Thread: Finial Chuck Jaws

Morning Texian,
Why didn't I think of making some Jaws like that. I have 3 of the older style 2 tommy bar black Nova Chucks, which I think are almost the best & quickest in the business.
I needed some longer Jaws, & paid $91.80 for some Pinocchio Jaws. I'm very satisfied with then, but the cost at that time was a bit awkward.
I will most certainly have a go at your design, but will try to strengthen the sides to stop the bending, splaying.
Of course that happened with the small Jaws with only 1 screw per Jaw.
Very ingenious, & so so simple.
Regards,
issatree.
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Its so darn obvious when you see it done, nice one Tex

It opens the door of possibility for all sorts of tailored jaw mods

Clever idea. I'm impressed you managed to get them to centre so well.

Would the wooden inserts work better with some double sided tape, just to hold them in place while you tightened the chuck?

Cheers,
Dave

Originally Posted by Ozkaban

Clever idea. I'm impressed you managed to get them to centre so well.

Ditto! And for something of that small a diameter, centering is important.

Would the wooden inserts work better with some double sided tape, just to hold them in place while you tightened the chuck?

A rubber band works well.

I turn similar "adapters" as one piece, with a rebate around the outside for a rubber band to to sit in so it's not chewed up when I tighten the jaws, and then quarter 'em on the bandsaw.

Thanks for your comments Issatree and Hughie. The jaws are about 5/8" wide and 5/8" deep, so could easily be made from 5/8" (16 mm?) square bar stock. Just countersink the screw holes so the screws can reach the correct depth. Both my chucks are the $99 Grizzly, which are said to be copies of a Vicmarc. The screw hole spacing seems to be about .709" (a strange number), which is a lot like 18 mm (not so strange number).

I admire and appreciate the spirit of folks on this forum who like to make stuff. Seems like most people (not all) on the U.S. forums just want ot buy stuff. Thanks again.

...damn nice adaptation, Tex

Yes, impressive. The precision requires proper metalworking machinery, though, I wonder how many woodworkers would have access to that. I have found that a relatively cheap chuck with 4 sets of jaws costing less than A$300 can do almost anything, from the small finial to the 14" bowl to off cente turning.

This said, the challenges of toolmaking are probably what saves turning from triviality. Well done!

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

I turn similar "adapters" as one piece, with a rebate around the outside for a rubber band to to sit in so it's not chewed up when I tighten the jaws, and then quarter 'em on the bandsaw.

Neat idea thanks.

Thanks Dave and Skew. The double-side tape should work fine with wood inserts for limited use. I wanted something that could be removed and reinstalled in repeatable fashion like regular chuck jaws.

I clamped a "fence" to the drill press table, put "automatic" center punch in drill chuck and punched first hole location in all four pieces. This is why they center pretty well. Then scribed the .709" spacing on one piece and moved fence to center punch those four holes. Not perfect but pretty close.

Thanks Ed and O.
F.&E., They would certainly be better with proper metal working tools (like a nice milling machine), but I do not have them.

I imagine that if you made the jaws from brass stock, then you could fit them to the chuck and true them up with a scraper?

(Just pondering on ways that I might be able have some success. )

Originally Posted by Texian

I clamped a "fence" to the drill press table, put "automatic" center punch in drill chuck and punched first hole location in all four pieces. This is why they center pretty well. Then scribed the .709" spacing on one piece and moved fence to center punch those four holes. Not perfect but pretty close.

Sounds like a good way of doing it. I guess if the spacing is slightly off it wouldn't matter so much (so long as the screws were tightened up in the same order), but if it's all referenced off a fence it should be at least even. Makes sense to me!

Cheers,
Dave

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

I imagine that if you made the jaws from brass stock, then you could fit them to the chuck and true them up with a scraper?

(Just pondering on ways that I might be able have some success. )

That's more or less what I did. I made the chuck jaws, attached them to the chuck and then put the whole chuck in the Metal work lathe and turned them true.



FUll threads here and here

BTW I like your jaws Texian. Somewhere I have a half finished set that are similar to yours but are actually made from solid blocks of ally so the will not splay as much at the tips. I often hold small stuff by the last 1/2" of so of the tips and find they splay too much and good out of parallel to teh turning axis.

Skew, The truing up (brass jaws) could work, but they would have to be at least partially clamped on something to take up the slack in the scroll mechanism of the chuck.

Thanks Bobl, That's why I suggest using solid 5/8" (16mm) square bar stock instead of the thin, rusty steel angle that I had. There will be no tips to splay out.

Thanks Ed.

Good one Texian!

My vote for Tip of the Month.