chuck suggestions for round 3/4 blanks

[Banished]

Hello all!

Up until now I have drilled and turned square blanks on my lathe with the blank drilling chuck. I ordered some new blanks and they arrived round (I guess the pictures I looked at should have given me a hint but measurements showed 3/4 x 5 so I never gave it a thought) Anyways I have looked in the library and found some older posts and have visited a few sites and found a wealth of info that was some what overwhelming on all kinds of chucks, jaws and the like. If I was turning bowls this would probably make more sense.. maybe. SO .. Jaw chuck..3..4 jaws...mini..pin chuck, collets. Can someone enlighten me please to perform this simple process.. round stock ..drill a straight hole with my lathe. new ??? chuck in headstock.. drill chuck tailstock..turn....pen! Whew LOL
Thanks in advance! Greg

 

[walshjp17]

If you have a Nova chuck you can use the Nova Pens Plus Jaws (~$49.99).
NOVA 25mm (1") JAW SET

If you have a chuck with pin jaws (long-ish, slender jaws), that will work as well.
NOVA PIN JAW SET

Most chuck manufacturers make pin jaws for their chucks.

You can also use a collet chuck with a 3/4" collet.

 

[monophoto]

There are many ways to skin a cat.

In this case, I would simply put the blank into a 4-jaw scroll chuck, and mount a jacobs (drill) chuck in the tail stock. Which jaws? Actually, it doesn't matter. If you have blank drilling jaws, they should work fine. You can also use #1 pin jaws, or you can grip the blank in the gap between the bottom portions of #2 jaws, or you can take the jaws off altogether and grip the blank between the sliders that the jaws attach to.

 

[plantman]

Greg; If you look at your blank drilling chuck, you will see that tere are actualy 4 points that the jaws make contact with your blank. This is in effect the same as a 4 jaw chuck and ca be used to drill round or oval stock as well. Most round blanks are not perfectly round anyway. Use a centering drill to start your hole. Turn on the lathe and move up your centering drill to the spinning center of your blank. Lock the tailstock in place and use the wheel to adance the centering bit into the blank. Shut off the lathe and remove the drill bit and replace it with the size drill you need. amove the tailstock up to he predrilled hole and center the flutes in the hole. Lock down your tailstock, and advance the drill into your blank an inch or so while holding on to the drill chuck. loosen the tail stock clamp and advance the drill into the blank. Hold on to the drill chuck when you retract it from the blank so that it does not pull it out of the MT. This method should give you a straight hoe in anf shape blank you have. Jim S

 

[lorbay]

I use collets all the time.

Lin.

 

[mredburn]

Collet definitely, er32 or larger of course, collet.

 

[BSea]

If you have collets, that's the easiest. If you don't have collets, then I'd probably suggest the Nova Pin Jaw set, or something similar. And if you have to buy something, I'm back to collets and a collet chuck even if the cost is more. They are so useful for many things.

 

[InvisibleMan]

Blank drilling chuck works fine. I still use mine to center drill larger round blanks on my wood lathe so I can hold them between centers and turn down to a size my collet chuck can handle.

edit: Wait, do you drill and TURN your blanks using the blank drilling chuck? If so, I'm not sure that is going to work on a round blank.

 

[Jim Burr]

Chucks that hold only pen blanks are ok...it that's all you'll ever drill. If you aspire to more...like all the chuck threads of the last month have mentioned, then a pen jaw chuck is a waste of money...unless you have extra to burn. Any chuck (I have a couple SN2's and a Barracuda) with a spigot type jaw will not only hold pen blanks perfectly, but also bowl, mill and HF blanks.

 

[plantman]

Chucks that hold only pen blanks are ok...it that's all you'll ever drill. If you aspire to more...like all the chuck threads of the last month have mentioned, then a pen jaw chuck is a waste of money...unless you have extra to burn. Any chuck (I have a couple SN2's and a Barracuda) with a spigot type jaw will not only hold pen blanks perfectly, but also bowl, mill and HF blanks.

I agree with Jim. A pen blank drill chuck only allows you to do a minamal amount of operations. And as Jim said "if you aspire to do more", and you will, spend a little more money up front and buy something that will fill todays needs as well as the futures. I have a BarrAcuda 2 "C Series Chuck". Comes in a case with 4 different sets of jaws plus a screw center and two adaptors for different sized lathe threads. For an extra $22.95 you can buy "C" Series Pen Drilling Jaws. There are also many other extras you can by for other applacations in turning. This is just my setup, any well known brand can do the same thing for you. But, as Jim said, go for the versatillity of the unit. You will be very happy in the end and have more money in your pocket. Jim S

 

[Banished]

Thank you all for the responses!

Having looked at all the suggested ideas and thinking about where I may head with this great hobby I think the Jims are correct and it may be worthy of a modest investment and not have to keep upgrading to something new to do something different and spend more $$ in the long run. I have looked at the Barricuda 2. I think my wife will LOVE giving me that as an early birthday gift!

In the meantime, I do have a pen to do now so I will try it with the pen blank chuck I have.

Thanks again! Greg

 

[plantman]

Thank you all for the responses!

Having looked at all the suggested ideas and thinking about where I may head with this great hobby I think the Jims are correct and it may be worthy of a modest investment and not have to keep upgrading to something new to do something different and spend more $$ in the long run. I have looked at the Barricuda 2. I think my wife will LOVE giving me that as an early birthday gift!

In the meantime, I do have a pen to do now so I will try it with the pen blank chuck I have.

Thanks again! Greg

Greg; Look on Amazon.com for the best prices on chucks. If you have an account, most things over $35 have free shipping. That could take another $10-15 off your cost !! Jim S