New 6" 6 jaw chuck, what should I choose?

KimB · Oct 16, 2017

Hi this is my first post, all feedback is much appreciated.
I`m looking for a new chuck, since I mainly build cues, in other words I work with wood, some of it cored and quite soft, I need more evenly clamping pressure and a 6 jaw seems to be the way to go for most serious cuebuilders.
I have a generic 3 jaw now on my lathe and a nice 5" Bison 3 jaw on my smaller lathe.
I`m looking at the ususal suspects: Bison, Pratt Burnered, Buck and Gator. They are all steel body construction and the stated TIR is .0005" for all of them (Gator actually claims .0004") and all of them have some sort of micro adjust/set-tru feature.
prices seems to be fairly comparable:

Bison - $1050, backplate - $300 = $1350
Gator - $1200 that`s included the backplate = $1200
Pratt Burnered - $1300, backplate about $300 = $1600
Buck - $1350, backplate - $400 = $1750

Considering the expensive backplate for Buck, the total gets a bit higher than the competition, especially compared to Gator.
So how do these chucks compare in quality, longevity and repeatability?

Kim

Illinoyance · Oct 16, 2017

Have you considered a 3 jaw with 2 piece jaws and pie shaped soft jaws?

Limy Sami · Oct 16, 2017

Illinoyance said:
Have you considered a 3 jaw with 2 piece jaws and pie shaped soft jaws?

X 2 on that - IMO 6 jaw chucks are vastly overrated .......and a work piece has to be ''perfectly'' round in order for all 6 jaws to bear ?????

KimB · Oct 16, 2017

Yes, both my chucks are the two piece type jaws, I often need a decent clamping preassure on a fairly fragile piece of wood. I would like to be able to hold my work more securely without having to make Delrin collets all the time.

Limy Sami · Oct 16, 2017

Just curious, have you used a 6 jaw chuck on your type of work ?

AlexO · Oct 16, 2017

You might want to look at Schunk, Rota S.

michiganbuck · Oct 16, 2017

Haven't had a new chuck for a time but If choosing would go for the Buck chick..

KimB · Oct 16, 2017

My personal experience with 6 jaw chucks is minimal, but it seems the most used for cuemaking. Roundness of the workpiece is not really a problem.

Mud · Oct 16, 2017

My Pratt Burnerds impress me more than any other brand I've had, Including Buck and Cushman

michiganbuck · Oct 16, 2017

Any chance you could standardize the but end to perhaps 4 sizes and make 4 collects for those sizes...or is your old chuck to far off.

L Vanice · Oct 16, 2017

If you plan to use the adjustable centering feature, only look at chucks with four adjusting screws at 90 degree intervals. That includes Pratt Burnerd Setrite models and Buck Ajust-Tru models. The BTC chucks are Chinese copies of the Buck, so they are OK, but I think they have cast iron bodies. As far as I know, the Bison screws are still at two non-90 degree intervals and the Gator chucks are copies of the Bison. I ordered a new Gator copy of a Buck chuck a few years ago, but was told they stopped making that style and now only made Bison copies. They gave me a very tempting price, but I refused to buy a Bison copy. I bought a new Bison years ago and hated it because of the inconvenience of adjusting it. I use Pratt Burnerd and Buck 3-jaw and 6-jaw chucks and all are easy to adjust. The Pratt Burnerd chucks are better than the Buck as far as build quality, but all mine are 20 to 30 years old, so I cannot speak to current quality standards.

Larry

Monarchist · Oct 16, 2017

michiganbuck said:
Any chance you could standardize the but end to perhaps 4 sizes and make 4 collects for those sizes...or is your old chuck to far off.

Better yet. Maybe.

All I know about pool & billiard's cue's is the USE of 'em, but... I didn't realize the raw material was so much larger than the finished goods the raw stock won't fit an existing wide-collapse-range collet system "already".

I do have a Gator forged-steel 6" six-jaw, OEM True Adjust D1-3 forged backplate, but..

Also have ER 40, Jacobs RubberFlex 9XX, and Burnerd Multisize. All of those have about a 40-thou / 1 mm collapse range. Even the 2J collets - which do no such thing, just come in finer diameter steps / higher count of collets to cover a given range - might be large enough?

IOW - why use a "chuck" at all to grip even the hardest of WOOD's?

If I had no OTHER choice, I mought soft-jaw-up the Hardinge TWO-jaw chuck. Pipe and pipe fittings were done on 2-Jaw chucks with specialized jaws for Donkey's Years. One less jaw. Cheaper to build 'em "tall" for longer support length.

Opposing "vee block" or modification of same might cover every size wanted with but one set of such jaws?

And... even if... the raw material is not round...

Blazemaster · Oct 16, 2017

I have a zero set (adjust tru) BTC 8" 6 jaw with 2 piece jaws. It works great for me, I bought it at a garage sale new in the box, the guy had 8 of them. I bought a back plate off ebay, it holds .0005".

