe where the spindle is a bit longer the chuck bottoms out on the spindle and I have to use a spacer I made. This chuck has a very small range of movement when compared to other chucks. Teknatool has installed an internal jaw lock that will not let the jaws extend past the body so you are left with about .5� jaw movement. On the plus side the chuck is well made and quite a bit thinner than my other chucks and it uses the commonly available Nova chuck jaws.

My favorite chuck that I seem to use the most is my Vicmarc 3-1/2�. The supper Nova also works well I just have to remember that it tightens in the opposite direction from the Vicmarc. I do like the Allen wrench on the Vicmarc much better than the gear key that the super Nova uses. It appears that Teknatool has taken some lessons from Vicmarc though as the new Supper Nova 2 uses an Allen key and the rear of the body is sealed just like the Vicmarcs.

Re: Nova midi chuck?

Carole in VA

>Thanks all! Lyn, I will wait for your review. For, right now I will experiment with glue blocks. Can't spend much time in the shop anyway until this weather gets a little warmer!

Re: Nova midi chuck? *LINK*

Russ Fairfield

>My answer to the question of which chuck is, "It depends". It depends on the lathe, the type of work, the size of the wood to be turned, and whether you really need a chuck at all.

A chuck is a convenience and not a requirement, and there are some things that are best done by using something other than a chuck.

There is no single chuck that can be all things for all types of woodturning. Differences in quality and function should determine which one is the best for our personal use. The selection is too often determined by how much money we want to spend, rather than what we want it to do.

My recommendation to the beginner at the lathe is waiting until you are seeing some direction in what type of work you are preferring to do. What you will want from a chuck for making lidded boxes can be different from those for turning bowls, weed pots, or plates.

Things like accuracy, repeatability, diameter range, jaw profiles available, convenience, how the chuck is operated, and what direction you have to twist it to make the jaws move, won't mean very much to you now. If you wait awhile, you will start to realize whether any of these concepts have any meaning for you or the type of work you are doing.

You can read a discussion of why I use the chucks that I do at the link below. It was revised in 2002, but nothing has happened to change my opinions since then. It doesn't tell you what to buy, but it might give you some things to think about when you do. If my opinions are different from those of Lyn when his article is published, that's life.

For the Nova chuck in question? Assuming that the quality and accuracy problems of one it replaces have been corrected, it doesn't have the range and versatility of the larger (and more expensive) chucks that are suitable for your lathe. That may not be a problem now, but do you want to limit your use of a chuck next year by what you want to hold in it today. Personal opinion? There are better choices available.


Article: Buying a chuck. Which one?

Re: Nova midi chuck? *LINK*

Charles Bjorgen

>Hi Carole -- I brought home the Nova midi precision chuck about 10 days ago to use on my Mercury mini lathe. I had been using a Oneway Talon on this lathe but always had to install a machinist's bushing between the lathe and chuck because the Talon had a larger bearing surface that rubbed on the headstock. I had tried the original Nova Compac chuck about two years ago and finally returned it to Woodcraft because I could not keep a piece mounted on it.

One thing noted with the new Midi chuck is that the jaws are not installed and the instructions call for a fairly precise method of doing so. The process essentially calls for closing the jaws tightly before tightening the holding screws. Note that I had to push the jaws into alignment by hand before tightening the screws, not a big deal but a slight deviation from the instructions.

According the the instructions, the size of your piece is somewhat limited. From the Teknatool manual: "With the standard set of 50mm jaws a maximum size woodblank of 100mm (4 inches) diameter (NOT spigot size) by 150mm (6 inches) length can be turned." That alone might limit your interest in this chuck although it's fine for me because I have a larger lathe for larger work.

I'll have to confess I have not yet used my midi chuck much yet past some initial trials. It will be used mainly for lidded box work, Christmas ornaments and other small items. I will probably put a 1 1/4" adapter in my Talon and use that on my 16" lathe. The Woodcraft price where I bought my Midi is about $120, compared to the $210 or so for the Talon.

If you mostly do small work, the midi might be okay for you. If you want to do bowls, however, I'd go right to either a Talon or comparable sized Vicmarc chuck.

You can download the Nova Mini pdf manual from the Teknatool sight at the link below:


Midi Chuck manual

Been there, done that

John Crissman

>Carol,

It is hard to add anything to the depth of knowledge that has been already given. It has all been so good! So, I will just tell you what I did.

I borrowed a Vicmark (A GREAT Chuck) but still went with the value Super Nova. Two years later, I have a Jet mini and a Nova Mercury. I have two Super Novas and a Nova (with the Tommy Bars) and more jaws than you can shake a stick at.

The Super Novas can do everything that a Compact will do plus they have room for growth.

The best advise maybe to borrow a few different chucks from friends (or take a look at them at the next meeting) and find out what you like.

Blessings,

John

Get a Talon, It's the best holding one

Leo Van Der Loo

>

Re: Nova midi chuck?

Dick Hines

>Carole, Packard has a close out going on the Super Nova. It's priced at $50 more than the midi chuck. I have two and like them. I also have a midi I use on my Jet mini. Take some getting used to. Sometime it would be nice to have another hand when messing with the tommy bars.