nova titan chuck

Re: Minor Annoyance

William Duffield

If you already have a OneWay chuck that you are used to, you may find it inconvenient to have one chuck tighten by turning it in one direction and the other tighten by turning it in the opposite direction. OTOH, the Nova jaws are interchangeable across their line of chucks (there might be an exception or two), while the OneWay Talon jaws and StrongHold jaws are not interchangeable.

Re: nova titan chuck

Don Evans

I don't think there is a more robust chuck that a Stronghold, of course I could be wrong, it's been know to happen!

If you already have a stronghold and want to turn bigger that you have been perhaps you just need a different set of stronghold jaws.

Just FYI - Rockler has a sale on there Nova 2 with 3 sets of jaws 2", 4" & 5" for $200.00.

Don

Re: nova titan chuck

Bill Blasic

The Titan III is a very heavy duty chuck and now has three sets of jaws that fit its 3 holed slides. It can still accept all of the Nova jaws but I don't know why you would want to use anything but the three holed jaws. The Titan III bowl jaws are 5.75" and 6.5" and the chuck comes with the 5" Power Grip jaws. Capable of holding bigger pieces very well. This is a 5" chuck and the Stronghold is a 4 1/2" chuck. I have both but prefer the Titan III myself.

Re: nova titan chuck

Paul Grenier

I have the Titan II and it's a heavy duty chuck capable of dealing with large hunks of wood on my PM 3520B

I have one

John K Jordan

I have a Nova Titan I mostly use with larger things. I like the fact it will accept all the other Nova jaws I have. I don't have a Stronghold but I've used them and don't see any advantage of one over the other. Because of the interchangeable jaws I think the Titan would be a good choice for someone like me who already has other Nova chucks and jaws.

There is a minor thing I don't like about the Titan. The Titan doesn't use the standard Nova inserts so I bought it direct-threaded for a 1-1/4"x8tpi spindle. I prefer to use a wrench to remove chucks but the Titan doesn't have flats for the wrench. They expect you to use the universal spanner wrench that has a pin that fits in the hex key socket.

I don't like this method as much, although it is far better than what I've seen some people do - insert and apply force on the hex key which can damage the socket. I bought the universal wrench but I'm still considering machining flats on the back of the chuck to fit the other Nova spanner wrench I use on my other chucks.

JKJ

Re: nova titan chuck

Philip Duffy

May I suggest a large Face Plate with lots of big screws? Works for me and a few other guys I know. Mine was made up by a big nut welded to a scrap steel plate and a few holes for screws at various diameters. Total cost was $5 as I recall

Re: I have one

Cameron

I wonder if my technique of chucking a long piece of poplar into the jaws as a lever to tighten/loosen the chuck on my 3520 is an issue...

Tightening and removing

John K Jordan

I wonder if my technique of chucking a long piece of poplar into the jaws as a lever to tighten/loosen the chuck on my 3520 is an issue...

I suspect most jaws could take it. It wouldn't work for me since I often leave work in one chuck and take it off and set it aside and mount another chuck. This happens often when a student's work stays in a chuck until the next session. (fortunately I have plenty of chucks)

BTW, I don't use anything but my fingers to tighten a chuck. I discovered years ago if I screwed the chuck on until about an eighth of a turn before it seats then give a "calibrated" wrist flick to seat it the chuck is always secure, enough to require a good hand bump on the wrench to loosen. The flick has to be just so or I'd probably need to take a hammer to the wrench to loosen. Although I always use this method I hate to recommend it since I can't describe just how much flick is enough and not too much.

JKJ

Re: Tightening and removing

William Duffield

I tighten my chucks the same way. My concern is with my method of loosening them again. I push down on the spindle lock button and give the chuck a counterclockwise wrist flick. When the pin drops into the detent, the shaft stops abruptly, and the chuck continues to turn, and loosens enough I can complete the removal without tools. Is this a bad idea? The lathe is a 1442, like most of yours.

inspect?

John K Jordan

My concern is with my method of loosening them again. I push down on the spindle lock button and give the chuck a counterclockwise wrist flick. When the pin drops into the detent, the shaft stops abruptly, and the chuck continues to turn, and loosens enough I can complete the removal without tools. Is this a bad idea?

I'm not familiar with the 1442 (I use 3520b and 1642). Can you remove screws and pull out the spindle lock pin and inspect it and the hole in the spindle? This might give you some indication of if the parts can take it.

