Thread: lathe chuck

Hi and welcome,
There is a lot of work that goes into a scroll chuck for ~$100 that you pay. An alternative is to use the faceplate and jam-fit approach. There is lots of info up here on this already if you need it otherwise I can add some here...

A scroll chuck with substantial range won't cost much less than US$100, such as Grizzly's H6264-67. The T-handle is easier to use than tommy bars of other designs. And the auxiliary jaws are about $20 each set for other ranges.

If you just want to taste bowl turning, a waste block on the faceplate will suffice for hollowing and major outside work. To finish the bottom, attach a plywood disk to the faceplate, turn a groove to mate with the rim, and attach the bowl with tape wrapped around to the back of the disk. Filament tape is most robust, and I still use it with my Longworths, to reduce orbiting.

Joe

There is a learning process that is fun , in making bowl turning jamb chucks etc.
And then, when you finally get a 4 jaw scroll chuck , the joy and relief is immense , even if it winds 'the wrong way '

Hmm, theres alot of work in making a one off 4 jaw chuck, not too mention the tooling. If your really keen on doing something your self. Look around for an old small 3 or 4 jaw engineering chuck thats flogged out. Most machine shops who have these just chuck em out. But they can be used quite successfully used on wood lathes.

Agree with Joe.

Hi Ralphtaff - couldn't even start to think about making a regular scroll chuck, let alone a carbide insert tool, so no help there. I'm with the others who have suggested waste blocks and jam chucks. I've also used old metal working chucks as suggested by Hughie - just check out that the thread size matches your lathe before you lug it home. The next step after that might be to make a longworth chuck to complete the feet on your bowls, the following links on the forum will help:

Longworth chuck Mk1 - by Orraloon
My Longworth Version 1 - by Joe Greiner
My Longworth Version 2 - by Joe Greiner
My Longworth Version 3 - by Joe Greiner
longworth chuck in polycarbonate - by Hughie

Neil

OK that was fun.I really think that what i was looking for was answered by Joe .the plywood with the shrink wrap would work real good i think i will have to try that out.I turn ASPEN wood and it is real soft i mean real,real soft. I was putting carnuba wax on a peice and i let the sharp corner of the wax block hit the wood and man what a dent. i had to use moisture to get it to swell out again. Again thanks a lot you guys are real cool.

Originally Posted by Manuka Jock

There is a learning process that is fun , in making bowl turning jamb chucks etc.
And then, when you finally get a 4 jaw scroll chuck , the joy and relief is immense , even if it winds 'the wrong way '

Hey now MJ...don't make fun of my Nova's, they have sensitive feelings!!

Originally Posted by Ed Reiss

Hey now MJ...don't make fun of my Nova's, they have sensitive feelings!!

Ed , I have a Nova too , lathe , chuck , the lot . I'm from Nova Land mate

I'm taking a potshot at the ones who have the copycat chucks

Originally Posted by ralphtaff

OK that was fun.I really think that what i was looking for was answered by Joe .the plywood with the shrink wrap would work real good i think i will have to try that out.I turn ASPEN wood and it is real soft i mean real,real soft. I was putting carnuba wax on a peice and i let the sharp corner of the wax block hit the wood and man what a dent. i had to use moisture to get it to swell out again. Again thanks a lot you guys are real cool.

Ralph , with a timber that soft you could make use of it .
Rough turn a bowl , dent a pattern in , finish scraping/sanding etc , and then soak it to swell the pattern out again .

Try it with a piece of flat wood , test the possibilities , chances are the the side grain of the bowl will accept it but the end grain will not .

Well as i read more and more on the other threads and forums i thought i can just cut a ring the same size of the outer ring put it in the bowl rim use tape to hold it in place and wala it is done. with the ringmaster you can duplicate the rings the same size or just a bit larger to fit tight. When you cut a ring you lose the size of the cutter inbetween the rings so a slight adjustment and the ring will be just right to fit ,also you could use it as a lid as it will have a 1/2 inch hole in the middle to put a knob on it for a handle.