• Congratulations to Alex Bradley winner of the December 2024 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Conversations are now Direct Messages (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Gabriel Hoff for "Spalted Beech Round Bottom Box" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 6, 2024 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Making wood contract/expanding jaws?

Matt Meadows

Matt Meadows

Joined
May 13, 2005
Messages
171
Likes
111
Location
Charleston SC
Been looking for instruction on how to make and *install* wooden jaws on a jaw chuck like the Supernova 2. Got a SN2 on order and need to make the wooden jaws soon.

BTW, yes, I know Cole jaws are the bomb, but money don't grow on trees, lol, at least none that I've cut down. No I won't tell you where I found it. Uh...ooops.....
 
 
It's not a Longworth, but if you attach a disk of MDO or Baltic Birch to your fully closed chuck, turn round and mark diameters for holes, all you have to do is quarter it for a serviceable set of jaws. you're not going to do any hogging on them, or for that matter the real thing, anyway.

Nice thing about having a crude setup like this is the ability to attach a suitably-sized piece of ply to turn a ring, then quarter, to get more hold than simple buttons will give. You can even undercut the interior a bit to wedge your piece to the main disk.

I own the Cole jaws, though I seldom use them. Simple jam chucks with some hot glue help seem to do as well for the kinds of things I do.
 
MichaelMouse said:
I own the Cole jaws, though I seldom use them. Simple jam chucks with some hot glue help seem to do as well for the kinds of things I do.
Click to expand...

My favorite as well, although sometimes I use double-sided tape. It doesn't hold nearly as well, but clean-up is a lot easier.

Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to realize the virtures of the older simple methods is to buy and try the expensive ones!
 
The links are greatly appreciated Jim.
I'll be looking into the cole-jaw type, I may go with that.


I've googled all I can stand and can't find a pic of the type of jaws I'm referring to, but they are for the same thing a cole jaw is for, but looks a lot different.
Diameter is about the same, but if you were to lay it on it's back, face up, it would look like a big bowl with the inside of it with dovetailed terraces (the contracting type, that grabs the outer edge of a bowl).

The other type-- the expanding jaws, would look like a round, dovetailed cone--- designed to expand and grab the inside edge of bowls that have more of a globe shape.

I am confident on making the jaw itself and quartering it. I'm a bit unsure of how to attach it to the chuck itself.
 
Wooden jaw pads article

There is an article about wooden jaws by George Hatfield in the Spring 2004 issue of American Woodturner (page 56). They look like the jaws you are talking about.
 
Wooden Chuck Jaws

Oneway makes "flat jaws" for the Stronghold chuck. If you buy these you simply screw appropriate pieces of wood to the 4 metal quarter-circles, mount them on the chuck and turn them to whatever profile you need. The hold is very strong. This is the way George Hatfield does it (see Brian's reference).

I have a set of the flat jaws which work great and are very quick and easy. I have also done it using just 3/4" MDF. It takes more time and effort, but works very well also.

Give it a try!
 
Just be careful

Here's what I made, kind of crude but came in handy for small items like lidded boxes, bracelets, etc.:
http://www.crwoodturner.com/gallery/kenshop

The jaws are made from 3/4" lumber, 1 1/2" long. I made a jig plate for drilling the holes with repeatable accuracy, makes it quicker to make new jaws when needed. The holes are counterbored with a 3/8" drill, down to within 1/4" of the jaw's back surface so I could use the original jaw screws and also to get the screws out of harm's way when turning the jaws to shape.

Personally, I would not even consider making wooden jaws to hold a bowl or vessel for anything more than light turning of the foot, or sanding. Even with that, there is great potential of failure of the connection between the jaws and the work, since you can't really tighten the jaws as hard as with solid metal jaws. It may help to glue sanding belt cloth to the gripping surfaces.

If you are set on the idea, use strong, defect-free hardwood lumber with the longitudinal grain of each jaw inline with the clamping force of the chuck--rather than making a single disk and cutting into 4 pieces, where 2 of the jaws will have cross-grain and be more liable to fail.

So, just be careful, OK?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top