Thread: The development of the woodturning chuck

I would not say they were all chuck evolution dead ends as I still use most of the bits and pieces that came with my leady lathe. Bruce Leadbetter had a chuck similar to the one Record put out but the really smart part of Bruce's was the matching cutter to do the recess in a few seconds. Its also a shallower recess than for the likes of a modern chuck so less wood wastage. Most of the time my Nova chuck sits in the bottom of the drawer.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

I would not say they were all chuck evolution dead ends as I still use most of the bits and pieces that came with my leady lathe. Bruce Leadbetter had a chuck similar to the one Record put out but the really smart part of Bruce's was the matching cutter to do the recess in a few seconds. Its also a shallower recess than for the likes of a modern chuck so less wood wastage. Most of the time my Nova chuck sits in the bottom of the drawer.
Regards
John

John, thank you for that photo of Bruce Leabeatter's Leady keyless bowl chuck. The Woodfast Super Chuck version that I have of that chuck is clearly based on Bruce's original.

Undoubtedly, there are some turners who are still using their earlier chucks, some of which are much loved and preferred for some tasks. However, based on future flexibility, it is not now where I would be recommending a new turner start to equip themselves.

From my perspective, it was the scroll chucks that continued to evolve and give us a multitude of different jaw set and attachments that provide us with a much wider range of turning options; from the largest Cole jaws down to the tiniest pin and pen jaws, with some heavy duty ones like the shark/powergrip jaws in between.

Part of the purpose of this thread is to acknowledge the pioneering work done by chuck designers to get us to where we are today and Bruce Leadbeatter is definitely among those who paved the way with his Leady lathes and chucks. His earlier focus was on equipping schools for woodturning when he was involved in teacher training. His woodworking textbook was/is widely used ( I think this is from it, Pg 9 is most relevant to this topic) and his keyless bowl chuck was designed to be as safe as possible for use by school students. His pioneering work on microwave drying of green blanks was another of his major contributions to woodturning.

In retirement Bruce focussed his innovation efforts on providing economical options for hobby and club turners. His excellent Leady lathe was taken up by many, particularly in NSW where he continued to generously give of his expertise into his later years.

BTW, Bruce and I both grew up in the small NSW town of Alstonville, a generation apart. I was taught some woodworking by Bruce there before he was appointed to the Sydney Teacher's College in the 1960s, later part of Sydney University. Our fathers worked together in the local butter factory where Bruce's father, Horace, worked on machinery maintenance. After the factory closed, Horace invented various woodturning lathes for turning toys, so Bruce's Leady lathe had deep roots.

And, if you have not seen one of these, here is Bruce's patent on his eccentric chuck.

Chuck for angular offset woodturning by Napintas Pty Ltd – AU 2004255280

Neil,
I have seen the eccentric chuck. One of the good things when buying a Leady lathe was that Bruce gave you an hour or so hands on rundown and a general shed tour of all his gadgets. He was very generous with his time and knowledge. I think he made a great contribution to woodturning in that he made a lot of it easier. I guess thats the point of continuous chuck development too. Its good to reflect on where its all come from so thanks for starting this thread.
Regards
John

Hi Neil
Check out the chuck in this Ebay sale Wood Lathe, Durden Top Turn Series 400, used, | eBay
Chris

Originally Posted by doragus

Hi Neil
Check out the chuck in this Ebay sale Wood Lathe, Durden Top Turn Series 400, used, | eBay
Chris

Thanks for posting that one Chris.

The Mulitstar Duplex chuck was made in the UK 30yrs ago, so right in the thick of the later chuck developments soon after the first Nova came out. We didn't get to see many of them here in Australia. The dedicated thread size on the earlier models may have restricted the interest here.

Besides the cost of landing it here, some people loved them while others never got along with theirs, so there was a risk that you might not like it when it finally arrived here. I understand there was also fiddling around with changing from contraction to expansion mode on the earlier models. Along with other manufacturers, that was later sorted out with thread adaptors.

They were small chucks that were suitable for lighter smaller diameter work with their standard jaws never going above 97mm in expansion or 74mm in contraction, which was another limiting factor for some turners.

You can still buy them, which indicates that there must be dedicated turners still using then out there, somewhere...

maderas Drechseltechnik - Spannfutter, Mitnehmer mitlaufende Körnerspitzen

Originally Posted by NeilS

Thanks for posting that one Chris.

The Mulitstar Duplex chuck was made in the UK 30yrs ago, so right in the thick of the later chuck developments soon after the first Nova came out. We didn't get to see many of them here in Australia. The dedicated thread size on the earlier models may have restricted the interest here.

Besides the cost of landing it here, some people loved them while others never got along with theirs, so there was a risk that you might not like it when it finally arrived here. I understand there was also fiddling around with changing from contraction to expansion mode on the earlier models. Along with other manufacturers, that was later sorted out with thread adaptors.

They were small chucks that were suitable for lighter smaller diameter work with their standard jaws never going above 97mm in expansion or 74mm in contraction, which was another limiting factor for some turners.

You can still buy them, which indicates that there must be dedicated turners still using then out there, somewhere...

maderas Drechseltechnik - Spannfutter, Mitnehmer mitlaufende Körnerspitzen

As the eventual winner of this item I can advise it does work, I have never used any other scroll chuck so can't compare.

As a new turner I have been "Playing" with all the toys I picked up and in learning to use the Multi-Star Chuck have only had 1 piece break free and fly across the shed (50% success rate). I have been using in contraction mode only and find the tennon if correctly sized is quite difficult to fit into the jaws in their expanded state, the difference between expanded and contracted is very minimal. That being said after the first piece of soft play wood went flying, I decided to use something harder for my next piece, and at this point it is still firmly in the chuck with the beginnings of a box happening

For what its worth here is a copy of the Multi-Star manual. If you would like me to break it down and take pictures for posterity sake, can do so.

Garry

Originally Posted by Gazob

For what its worth here is a copy of the Multi-Star manual. If you would like me to break it down and take pictures for posterity sake, can do so.

Thanks, Garry. It's great to have that manual uploaded here so that anyone can check how to use that chuck if they don't have the manual themselves. With that now here, I don't think you need to to take any more pictures as there is a lot of clear detail in the manual.

It looks like you are going to be our expert on that chuck!

Until recently, the MultiStar was my only chuck, bought new in the 80's I guess.

With a range of inserts, covered most requirements with the only limitation being the maximum size as Neil explained.

The only reasons I changed to a 4-jaw chuck were a new lathe (not matching the dedicated thread, although I could have had a new thread machined as I had to do in the first place) and the need for accurate sizing when mounting (given the restricted range of the jaws).