Thread: Oneway Stronghold VS Nova Titan VS ??

Paul, My 10cents worth

I have all SN2 chucks three of which are the old 125mm or 5" chucks that seem to be a forerunner of the Titan and the specs are indentical. They use the Allen wrench set up as opposed to the Tommy bar.

I personally do not like the Tommy bar as it is for basically a three handed chuck . I think the only significant difference Nova might have is the inter-changability of its jaws across the range of chucks. Although I have 5 chucks and seldom if ever change jaws.

As to Oneway and Vicmarc both reputable and well made chucks, it may well get down to personal preference, although my dislike to Tommy bars would exclude any brand in my book.

Points for Vicmarc are that it tightens in the same direction as other standard chucks [ I think from memory ] as opposed to Novas that do so in reverse, of which I found to be a pain in the beginning. Not so familar with Oneway, if they make a Allen wrench set up it would well worth looking at.

I only went with Novas in the beginning because of a great sale price on my first couple and it seemed pointless to have different types with no commonality of parts etc.

Lately there's been negative feed back as Teknatool set up their factory in China over quality control issues. I dont know where they are at with this at this point in time. All mine were made in NZ so there was never an issue with that aspect. All in all I am happy with what I have and they perform well and have done so for over 5 years.

My style of turning resembles a "Bull at a gate" I dont like light fiddly cuts when roughing out. So I give my chucks, lathe etc a work out when roughing out bowls etc.

Vicmarc for me

Not able to give a response on the oneway as it is not available here in Aus

Hughie,

Thank you, good information. My style of roughing is the same as yours.

The Nova dealer is two miles across town, so if I have a problem it is easy to slide the chuck across the counter and have a little chat.

tommy bar chucks are a pain got the big vicmark and very impressed with the grip . leaves the novas well behind. came with a lathe and would recomend it if you have a spindle lock , cheers Bob

I have a Vicmarc 120 which is a superb piece of engineering. It's smooth and strong. I am so glad I bought it.

plus 1 for the Vicmarc 120

Superb bit of kit.

Nova made in China????? I was considering a Nova1624-44 latha along with their chucks. Seeing what is here, am I going the wrong way???????????????????????

Cookie48,

It depends. A lot of the cheap Chinese stuff depends on the consumer to do the quality control.

The Chinese make good things at roughly the same price as other maker's good things. Every manufacturer, no matter how good the reputation will make a lemon once in a while. How the manufacturer and dealer take care of such situations is what makes or breaks a company. Rolls Royce VS East German Trabant.

BMW had an adventure with aluminum engine blocks (burn oil like crazy at 50 - 60,000 miles) that cost them a lot of money and left a bad taste in the mouth of BMW owners.

If you are within reasonable driving distance of where you buy your lathe, have it set up and run in the store to see if there are any obvious defects, and get an over the counter exchange if something breaks, you would be OK.

If you are out in the bush, have it shipped to you at some expense, have a problem and have to argue about was it a malfunction of the machine or was it the operator, then have to ship it back at your expense, not so good.

As I live fairly far down on the food chain and am mechanically adept, I tend to buy ugly, rusty, sometimes not working stuff, as is where is, for little money and make it work.

I also buy good stuff at !/3 the going price if offered.

Cookie48,

I did some looking and found the below. It does not state where the lathe is made. You can put almost any chuck on the lathe, as the makers provide inserts for almost all spindle threads.

Review: Nova 1624-44 Lathe Review - by dmann @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/nov...4-lathe-41236/

Sounds like a good lathe. I did find some squalks about the chucks in 2008, but that has had time to be corrected.

I have both the Oneway Stronghold and the Talon. Have been using them for 10 years now and wouldn't swop. The screw chuck with both chucks is phenomenal and I will swing a 500mm diam bowl /platter without any problems in my bowl lathe for roughing out.( it doesn't have a tailstock so the blank is held on by the screw only) I normally use 1 or 2 6mm plywood spacers on the screw chuck to prevent it biting in too deep. There are a couple of Nova chucks in the club and I find they are not as good/easy to use when compared to the Oneway chuck keys.
The Nova screw chuck just doesn't have the holding power of the Oneway.
Regarding service I live in South Africa and the only things I have needed are additional adapters and it takes 8 days from the telephone call to Canada till I get it in my sweaty paw the other side of the world. For you in NC it would be 24/48 hrs. and best of all it is not made in China.
I would go Oneway purely because of the Screw Chuck.
I also have a Nova 1624 made in China and am very happy with it.

+1 for vicmarc...

I recently bought the Vicmarc VM120 with shark jaws. While I can't comment on longevity, the thing is a beast, holds very well and is beautifully made.

No idea about the oneway, but if it's in the same ballpark for engineering I suspect you couldn't go really wrong either way. Oh, and my other chuck is a tommy bar affair (an old nova chuck), and while I don't really like the tommy bars, I'm not set against them.

Cheers,
Dave

I've got a new (4 month old) Vicmarc 120. It's well built and strong. I just need a few more so I'm not having to change jaws all the time (I've snapped the plastic handle on the allen key that's used to change the jaws, through over use). I used to have a Teknatool at my old work but I always found myself reaching for the old tommy bar vicmarc they had over the new teknatool due to built quality.

I have 4 SN2's, 2 Kiwi made and 2 Chinese, unfortunately you can tell the slight lessening of build quality. I also have a Kiwi made Titan and a G3. I like the ability to swap jaws across the entire range, but usually leave the same jaws on a particular chuck, ie the 50mm on the little G3 thru to the Powergrip jaws on the Titan.

I have used Vicmarcs, the club I belong to has a 140mm version, a serious bit of gear. Maybe one day if the Turning Dog is happy with me I might get the biggest Vic for bigger bowls, but I comfortably turn 500 - 600mm platters with the Titan.

Hi All,
As Stated on here recently, I have 4 Black, Tommy Bar Nova Chucks.
Could not be Happier.
I know of the Complaints, but you have to know how to use them.

Chuck those 2 Tommy Bars to the Shizzen house. Go to the local Sun. Market, buy 2 Good Stanley Screwdrivers, cut & make 1 long & the other a bit shorter.
You must sq. the ends on the Grinder.
Take a punt & drill 2 extra holes in the Main Body piece of the Chuck, that is the 1 with only 2 Holes. The other has 3 Holes.

You always needed to take the New Chuck apart to clean out the Grease & run Every Part over a Wire Wheel attached to the Grinder, & as you put it back together, whack some Graphite Powder in it, & you have 1 of the Best & Cheapest Chucks going.

I use the Headstock Lock, & the Short S/D, lays up against the Lathe Bed, & you really pull on the Longer S/D.
A lot of the time I only use the 1 S/D & the Headstock Lock, & have never broken the H/S Lock Pin.