Advice ?

[spankingpigeon]

Hi all
wondering if i could get some advice from you , im looking at making my own pen boxes and im undecided as to whether i should purchase a thicknesser or a drum sander i own a 6inch jointer if that helps
im also wanting to know (im sure this is asked all the time) but i couldnt find it on the search, whats the best chuck kit to get? i was looking at the GPW chuck with the titanium finish, the Nova2 or the technatool are there any others out there worth considering, if not which one out of those 3 do you think would be the best?
any help would be much appreciated
cheers Brad

[artme]

Vicmarc and Vermec Chucks are top line chucks as is the Teknatool.

Have read good reports about The GPW on this forum.

Probably depends on th depth of your pocket as much as anything else.

[spankingpigeon]

artme

Vicmarc and Vermec Chucks are top line chucks as is the Teknatool.

Have read good reports about The GPW on this forum.

Probably depends on th depth of your pocket as much as anything else.

thanks artme i dont care how much i pay really, as i hope it will be a one time purchase with only new jaws to be bought as i need them. So far the nova chucks look good and nicely finished off but i dont really know what i should be looking for.

As far as the Thicknesser or drum sander goes should i be asking in a different area of the forum?

[Durdge39]

Will be watching with interest as I'm also trying to convince myself of a chuck purchase. The GPW ones seem ok, and for a reasonable price you can get a fair starter set of jaws and such, but I do wonder what the caveat may be.

[mick59wests]

Brad,

I have a small thicknesser which does a great job. Some things to think about:
- the thicknesser (at least in my case) is the noisiest tool I own so I only ever use it in business type hours - which usually only leaves Saturday morning for me
- I still hand sand (and plane the 19mm edges) after thicknessing
- I expect the drum sander (which I have never owned) will produce alot more dust. I also do not expect it to be as 'true' in the 90 degree angles as the thicknesser

cheers

Mick

[Sturdee]

Will be watching with interest as I'm also trying to convince myself of a chuck purchase. The GPW ones seem ok, and for a reasonable price you can get a fair starter set of jaws and such, but I do wonder what the caveat may be.

I've been using the GPW chucks,as well as the Vermec and Nova, for about 4 years now and I haven't had any problems with any of them.

The only problem I had was that some of the Vicmarc Jaws did not fit the GPW's but they fit the Vermec.

Peter.

[bookend]

I haven't used vermec chucks but I'd still go the vicmarc. The build quality is consistent and good according to reports.

A thicknesser is fast and can help you size different boards to the same dimensions quickly. A drum sander is for taking smaller quantities of wood and speeds finishing. It is also damn expensive. For the price of a drum sander, you can get a small belt/ disc sander and a thicknesser and you will be able to do production runs of boxes much faster.

Thickness sanders are great for table tops.

Regardless, a dust collector is necessary (you didn't say you had one for the jointer). This adds to the price but makes the job more pleasureable - health and cleaning up time wise - as both machines will have to remove lots of timber..

[ian thorn]

I have 2 nova chucks and the range of jaws is good I beleave the jaws for the vic and vers may allso fit but you may need to conferm this with you suppyer

Ian

[Mobyturns]

I was fortunate to have a very good chat socially with Enzo from Vermec after and at the NZ symposium about the quality of his gear. I will say up front as a user of his gear and with no other connection I'm very impressed with the quality & robustness of Vermec manufactured gear.

The Vermec chucks are manufactured off shore but Enzo said they do disassemble them clean them out & correctly grease and reassemble them after a deburring process. If I remember correctly Enzo also said words along the line "what can I do I have to be able to compete .... mine are too expensive ... so I bring them in and clean them up." So for the additional dollars for a Vermec version you are getting a little better quality control. You could do this yourself if you chose say a GPW or SE Qld Woodworking supplies or perhaps a CWS version?
Often the difference in price is the manufacturing quality control.

So I wonder what happens to the "John West" rejects?

fwiw I much prefer Vicmarc chucks over Novas any day.

[Mobyturns]

Have a look at this Glenn Lucas - Step 6 chucks - woodturning a bowl - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFf76cVTHqk&list=UU_txsr2OjQApEd0qvwbI8Yg&index=7)

[BlackbuttWA]

G'day Brad,

As for making pen boxes... I tried & although they came out good, it took so long & too much hassle for me.
Cheaper & less stressful to buy them from Timberbits or Carroll's.

I've had a GPW & Vicmarc chucks for 3 or 4 years now & never had a problem with either.

HTH

Col

[spankingpigeon]

Thanks for the replies, It seems that there isnt a lot of difference between all the brand name chucks apart from the new easy wood tools Easy Chuck but at twice the cost of top brand name chucks i think ill leave that one lol.
So i think ill end up getting a SuperNova2 chuck just because they are a good "looking" chuck with local backup and the price isnt to bad, best i have found is $199 for the chuck alone and there are a few places out there that have some deals with extra jaws for a bit more. Im particularly interested in getting a set of 75mm long nose jaws as i wouldnt mind having a go at some bangles.

I think after seeing bookend's post i think ill get a thicknesser as i do already own a belt/disk sander so now the big question is which one lol are the small Dewalt sort ok or is there some place on line that would be better ? and i dont mind spending more to get a good quality one as i only like to buy machines and tools once.
Oh and a big thank you to every one for the help

[Christos]

It is good that you have decided on the chuck brand but I hate to be the bearer of bad news one may not be enough. :U

I have two within one year of purchasing the first one. So it's either :2tsup: or :doh:, both different brands and I am very happy with both.

[Sturdee]

I have two within one year of purchasing the first one. So it's either :2tsup: or :doh:, both different brands and I am very happy with both.

Unless you like fiddling about with jaws all the time two is not enough either. You'll need at least half a dozen.:U


Peter.