Thread: Vicmac Chuck For Vicmarc VL300 Long Bed

Ok, good choice, I only have 5 120's. Personally I would go for the first version, with the 50mm jaws. The 50mm jaws will get you started and then you will discover the limitations and require other jaw sets.

What drive and live centre do you have, as I find I use the to round the timber before using a chuck in some spindle applications, otherwise I just keep the job between centres.

I have the drive centre that came with the lathe but I have ordered:

Vicmarc Cup Centre Heavy Duty 2mt

Vicmarc Cone Centre Heavy Duty 2mt

The 50mm jaws will get you started and then you will discover the limitations and require other jaw sets.

I want to avoid ending up with 5 chucks spending $1000's in the process. I want one that can cover me now and in the future.

Why do you have 5 if they are all the same and the jaws can be changed? Is changing jaws such a pain?

What is the difference between the Vicmarc VM120 M30 dedicated thread chuck OR the Vicmarc VM120 M30 dedicated thread chuck Companion Version?

TS, I have 5 chucks and about 10 jaw sets. I ran 4 SN II's with about 15 jaw sets for numerous years. Why, because I found that I would prefer to keep certain jaw sets on certain chucks and I am lazy.
Changing jaw sets takes a few minutes including cleaning the chuck and jaw sets.
I accumulated the equipment over the time, so the hit to the pocket was not as great.
The primary difference between the 2 chucks you mention is one comes complete with a jaw set and ancillaries and the other is just the chuck.
You will be buying different jaw sets, especially for bowl turning, as the 50mm set will limit your capacity, as the VL300 can spin up to about 550 - 600 diameter bowls and I would not go above 350mm diameter bowls with a 50mm jaw set.

The companion chuck does not come with jaws. It is for people like Pat who already have the jaws and don’t want duplicate sets of the standard jaws. The VM120 is a great chuck and I too have one.
Bruce

The VM120 chuck is your standard chuck with the standard jaws, woodscrew, tools and jaw screws which you would buy as your first one of these.
If you have multiple jaws and getting tired of changing jaws you would then buy the companion version which has all the parts but no jaws.
Buying the dedicated one compared to the insert version does save a bit on money as you are not actually having to buy an insert as well.
VM120 Dedicated Chuck
VM120 Dedicated Chuck Companion version

Thank you for the clarification. I can see the ease of having multiple chucks.

Vicmarc standard Dovetail jaws

Internal - Min 48mm Max 96mm
External - Min 68mm Max 116mm

Vicmarc Dovetail Jaw 85mm

Internal - Min 63.5mm Max 111.5mm
External - Min 85mm Max 133mm