When I loosen with a wrench the force needed to break the chuck loose varies from a firm hand tug (most of the time) to a smart rap with the heel of my hand. Once I had to use a moderate tap from a wooden mallet.

I had an idea for a gentle, low impact chuck release method, at least for for Nova chucks with the hex insert (or for nearly any chuck using the pin wrench idea from the picture I showed): Devise a wrench with a threaded shaft and handle and a means to bear against some stationary part of the lathe (bracket, hole in headstock, lathe bed - haven't engineered that yet). Slip the wrench onto the chuck (over the flats on the insert or otherwise) and twist the handle. Force from the threaded shaft should break the chuck loose with very little effort.

JKJ

Re: inspect?

William Duffield

Oops! What was I thinking? Typo, I guess! Mine is a JET 1642, like yours. That's why I asked.

I've owned a Reeves drive JET lathe, and was more than happy to upgrade to the EVS drive.

Re: Tightening and removing

Ron Bauer

If you keep the threads totally free of debris and use NO LUBRICANT you should have no probs removing the chuck with just a smart whack with the heel of your hand on the key. No need to engage the pin, just the inertia of the drive system is enough resistance. Unless of course you have a smash up of some sort then you might have a problem.

Re: Tightening and removing

Dennis J. Gooding

Color me cautious, but I always tighten the chuck firmly when turning anything with a large moment of inertia, that is, things that would require a large chuck (or faceplate for that matter). Many lathes, including my Oneway, use motor braking to slow the spindle when the non-emergency STOP button is pushed. In the case of my Oneway, I have a choice of fast or slow deceleration. I normally use the fast choice for most work. I have noted several times that pressing STOP when turning a large bowl or platter blank and using the fast deceleration setting, the motor controller will automatically sense that the reverse torque is too large and will stop all motor-aided deceleration. I assume that this is a safety feature to prevent unscrewing the chuck or faceplate. The question is what torque is required to trigger the over-ride?

The engineer in me prompted me to make a few measurements to quantify the torques that I use when I sense that there might be an issue. I also wanted to know what the relationship is between tightening torque and release torque. My chucks are all Vicmarcs and have a couple of holes in the main body to accept a tommy bar for tightening and loosening. My first experiment was to chuck a torque wrench in one of the chucks and tighten the chuck to 15 ft-lbs torque and then gradually apply reverse torque until the chuck released. I repeated this for 20 ft-lbs torque. In each case, the release torque was about 80% as large as the tightening torque. Next, I lubricated the chuck threads and face with a silicone lubricant and repeated the experiments. The results were virtually identical.

My next experiment was to tighten the chuck using a tommy bar as I would normally do when I was concerned about the chuck loosening, and then use the torque wrench to measure the corresponding release torque. I then tightened the chuck to various values until I found the one that gave the same release torque. I made this measurement on both a small-body Vicmarc and a large-body Vicmarc. The results were approximately 15 and 25 ft-lbs, respectively, probably reflecting the larger diameter of the big chuck and its longer tommy bar.

Dennis, you mentioned "silicone lubricant"

Barry Irby

I'm still not clear on silicon vs. silicone, but one of them is a serious No No around many finishes. Will cause fish eye. I avoid anything like that. Doesn't take much.

As far as the chuck goes, I give mine a little snap of the wrist, an 18 or maybe a 1/4 turn and its snugs it up nicely and it takes about the same effort to release them. I have the older Nova chucks with the chuck keys. Lock the shaft, insert the key and give it a little bump. Nova DVR lathe. Been doing it for years with no apparent damage. Recommended to me by Ray, who used to own the local WoodCraft Store and sold me the lathe.

Re: Tightening and removing

john lucas

I wish Powermatic had put a switch in for braking speed. When I installed my own VFD on my Nova lathe I had to set up the parameters for braking. So I simply adjusted it and tried it and then changed it to what I felt was correct. When I'm turning small stuff I would love to have a very short fast break time so I can inspect the piece and be back to working. Of course you can't have that when turning large pieces, it will unscrew the chuck.

When I install my chuck I screw it on flush. Then take the chuck key and snug it up. I've never had it come off. Then it only takes a similar to pull to get it off. Years ago on other lathes I've had problems with the chuck getting stuck. I started using air tool oil. Put some on with a rag and then use a paper towel to wipe it all off. Of course you never get 100 percent off. It kept the chucks from sticking but was dry enough to keep them from spinning off.