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Thread: Chucks

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Adelaide, SA
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    77

    Default Chucks

    Howdy all,

    I want to know, If a Woodchuck could chuck wood, which woodchuck would a woodchuck chuck wood with, if a Woodchuck could chuck wood with a Woodchuck. Because this Woodchuck would chuck wood if he would buy a woodchuck for wood.

    I've been Hotgun gluing my spiggots (bowl bottoms) to a blank on the faceplate but this only works when I have a big/flat & plain spiggot. I've tried doing some different spiggots they hold well enough but when I need to get the bowl off the blank the spiggot tends to break off.

    So just wondering who thinks what about the different chucks about. I know pretty much nothing about turning & different stores suggest different chucks. I was thinking about getting a Nova, or SuperNova, & I'm not sure of the name of the other one, think it was Vicmarc (not sure) but it had an indexing head.

    Whats the Indexing for/do ?

    Thanks for any help / advice
    Woodchuck

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    NSW
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    Default

    The indexing is so's you can do things regularly around the diameter of the piece:

    eg: you need 3 holes drilled 120 degrees apart, or
    you want to cut a notch every 12 degrees, or
    you want to make an octagonal piece.

    If you want to make wooden gears, an indexing head would be a must-have.

    Basically a plate, marked off in regular divisions (often degrees), or in a series of regular divisions, and usually with a way of locking the plate (pin in a hole, often)

    Cheers,
    Andrew

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Osaka
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    909

    Default

    Indexing system is a series of holes around the circumference of the circle that allow accurate drilling etc on the piece.

    I have a Vicmarc and it is good, but the indexing thing didn't sway me as my lathe has that anyway. To utilise the indexing on the chuck, you'd need some mechanism to push into the holes to hold the chuck at the right location. I believe you can get some aftermarket indexing systems in any case if your lathe doesn't already have one.

    My advice is to try and find a good price on either Vicmarc or Nova and go from there. They all hold wood!
    Semtex fixes all

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Narrabri, NSW
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    Default

    Hi Woodchuck,

    I purchased a Vicmarc chuck (and I can now use it!! See other posts) for the indexing ability. I have a jig that holds a router and allows fancy cuts to be made from the headstock to the tailstock on the turned item in the lathe. The indexing allows the routed slots/grooves/whatever to be evenly spaced eg every 90 degrees.

    Thats the idea anyway, I have the jig etc but just need to find a way of getting the chuck to lock since the lathe doesn't really have anything built in. Only a small issue anyway...

    That is another use for the indexing.

    Cheers
    Anthony

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Lakehaven, NSW, Australia
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    57
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    Default

    On the subject of the Nova chucks vs the Vicmarcs...

    I have the Vicmarc VM90 and the VM120, plus the bowl jaws and a couple of others. All good and I'd definitely buy them again. No experience with the Novas - the Vicmarcs just seemed a lot more solid to me.

    You can do a whole lot more with a chuck than with a faceplate. Buy one - for my money the VM120 for bowl & general work.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
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    Perth (NOR)
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    Woodchuck

    Seems like you got lots on various chucks but very little on the glue chuck problem

    Firstly screw a piece of wood onto your face plate...do not glue the metal onto your work piece. Then turn that scrap piece of wood round and face the face of it flat or slightly concave.
    Do not use MDF for this as MDF chips away when removing your work
    Mark a few concentric circles slightly larger than the circular piece of wood on your face plate onto the blank you want to turn as this helps lining up the face plate on the blank. Apply a GOOD hot melt glue to the workpiece, about 4 dollops to the area where the scrap wood on the face plate will line up. Work real fast and press the face plate/wood onto the blank applying as much pressure as you can.( The cheap hotmelt that comes with most glue guns will give you bad results, get your glue from your wood shops like Carbatec and the others, the quality seems better).
    About 5 minutes later it will be ready to turn. Screw the face plate onto the lathe, give the blank a blow with the side of your hand to check that it is secure.
    After turning tap a thin blade, like a hand plane blade, with the bevel side towards your scrap piece, inbetween the scrap and the turned object. Remove and do it around the circumfrence, it will part beautifully. Then use that same plade to pry the excess hotmelt off the base of your work. It will come clean as hotmelt does not penetrate into the wood.
    Should you have trouble parting the work off the scrap base, you can put the face plate with the work on it, into the fridge for a short while. Then use the blade method, the very cold hotmelt will let go quite easily.
    Put the face plate with scrap back on your lathe, turn the face of the scrap true, removing the old glue and you are ready for the next blank


    Have fun................keep turnin

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    northern Sydney
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    Woodchuck

    another comment about chucks - I have been using a Vicmark VM100 on a chinese lathe since January - I am very happy with it. I have bought the shark jaws for it, to let me use longer spigots as well as to give more finger room between the back of the workpiece and the face of the chuck. I have also used a mate's SuperNova chuck - I like the hex key drive on the Vicmark better, but that's probably because I'm used to it. Either chuck will give you a lot more flexibility, and security, than faceplates alone.

    On the question of indexing, the lathe doesn't have its own indexing ability (as more expensive lathes do), so the indexing notches around the chuck are all I have. I built a timber jig that clamps down to the bed of the lathe under the chuck, with a screw pin that engages in the index notches. Its slower than indexing pins built into lathes, but it works.

    Colin

  9. #8
    Join Date
    May 1999
    Location
    Grovedale, Victoria Australia
    Age
    66
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    3,896

    Default chuck prices

    To get an idea on chuck prices refer http://au.store.yahoo.com/cws-store/novsupsupchu.html
    Last edited by Neil; 8th October 2003 at 10:01 AM.
    Jim Carroll
    One Good Turn Deserves Another. CWS, Vicmarc, Robert Sorby, Woodcut, Tormek, Woodfast
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