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6 Jaw lathe chuck

Pratt95

Plastic
Joined
Apr 22, 2019
Looking at purchasing a 6" 6 jaw chuck.
Due to price I'm considering either a used Buck or Bison vs a new Chinese made.
Any recommendations?
Thank you
 
careful with the used Buck, a worn scroll can easily trash the accuracy. one I worked with (6 jaw adjust-tru)wouldn't hold to 3 thou on different diameters. true it up on a 1/2", wouldn't hold a 3/4 better than that. consider new eastern european make like Bison or toolmex. used lathe chucks are often sloppy junk, no matter what name they sport.
 
Do you need a 6 jaw or (like me) just want one? Just curious. A 3 jaw is way cheaper and use pie or other type soft jaws.

I think I need it, turning mostly wood and getting either slippage or denting material even when using a sleeve.
 
I think I need it, turning mostly wood and getting either slippage or denting material even when using a sleeve.

I'd look at better ''jawing'' on a 3 jaw, ……..for starters, unless a workpiece is perfectly cylindrical and without taper, at least 2 of the extra jaws in a 6 jaw chuck will be useless.


I'm not professing to know it all - or anything like it (anyone who does is a prick) but in over 45 years ''in the game'' across a wide spectrum of machining etc type work, I've yet to come across a situation where a 6 jaw would have been an advantage
 
Been there done that, more than I care to remember - annealed copper too - and it's large soft jaws for me - every time.

Nah, too much time for setup. Would have to be either pretty large OD or a "no distortion allowed" situation for me to bother with soft jaws, most of my tube work doesn't have those demands.
 
I think I need it, turning mostly wood and getting either slippage or denting material even when using a sleeve.

There are chucks made specifically for wood, with curved jaws that grip on a substantial portion of the circumference of the part. They are not expensive compared to a six-jaw metalworking chuck. Search for "Nova G3 reversible chuck with 3 jaw sets," for example.

Mike
 
Wouldn't a collet be the best choice for that?

Sure, if around the ~1" limit of the typical 5C. But I usually work with stuff to 2" or larger, and a 8" six jaw will safely handle that to some reasonable stickout. And just a few cranks of the chuck key goes from small to large, no collet swaps needed.
 
There are chucks made specifically for wood, with curved jaws that grip on a substantial portion of the circumference of the part. They are not expensive compared to a six-jaw metalworking chuck. Search for "Nova G3 reversible chuck with 3 jaw sets," for example.

Mike
Handled a Nova at a friend's this past weekend, it's a pretty good looking piece.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
 
There are chucks made specifically for wood, with curved jaws that grip on a substantial portion of the circumference of the part. They are not expensive compared to a six-jaw metalworking chuck. Search for "Nova G3 reversible chuck with 3 jaw sets," for example.

Mike

Working on pool cues and when working on 500.00 to 1500.00 cue, that's a good mid priced custom cue. .003 is critical that's why they are turned on a metal lathe.
 
I have 3 lathes and I keep a 6 jaw mounted on the middle size lathe all the time. They don't work for everything, but they work very well on thin wall anything and low density material, like plastic.
 
Sounds like you are set on a six jaw, and I'll assume you have experience with Nova or other wood lathe chucks and they're not up to the job.

Used chucks are a crapshoot, which seems to be exactly what you're trying to avoid, so a new chuck would be the way to go. (I own several worn out USA made Buck chucks.)
 
Sounds like you are set on a six jaw, and I'll assume you have experience with Nova or other wood lathe chucks and they're not up to the job.

Used chucks are a crapshoot, which seems to be exactly what you're trying to avoid, so a new chuck would be the way to go. (I own several worn out USA made Buck chucks.)

I owned a Chinese 4 jaw scroll chuck for 2 hours after delivery. It was so bad I threw it in the scrap bin. It would have cost more money on return shipping to make any use of the guarantee than it was worth. Just saying. Buy quality.
 








 
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