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Chuck

B

Bernie Weishapl

Joined
Jan 4, 2006
Messages
286
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Location
Goodland, Kansas
Does anyone have the Vicmarc VM100 chuck and if so how do you like it? I heard they change the rotation of the key to CW to contract now instead of CCW to contract. Also are Cole Jaws worth the money? I have heard they work well but don't see to many talk about them. Most of my turnings will be bowls, boxes, and vases. A lot of the wood I will turn will be green. I have been told that the Oneway Talon or Stronghold are the best for green wood. Any help or info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bernie
 
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Bernie I have 2 of them and the cole jaws. I love them. Clock wise does contract the jaws. I don't think they've changed this because my oldest one is at least 4 years old. The cole jaws work great except the don't give you a longer T handle. The great thing is that since this chuck uses a standard allen wrench you can simply get a ball end wrench or just extend the allen which is what I did. I welded a rod onto an old allen and made a T handle.
My favorite thing about this chuck is the small extended jaws. They are extremely solid and absolutely great for turning small items.
 
VM100 & COLE JAWS

Hello,

I don't use the VM100 but know several turners who do, and who find it a very good chuck. It does scroll in the opposite direction to many other top-end chucks but I suppose you get used to this as you would anything.

I do use cole jaws on my axminster super precision chucks and although expensive (£111 in the UK...$200+?) I think they are worth the expense. You can make cole jaws yourself, of course, and there are differing types used all over, but the conventional, bought, kind, guarantee precision.

I have nothing against pieces which retain either a dovetail recess or a spigot, although I do like to see them re-worked to some degree, but I find it far more pleasing aesthetically if the chucking method is removed. Cole jaws ensure that this is carried out with relative ease and safety. And once you own a set you can often think of other uses to put them to!

Andy
www.cobwebcrafts.co.uk
 
Thanks John and Andy. I have had others say the Vicmarc is a good chuck. The reason I was looking at VM100 was the 15" bowl jaws or Cole jaws as I do once in awhile turn bowls up to 14". With the other chucks of this size the Cole jaws are just 10". My problem with the donut chucks I built is accuracy. I could make the Cole jaws but I would like it to be more precise. My other problem is time. If I made all the jigs and fixtures I would have time to turn or build anything.

John if you wouldn't mind what other jaws if any did you purchase with your chuck? I thought about the small pin jaws and maybe the shark jaws. I like doing vases and boxes. I have read the shark jaws makes it a lot easier doing the vases and boxes that hang off the end of the chuck a ways. Thanks.

Bernie
 
I have a couple of Strongholds and the VM100 and a VM120. Since getting the Vicmarc chucks I hardly use the Strongholds. The dovetails jaws on the Vicmarc clamp down on the spigot and pull the jaws into the tenon walls for a very tight fit. The Stronghold only crushes the wood. I use the Vicmarc chucks to core out pretty big blanks and have never had a blank come loose, I can't say the same for the Stronghold. Just my experience.

Ron
 
buying a chuck

a few years ago when I started turning I searched high and low for this bit or that bit of info and asked everyones advice on which chuck to the point of where I was just an annoyance and then when i though I knew everything there was to know aboute very chuck without having actually used much less owned any of them when the best piece of advice was given to me by a guy named Bill, "Go out and just buy damned named brand chuck and be done with it!" In the end this was the right advice. Every brand of chuck of chuck has every kind of imaginable jaw set that the others have with only minor differences that are so minor they really don't make much of a difference. If you want dovetailing everyone has them, if you want wood crushing grip every maker has those too. This actually leaves you with only the important details to make a decision on; price, expandability, and portability. I went with an original Nova it was the cheapest I can use all the jaws I bought for it on the supernova I just ordered plus I can use talon and OneWay chuck jaws and lastly the Nova line will fit most every lathe i could put it on except for those with 1 1/2" spindles or bigger, which I am not likely to own any time in the forseeable future.

As far as the Talon goes it too has the ability to use Nova, Talon and Oneway jaws which is a plus but really no better than a supernova in its build and certainly not in its price. The only chuck that has more versatility than the Talon or nova chucks is the Axeminster based Versachuck which will take axeminster, nova, oneway, talon and vic jaws, but costs a small fortune with as i understand it

As far as cole jaws go I think they are a waste of money that most turners could smply do without. You can buy everything you need to vacuum chuck for between $75 and $125 if you shop ebay for you pump and some of the parts. There are also several really low tech ways to hold your turnings every bit as well if not better and certainly cheaper than buying a set of cole jaws. With a bandsaw, drill press, glue and a piece of 2x6 scrap you can have the best box finshing jaws you could hope for.
 
