Grizzly Vicmarc copy
John Lucas
>I just went out and played with my chucks. the new Grizzly chuck looks a lot like a Vicmarc but doesn't have the fit and finish. I swapped the jaws between the two and they do fit. The Grizzly jaws are a snug fit. Based on the mediocre machining on the rest of the chuck I don't know if the tolerances are tight enought for the jaws to swap on all chucks.
The biggest difference between the two is the slop or tolerance between the helical and the inner jaws. The Vicmarc has very little slop maybe .010 to .015 inch. I didn't measure this was an educated guess. The Grizzly has maybe .075 to .100. That's quite a bit but in actual use I don't think it will matter much. When compressed it locks down good. When expanded it seems to lock good. It just has some slop inbetween.
I think it's a good chuck for $89. I don't know if I would recommend it as a second chuck to be used with the vicmarc. It did work on mine but the machining is not nearly as good and I don't believe the parts would be that accurate all the time. If you don't have a chuck and want one then I think I would recommend this. The fit and finish is better than most of the inexpensive chucks I've seen.
I almost forgot. It does come with an insert that is removeable. They basically copied the vicmarc in everything but accuracy. It comes with a screw center as well that looks just like the Vicmarc center.