Lost in LA · Oct 16, 2017

Last year I purchased a 6 jaw Buck 8 inch chuck Model ATSC.

It comes with two sets of jaws. The jaws are the old style that do not use top jaws.

Much to my surprise the back plate was made in the USA and cost a lot, and the chuck and jaws came from China. Had I known I would have evaluated the other options a bit more.

It is very accurate and well made. The ATSC model has less aggressive jaw faces and is less prone to leave jaw marks..probably a plus for wood.

Any of the chucks you selected will last longer than you.
You need to check on their rated top speed.

I believe the cast iron ones usually have a lower max rpm than the hardened steel ones.

I would consider purchasing one from a local supplier with a liberal return policy.

Lost

kpotter · Oct 16, 2017

six jaws are cool till you have to flip the jaws. Six is just too many jaws to flip.

Forrest Addy · Oct 17, 2017

You're inquiring about some first rate workholding equipment that in its place it would serve you well. But maybe not in this application. If you were making reproduction telescopes and the threaded brass tubes and slender wall rings and lens mounts, a six jaw would be a dream come true. Be it three jaw or six jaw chuck, gripping wood will still leave dents. A wide fitted grip is necessary, one that has slight resilience to avoid marring the wood. Like a firm plastic.

I suggest a graduated set of UHMW polyethylene soft jaws for your existing chuck. Bore them in increments to suit your pool cues. Plastic soft jaws will give you a reliable grip without crushing or indenting the no-doubt expensive wood. $1350 to $1750 would buy a lot of 1" UHMWP sheet,

The 6 jaw once purchased, would still need something to pad those skinny jaws with. You'll have to make soft jaws for them - which takes you back to square one - but $1350 to $1750 poorer.

Generally speaking, 6 jaw chucks justify their existence holding delicate thin-wall parts for second operations when speed of parts change, reduced wall deformation, and repeatable accuracy are critical requirements. You can use a 6 jaw chuck for general work but why risk a delicate expensive piece of workholding equipment for routine work? You'll be one busted parting tool away from making it just another general purpose chuck with a sprung jaw and a deformed scroll.

adama · Oct 17, 2017

A self centring 4 jaw may be far cheap and get you near 360 contact. If you know the diameter range your working at its not hard to put a grove in each jaw so you end up with 8 wider points of contact than you would get with a 6 jaw.

MattiJ · Oct 17, 2017

Forrest Addy said:
You're inquiring about some first rate workholding equipment that in its place it would serve you well. But maybe not in this application. If you were making reproduction telescopes and the threaded brass tubes and slender wall rings and lens mounts, a six jaw would be a dream come true. Be it three jaw or six jaw chuck, gripping wood will still leave dents. A wide fitted grip is necessary, one that has slight resilience to avoid marring the wood. Like a firm plastic.

I suggest a graduated set of UHMW polyethylene soft jaws for your existing chuck. Bore them in increments to suit your pool cues. Plastic soft jaws will give you a reliable grip without crushing or indenting the no-doubt expensive wood. $1350 to $1750 would buy a lot of 1" UHMWP sheet,

The 6 jaw once purchased, would still need something to pad those skinny jaws with. You'll have to make soft jaws for them - which takes you back to square one - but $1350 to $1750 poorer.

Generally speaking, 6 jaw chucks justify their existence holding delicate thin-wall parts for second operations when speed of parts change, reduced wall deformation, and repeatable accuracy are critical requirements. You can use a 6 jaw chuck for general work but why risk a delicate expensive piece of workholding equipment for routine work? You'll be one busted parting tool away from making it just another general purpose chuck with a sprung jaw and a deformed scroll.

Or instead of plastic soft jaws cut a set of thick wall plastic sleeves. Helps to spread out the pressure.

Isn't UHMWP sort of slippery also against wood?
Maybe more preferred something like polyamide that seems to end up with rough surface with "right" cutting parameters. (Every time you want it nice and smooth)

richard newman · Oct 17, 2017

I have a 10" Pratt Burnerd 6 jaw Setrite. It's a great chuck, I bought it used 25 years ago when I got my 17" Leblond, thought I'd be turning lots of thin rings. In reality I wound up making soft jaws most of the time, more accurate and better holding.

A while ago I relized I just didn't want to be lifting that heavy guy, so I got an 8" Bison 3 jaw, haven't used the Setrite since. I would sell it, but then I'd need it the next week...

AlexO · Oct 17, 2017

On a 6 jaw chuck must one use all 6 or can one use only 3 ?

New 6" 6 jaw chuck, what should I choose?

Plastic

Stainless

Diamond

Plastic

Diamond

Banned

Diamond

Plastic

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Cast Iron

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Titanium

Titanium

Banned

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