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3 jaw scroll chuck

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Hi All,
I'm a real newbie. 2 month total. A good friend gave be his old lathe (Atlas 12")
And with it a 3 jaw chuck that he never used. Another oldie. The jaws on it are straight, no taper. So the tenon on the bowl will be straight also. Seems like it might fly off so I'm hesitant in trying it. Could this be a metal lathe chuck?
This is also my first post on this forum so I'm just seeing how this goes. thanks jim
 
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It's a chuck for a metal lathe.

I got one with my first wood lathe and use it for holding a buffing wheel on a 3/4" bolt with the head sawn off.
 
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Hi Jim - An Atlas lathe could be either a metal lathe or a wood lathe. If it has a carriage with a cross slide and compound then it's a metal lathe.

In any case, a 3 jaw chuck sounds like a metal lathe chuck to me. With the 3 jaw chuck you will only have 3 small points of contact with the bowl tenon. Without the tailstock as support the chuck will not be able to hold on to your bowl blank.

When gripping a bowl tenon you want the chuck jaws to cover as much of the circumference of the tenon as possible. That's why chucks for woodturning have different size jaws available for them. Bigger tenon calls for bigger jaws to maximize grip.

Chucks on metal lathes tend to mount on a flange using studs. Woodturning chucks screw onto the lathe spindle. If you have the metal lathe, you may have a challenge finding a woodturning chuck that will work on your lathe. If your spindle is threaded then a company like Oneway can supply an adapter for their chucks that would work for you.

Ed
 
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Jim,
I used a 3 jaw metal chuck in the early 1980's before the modern 4 jaw wood chucks were available. it was wonderful as it was the only system available. i did not turn large items at the time but would be afraid to. also i wound up with alot or bruised and bloody knuckles due to the protruding jaws. I'm surprised i did not break any knuckles.
i highly recommend giving away or trashing the 3 jaw chuck and getting a 4 jaw chuck (assuming you can get an adapter). i just bought a reconditioned nova on their site. It was still in the wax paper and grease like new and it was cheep.
 

odie

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Jim,
I used a 3 jaw metal chuck in the early 1980's before the modern 4 jaw wood chucks were available. it was wonderful as it was the only system available. i did not turn large items at the time but would be afraid to. also i wound up with alot or bruised and bloody knuckles due to the protruding jaws. I'm surprised i did not break any knuckles.
i highly recommend giving away or trashing the 3 jaw chuck and getting a 4 jaw chuck (assuming you can get an adapter). i just bought a reconditioned nova on their site. It was still in the wax paper and grease like new and it was cheep.

This is the way I remember it, too. I first started turning wood around 1982, and although I didn't get my first chuck until around 1990, it seems to me those who first started using chucks for turning wood, were doing it with metal turning chucks.

Does anyone remember the first true wood turning chuck? My first chucks were the original Nova, followed by a couple of Vicmarcs.....all with tommy bars.

Since getting the Oneway Stronghold chuck, there was no turning back!.......now, I have three Strongholds, and the others have been sold.

Woodturning chucks have come a long way, baby!

ooc
 
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This is the way I remember it, too. I first started turning wood around 1982, and although I didn't get my first chuck until around 1990, it seems to me those who first started using chucks for turning wood, were doing it with metal turning chucks.

Does anyone remember the first true wood turning chuck? My first chucks were the original Nova, followed by a couple of Vicmarcs.....all with tommy bars.

Since getting the Oneway Stronghold chuck, there was no turning back!.......now, I have three Strongholds, and the others have been sold.

Woodturning chucks have come a long way, baby!

ooc

I pulled out my oldest "Woodturning" magazine, Winter 1991. An article mentioned there were only two woodturning chucks made, Nova and Axminster. The only one advertised was Axminster, and only one article actually illustrated a chuck in use, and it was a three-jaw machinist's chuck. Not for nothing, a friend of mine gave me a decorative wooden item as a gift in 1971. Its surfaces were flat and square; he had used a machinist's four-jaw chuck and faced the piece on four sides. It was also segmented, and continues to reside on my dresser to this day.
 

odie

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I pulled out my oldest "Woodturning" magazine, Winter 1991. An article mentioned there were only two woodturning chucks made, Nova and Axminster. The only one advertised was Axminster, and only one article actually illustrated a chuck in use, and it was a three-jaw machinist's chuck. Not for nothing, a friend of mine gave me a decorative wooden item as a gift in 1971. Its surfaces were flat and square; he had used a machinist's four-jaw chuck and faced the piece on four sides. It was also segmented, and continues to reside on my dresser to this day.

Very interesting, John.........

You made me curious so I went out to the shop and looked around some. In a dusty old drawer, I found a catalog from CSUSA dated 1992/93, and a book entitled "The Woodturner's Bible" by Percy Blandford, first published in 1979.

In Blandford's book, he shows a three jaw chuck that's definitely a metal working chuck. Because of this, I think it's safe to say that no woodturner's chuck was being produced in 1979.

The CSUSA catalog lists the Nova and the Vicmarc chucks. Other chucks, like the Axminster, were probably being produced, but not yet included in the CSUSA catalog. I'm almost certain I've seen the Axminster chuck in the CSUSA catalog at some time, or another.........:confused:

ooc
 
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Thanks for all the great history. I only started turning wood in 2005. For whatever reason, I had thought Oneway waso ne of the pioneers in woodworking chucks. Oneway was founded in 1991. I wonder what they started out making? Must not have been chucks.