Versa Chuck

The Versachuck, available from Peter Hemsley at www.toolpost.co.uk, is, in £129.00 here in the UK. It comes in a wooden box with three sets of jaw carriers to allow, as you say, jaws from three different chuck manufacturers to be used. The chuck is based on the Axminster Super Precision chuck, of which I have two, and is a great value chuck.

I think it is one of the cheapest options in scroll chucks and is a good piece of kit. We have just bought a new one for our new club lathe as it gave the best value we found.

Toolpost are also launching a smaller version any time now.

Andy
 
Andy Coates said:
The chuck is based on the Axminster Super Precision chuck, of which I have two, and is a great value chuck.

I think it is one of the cheapest options in scroll chucks and is a good piece of kit. We have just bought a new one for our new club lathe as it gave the best value we found.

Andy
Click to expand...

Do you have any problems with the axeminster or versachuck rusting? I don't know anyone in the states who actually has one and every time I have mentioned it a great many people have an opinion about it and want to argue it could rust in our humid climate and then pitch their favorite chuck by name and spout the claim their nova or oneway isn't going to have that problem. I always found that to be a somewhat laughable notion since I couldn't find anyone from england bitching about their axeminster rusting and every time I have been to england it was a lot wetter than anywhere I have live in the states save for san francisco or portland.
 
rust

Hello again...

I haven't had any problems with rust at all. It's surprising really as I do a lot of wet turning and sometimes don't clean up immediately! I can't imagine how the other chucks could possibly be safe from rust where the versachuck or the axminster would be prone! What an odd contention...

If the humidity where you live is high, I would assume that you are well used to taking preventative action...the occasional wipe over tools and equipment with a lightly oiled cloth Etc. etc

I think people are prone to claiming their own choices are the best...it makes you feel good after all, but I do try to be objective with advice. As it happens I do use the Axminster chucks, and haven't had a single problem with them after two years of eight hours a day, six (sometimes seven!) days a week usage. I have many friends who are turners and use a vast range of equipment and I've tried all of them at one time or another. The only chuck I didn't "get on with" was the old multistar, but each of the other well known and used brands are all excellent chucks.

Our club chose the versa because it offered very good value and meant that members with different chucking systems could bring their own jaw sets in to use when demonstrating. Because you do get used to your own chuck.

One advantage of the VM chucks that springs to mind is that they have a greater tolerance in respect to spigot (tennon) and recess sizing. But then I have got so used to turning a spigot or a recess that I never need to use calipers or a rule and can turn them by eye without thinking.


Andy
 
Much of what TurningDog says rings true. I've heard of a recent study that found people who search and agonize over purchasing the “best†are rarely satisfied that they made the right choice. Whereas the person that bought a name brand that fit their needs at the time were very happy with their purchase. One of the odder aspects of the study was many, many people touted their choice as the “best†even though they had doubts.

Just from my casual observations none of the chucks( have not seen an Axminster in action) mentioned so far would be disappointing to someone that didn't have a chuck yet. Now I'll duck for cover. 😱

Jake
 
With a bandsaw, drill press, glue and a piece of 2x6 scrap you can have the best box finshing jaws you could hope for.


Can you show how this is done? I would be very interested. Thanks.

Someday I will get into the vacuum chuck thing but for now the cole jaws work great.
 
rich stewart said:
With a bandsaw, drill press, glue and a piece of 2x6 scrap you can have the best box finshing jaws you could hope for.


Can you show how this is done? I would be very interested. Thanks.

Someday I will get into the vacuum chuck thing but for now the cole jaws work great.
Click to expand...


I got the idea from this article and instead of using the suggested wood I used sanded and glued together doubl layer of 2x6's The added depth gave more stability to my tall boxes.

http://www.turnwood.net/projects/wooden_chuck_jaws.jpg
 
TurningDog said:
I got the idea from this article and instead of using the suggested wood I used sanded and glued together doubl layer of 2x6's The added depth gave more stability to my tall boxes.

http://www.turnwood.net/projects/wooden_chuck_jaws.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. That looks like a pretty good idea.

I also appreciate everyone's info on chucks. TurningDog you are right I just need to sit down access my needs, what I want to do and then buy one that meets these needs.
 
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