Nova Titan woodworm - what am I doing wrong?

I just received my new Nova Titan III, and it seems to be a beautiful piece of work. I’m looking forward to using it, but I’m stymied by one thing. The woodworm screw that came with it seems to be too short to protrude the 3/4” beyond the end of the PowerGrip jaws, as described in the literature. When it is mounted as instructed, with the head (boss section) up against the bottom of the jaws, there is only about 1/4” of the screw exposed beyond the lip of the jaws. Did they send the wrong screw? Am I missing something? If anyone has this chuck and screw, I’d love to hear your experience before I contact them to ask if I was sent the wrong screw.
(I’ve laid it on top of the jaws just to illustrate the size side-by-side. Please don’t tell me it goes INSIDE the chuck!)

 

looks like you have some extended jaws on that chuck. The screw was probably designed for normal size jaws.

 

Yeah I think the Titan comes with taller supergrip jaws. Nova lists 2 sku’s for the screw but no descriptive difference. Contact Nova to see if a longer one is available. I never use any of mine - everything gets started between centers so I can tweak the center points as needed.

 

Thanks John and Doug. I’ve just written to Teknatool to see if this was packaged with the wrong screw. I’ll let you know how they respond.

 

With the woodworm screw with the nova titan I close the inside of the jaws on base of the woodwork screw where the flats are. I just assumed the instructions are probably not updated for this version. I only do this with tailstock support as anything I'm using my titan for I wouldn't trust just on the screw. I've only used it a few times, I start just about everything between centers.

 

It looks like they packed it with the shorter screw.

 

Got the same worm screw with my Nova Titan. I'm partial to faceplates for large pieces, so the screw just sits in the drawer.

 

As Gerald said, that is not the standard Nova wood screw and looks just like the one that came with my Titan and power jaws. Mine is 2 3/4" long.

The jaws, however, are different. In your picture, the closed diameter of the jaws looks like it's just smaller than the chuck, while my power jaws are significantly smaller than the chuck. My jaws are 1 1/2" long. If your screw is 1/4" shorter than the jaws are long, that would make the jaws about 2 1/2" long. My screw has most of the threads outward from the jaws.

Has Nova changed the power jaws they ship with the Titan since I bought mine? If so, they may have sent you the screw for the older, 100 mm diameter power jaws.

(It also looks like I shouldn't be keeping the screw in the line of wet from turning green wood as it's rusting)

 

That is the standard screw for the Titan with the 5" Power Grip Jaws. When I use it (which is not very often) I tighten it on the head on the 4 flat spots, not optimal but have had no problem. I have never used it on a really big piece. I feel much safer using the Super Nova II and that screw (the standard 2" double ring screw) which has no chance of pulling out for any size wood I have turned. Most of the time I cannot unscrew the piece on the lathe as it gets so tight, I usually open the chuck and unscrew it with water pump pliers. My original Titan and the Titan III both came with 5" Power Grip Jaws which are the same size. The Titan II came with the 4" Power Grip Jaws as the slides only had 2 holes like all the rest of the Novas. I feel the Titan II was the biggest mistake Teknatool ever made (should have returned it immediately). I've tried to get new slides with three holes but they say it won't work which I think is BS.

 

Dean, the screw sounds like it’s the same as yours. This is 2 3/4” long in total. The head is 1/2” thick. My jaws are 2” deep. Bill, I thought of mounting it the way you do, but certainly would not inspire confidence. Curiously, the company has responded to my question with this oblique message:

Me: “So is there a longer screw should have been included with this chuck? I often use the screw on my current (smaller) Nova chuck, and would like to be able to with this one as well.”

Nova support: “That is right. But normally if you are using a TITAN with its size and bigger jaws are made to hold on to huge pieces and have a better grip. You wouldn't be using a woodworm screw in that case.”

I’m waiting to hear if they have a longer screw, but am not optimistic. I think they just have not double checked their literature after they changed the size of the jaws.

 

Afterthought: if there is no longer screw, I suppose I could look for someone with a metal lathe to turn 3/8” of the head down to the shank diameter, which would leave me with a thinner head, but at least the potential to have 5/8” of exposed screw, and a 1/8” head behind the jaws. Not great, but something.

 

Based on their response and the part of the manual I circled below, it sounds like they assume that if you are using those jaws, you are exceeding the capacity of the wood worm screw and shouldn't be using it.

 

Sounds like they would rather sell you a new chuck!

 

In other words; pick a confusing answer and go with that.

 

I think you summed it up John!
Here’s my latest response from Nova:
“There is not. [another screw] That is the proper screw”

 

I am surprised you got them to answer! The jaws that came on the titan II, and the jaws that come on the titan III; are different. The screw is the same one. I have both, but the jaws on the titan III are a bit deeper.

 

I've always gotten answers from nova tech support.

 

Lou I think you have the longer screw. I checked the screw that came with my G3 chuck, it is 2” overall length. It appears there are 2 choices - turn down the base as you described, or a different set of shorter jaws. I think the 2 hole nova jaws will fit the Titan chuck. Changing jaws kind of defeats the purpose of the screw in the 1st place. Nova recommends only going to 10” dia with the screw. I would think you would use the Titan chuck on much larger work.

 

Yes Doug, using it on larger work, including coring was the point of my getting this one. I will try to find someone with a metal lathe who will turn it down for me. That feels like my best solution at the moment.

 

For my part I would use a faceplate to start anything big enough to want a chuck that size.

 

In usual cases I’m comfortable using a woodworm screw and tailstock support to true up large blanks and make a tenon. I don’t feel like I’m taking an unnecessary risk. Not with this screw with only 1/4” of penetration, but if I can get it trimmed so I can have 3/4”, then I’m willing to work with it.

 

I would NOT turn the base smaller. If you do that, you will be grabbing less of the base and are more likely to have the screw pull out of the chuck, which could be dangerous with a big blank. Since there's no need for long jaws with the worm screw, I'd suggest using regular bowl jaws and the standard worm screw. All the jaws are supposed to fit the titan chuck. (Interesting info on the different versions of the Titan, Bill. I did not know)

(EDIT: John Hicks has some 100mm jaws listed for sale in the Marketplace)

 

There are two new jaw sets for the Titan III. Very good jaw sets! I now use these jaw sets for the Original Titan and the Titan III. They are 5 3/4" and 6 1/2" and those jaws would be better for using the screw with. I have not even tried the screw with these jaws. Will check later and give results.

 

Dean, I don’t know if I’m misunderstanding, or if I’m not being clear with my proposal. I’m suggesting turning off a portion of the screw’s head so that it will have a longer shank, but still have a head which will be secured behind the jaws. I don’t think it will be able to pull out, (although I understand that in the event of catastrophe, Nova would have a good defense that I had modified the part.). See my picture. the whole reason I bought this chuck was to be able to avoid switching jaws when going from rough turning large bowl on a screw to reversing them and putting in jaws. Isn’t that the reason most people own multiple chucks? To avoid having to repeatedly switch out jaws?
Bill, I am curious about other jaws for this chuck. I do have a set of large (130mm?) Nova jaws which I guess would be good to mount on this chuck. I’ll check that out.
I also wonder if any other manufacturer makes a longer woodworm screw that would accomplish my goal of being able to use it with this Power Grip jaws.