Chuck choice for PM 3520

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I had talon chucks for my mini lathe. I bought two stronghold chucks for the 3520 AND I bought a spindle adapter so I can use the smaller chucks on both lathes.

I was told by a long time turner that the stronghold was one of the strongest chucks you could get for the money, so I went with that. He didn't like the Nova's smooth jaws; he said they didn't hold well enough.

But I do like the fact that the Nova chucks all share the same jaws. The Talon and the Stronghold use different Jaws.
 
I use Oneway Talon and Stronghold chucks on my 3520 and like them very much. However, if I had it to do over again I would seriously consider Vicmarc chucks. In my opinion, dovetail jaws provide better holding capability without crushing wood fibers like the serrated jaws on the Oneway chucks. Dovetail jaws also allow you to remount turnings with more consistency than serrated jaws. You would not go wrong with either manufacturer. They both produce quality products.
 
When I got my Powermatic 4224, I went with the Vicmarc 5". You want a large chuck so you don't have to open the jaws wide open and whoops, blood all over...

On my Jet mini, I have a Talon, does a great job.

CSUSA had a sale and I bought an Apprentice chuck set. It works.

CSUSA had another sale with the SuperNova and 3 sets of jaws including Cole jaws. Not a bad set-up.

I did use an adapter 1 1/4" X 8tpi to 1" X 8tpi with the talon on the 4224. Using a small chuck makes you open the jaws wide for a decent size bowl (12") and you end up with a bad situation... Thus, the larger chuck... Talon next to that Vic is like a new daddy and his baby...
 
IMHO I think the Vicmarc chucks are the best, they are totaly sealed, unlike the Strong Holds and some of the others.

Lin.
 
Check Grizzly. They have one heck of a nice chuck & well worth the money for a lot less. The one thing I like about it over the Nova is the Nova turns backwards- turn the handle cc to tighten & clockwise to loosen, & the Grizzly is standard--cw to tighten--cc to loosen. I get mixed up half the time. Grizzly's also has indexing on it. A very well built chuck.
 
I have a bucket of chucks and rank them (literally in a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket)

Vicmark -- highest price and worth it if you can handle the cash flow. Bullet proof. Very low runout.

Oneway and Nova -- dead heat in my experience both are great but not as good in the runout as the Vicmark. (may have a bias for the Talon because it has been a long time friend)
geared version are better to operate than the tommy bar versions.

PSI Barracuda, Grizzly etc -- functional, but more runout and more slop.
 
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