Ed
 

hockenbery

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odie said:
This is the way I remember it, too. I first started turning wood around 1982, and although I didn't get my first chuck until around 1990, it seems to me those who first started using chucks for turning wood, were doing it with metal turning chucks.

Does anyone remember the first true wood turning chuck? My first chucks were the original Nova, followed by a couple of Vicmarcs.....all with tommy bars.

Since getting the Oneway Stronghold chuck, there was no turning back!.......now, I have three Strongholds, and the others have been sold.

Woodturning chucks have come a long way, baby!

ooc

Odie,

I had Precision chuck in the 80's. Russ Zimmerman was importing them from England.
It was not a scroll chuck. The center had a cone, the jaws fit around the cone, then a big collar screwed onto the chuck over the jaws.
As the collar was tightened the jaws slid down the cone and expanded.

It was basically an expansion chuck although it did have a set of small jaws that would hold small spindles and I was able to use it to turn finals for Christmas ornaments.

The chuck also had a pin chuck That was useful for starting bowls.

Al.
 
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I remember Russ Zimmerman. He used to have a turning newsletter, which I still have, and gave residential classes at his home in Vermont. I was saving up to take a class when I lost my job in 1989 and had to work two jobs for 9 years just to get by. Put the kibosh on turning, and I didn't take it up again for nearly 20 years. I regret that.
 
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In Blandford's book, he shows a three jaw chuck that's definitely a metal working chuck. Because of this, I think it's safe to say that no woodturner's chuck was being produced in 1979.

Nope, just have to get a different catalog. Roy Child, the designer of my Henry Taylor "Masterchuck" says "I have been designing and using woodturning chucks since 1972 when the Coil Chuck was conceived." http://www.peterchild.co.uk/coil.htm It, and the Masterchuck were designed on the wedged collet, not the scroll principle.

No date on my manual that I can find, but it seems it was last of the 70's or the first of the 80's ("New" lathe '78) when I got it. Got one of those brand-new Nova chucks when it was fresh on the market. After struggling with the Masterchuck for ten years, I was MORE than ready.

The ridges which engaged the jaws were so shallow that a stray piece of grit or dust would make it seem tight, only to bounce it into your lap when it later vibrated free. Always a thrill. Earliest piece I see with a date (used to do that when turnings were few) was '81, but it was not, I think one of the first.

I think the locking ring soured me on tenons, making me easy prey to the brand new Nova advertising. One review, and I sprung for it. IIRC, I had recently sold a cradle, so my 50% went toward purchase of the chuck. SWMBO always gets her percentage first! Anyway, no ring was needed with the Nova - also righty tighty out - even if I wanted to grab outside.
 

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odie

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Thanks for your input Al and MM......

Looks like those early cone/wedge/spring chucks might be either expansion, or contraction only?......interesting for sure.

This is becoming a history lesson for me, as well.

Sooooo......is 1972 the date of the first woodturning chuck, the "coil" chuck?

Better save those old chucks, guys.........When AAW puts together a woodturning museum, they will be needed!

:D

ooc
 
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The coil chuck was a new interpretation of one of the old ad hoc chucks used back when. In The Practical Woodturner, old Frank shows the principle upon which it is based. It was current, and a contender with me right up to the final selection of the Masterchuck. I used several ridge and wedge types (reinforced with a bit of glue) that were illustrated in Frank's book to avoid those faceplate holes that still grace my earliest efforts. I also used the hose-clamp collet types which, IIRC, were shown in that seminal book.

It also illustrates the principles for dovetail chucks which will follow. Wedges, not ridges, hold the piece in register.
 

hockenbery

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odie said:
Thanks for your input Al and MM......

Looks like those early cone/wedge/spring chucks might be either expansion, or contraction only?......interesting for sure.

:D

ooc

The precision chuck the cone reversed for compression of expansion. There were jaws only fit the cone in one position se were either expansion jaws or compression jaws.
And the jaws a just sort of floated around until the Clare locked them in place.
Sort of took 3 hands and some rubber bands. But it was a step forward.

In the mid 90s I got a nova chuck which had the modern scroll mechanism and gripping jaw sets that screwed onto the chuck jaws.

Around 96-7 a major step forward for me was the the ONEWAY stronghold. A chuck that really held
Then adding dovetail jaws and collect jaws made the stronghold more useful

Around 2009 I added a Vic Marc chuck.

And I do 90% of my hollow forms on faceplates.
Can't beat a faceplate for holding face grain.

Work safe
Al
 
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hockenbery

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Wooden chucks have been used for hundreds of years.

Ian's comment reminded me of a four jaw wooden chuck for turning rectangular molding pieces that some architectural turners use today.

A frame to fit the rectangular moulding piece is screwed to a round board mounted on a face plate.
Three sides of the frame are fixed. The fourth side was ripped at a 45 degrees with a slight taper. The outer piece is screwed to the board completing the frame.

The molding piece is put in the frame. The sliding side is hit with a mallet locking it in place. After turning the sliding side is hit to release it.

This chuck has four jaws. Three fixed and 1 with a little bit of movement.

Al
 
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