Titan Power Grip Jaws better?

[John Trant]

I just received a new Technatool Titan chuck but I did not realize that they were fitted with the old-style 4" Powergrip jaws (the ones that fit on the Super Nova chucks). I thought I had purchased the ones with the larger (5") PowerGrip Jaws specific for the Titan chuck. The chuck and jaws were purchased from KMS so (as typical of their customer service) they said they would work with me to offer a reasonable price for an exchange of the old Power Grip Jaws (4") for the new Titan Power Grip Jaws (5"). FYI, these jaws hold a tenon that is an inch greater in diameter and a 1/2" longer than the old-style Powergrips. These jaws may be about $60 (Canadian retail) MORE than the old Powergrips.

My Question: Are the new Titan Jaws that much better than the old Powergrip jaws when either are mounted on a Titan chuck?
- OR -
Is the extra holding power of the Titan system more in the chuck opposed to the new jaws.

NB: This chuck was specifically purchased to turn 16"-24" bowls and for deep hollowing.

Thanks in advance for any and all opinions.
John

PS: This ? was also posted on the WC

​

 

[Jim Carroll]

The standard configuration of the Titan chuck has always been with the Power grip jaws. These jaws are the same as the 100mm jaws with the advantage of using a longer spigot. These can handle peices up to 8" diameter and 12" long easily. Platters up to 20" are easily held.
The Titan jaws are 5" diameter which gives you a larger footprint on your platters as they are the same as the 130mm jaws as well as the longer spigot.The grip is more in the length of the spigot which may help with the holding of longer hollow forms.
They also have the 3 screws per jaw to give more stability.
If I were you I would hang onto the power grip and pay the extra for the titan jaws there is going to be time where the smaller jaws are going to be more comfortable to use.
You also have the advantage that all the other nova jaws will fit easily onto the titan chuck. May be a litle overkill with the 25mm jaws on though.

 

[spinsdawood]

To help answer your question, I purchased the Titan chuck and jaws from Packard when they first came out. The 5" jaws were standard at that time. I would think that should be the case now. In my opinion 4" jaws make the Titan a glorified Super Nova. I have both and have used both extensively. The good news is that Oneway jaws line up perfectly on both pf those chucks. Like the poster above I would suggest keep what you have and order the the bigger jaws. You can put the smaller jaws on a larger chuck but it's a little dicey going the other way. Good Luck,
Jim 😀

 

[dkulze]

Hi, John.

I'm with all above. I've got the supernova and use my smaller jaws primarilly but, about the time I get up to something that weighs in at 50lb or more, I switch to the big jaws. I've found it to be most useful, however, in gripping branch stock that is that diameter, since my lathe will only handle 16" anyway and the little jaws are usually good for that.

The grip strength depends on the chuck, not the jaw; same chuck, same compression for all jaws. Where the jaw size comes into play is in how large a tenon you can have to support the work. I'd be pretty nervous supporting a 24" bowl with just a 3" tenon.

Speaking of which, how's the Titan? Does it live up to the Oneway or Vicmarc in comparison? Did they finally switch thread so that it's tighty-righty?

Dietrich

 

[MichaelMouse]

Hi, John.

Speaking of which, how's the Titan? Does it live up to the Oneway or Vicmarc in comparison? Did they finally switch thread so that it's tighty-righty?

Dietrich

Always has been righty-tighty if you're using a recess. With Chuck, Lefty Lucy's in an expansive mode. 😉 New mnemonic.

For what it's worth, I'm not sure that "grip" depends on the chuck, but rather on the wood. If you can apply pressure with the jaws of the chuck sufficient to distort the wood, you've got excess "grip." Since face is weaker than quarter grain, you can even get into an out-of round situation.

Therefore, the objective should be to hold short of distortion, spreading the load over the widest and most effective area. This is where the big dovetail - interior or exterior - comes in. It will resist displacement perpendicular to the axis of rotation more effectively than a simple longer tenon because it is faced to the piece with a longer lever to help. Consider the advantage of an 8" over a 3" faceplate.

In regular woodworking there's a mortise/tenon joint, sometimes wedged, as is the case with a dovetail hold, which resists racking stress because its shoulders don't compress the face of the mortised piece. Timber frame construction with draw bores to mate the shoulder of the tenoned piece to the face of the mortised are a good example. The pin is certainly weaker than the tenon, but as long as there's no movement at the shoulder, the entire remains firm.

Which comes back to the longer tenon versus wider jaw question. Is it better to cut a shorter tenon to take advantage of the wedging action of the dovetail or a longer to try and hold with contraction. I go the dovetail. Is it better to have a bigger dovetail available, considering that we want to use the most possible contact area, where the circle of the dovetail is equal to the circle of the tenon or recess? You bet. Get the second set of jaws.

To take advantage of both simultaneously is a real challenge, made more difficult by the inclusion of serrations.

 

[dkulze]

Not a fan of the serrations myself. I've always found the smooth jaws to work better on anything but punky wood. The serrated seem to have the tendancy to tear the wood loose on a bad catch.

Dietrich

 

[hockenbery]

Hi John,

Regardless of the chuck manufacturer, larger jaws give more holding power. It is physics, the screw preasure you can achive is probably a little bit more with the smaller jaws since your aren't compressing as much wood. However the contact pressure surface is significantly larger with the larger jaws. Secondly the wood tenom is bigger and stronger too.

It is sort of like a rock fish have a stronger bit than a zebra fish. (right John?)

I use the larger jaws on bowls 16" and up. Although for rough turning a bowl that size I usually use a face plate and do several corings. I know lots of folks core with a chuck & tenon but I have had a couple of tenons shear off when the I let the coring tool bind in the slot with shavings and stall out the cut.

Happy turning and fish rearing
-Al