Finally bought a chuck

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rjwolfe3

rjwolfe3

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Just ordered this: PSI Woodworking CSC500K Barracuda Micro Key Lathe Chuck System for $115 (free shipping) from Amazon. Comes with 3 sets of jaws.

Can anyone tell me if this was a good deal or did I jump the gun? I was looking at a cheaper ($45) 4 jaw chuck from Grizzly thru Amazon but wasn't sure if it would do what I needed it to do.

I basically wanted to start drilling on the lathe and turning round on the lathe and making small bowls as well as other small stuff.

Does anyone have this chuck that can give me the pros and cons of it? As well as any tips for using it correctly and safely?

Thanks for looking.
 
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I have one and they're very nice. I've used mine for drilling and making bowls and it works very well. I don't have any cons but the pros is it comes with several different size jaws for different projects. As for tips-read the instructions:biggrin:
 
Ah cool, I was hoping it came with instructions. I have to wait 5-9 days to see it since I chose the free shipping. I seem to always buy tools with no (or crappy) instructions), lol. But that will be the first thing I do when I get it.
 
Hey Rob,

Just wondering how you like this chuck. I'm looking to start doing the same thing you are talking about. Drilling on the lathe and turning small bowls. I was looking at the the Barracuda 2000 and the 3000. This is the cheapest of the three, but I wanted to make sure I'd be able to do the stuff I wanted with it before I ordered it.

Thanks
Ben
 
Ben,
I haven't been able to use if for a bowl yet. Still have to get a bowl gouge. My only concern, now that I have it, is that it might be too small to turn bowls with but not sure. It is also limited in the jaws available. But for everything else it is just awesome. I can drill blanks and turn wood round with it. Still trying to figure out the difference in the jaws that came with it. Sorry I can't be much more help than that.
 
Ben , If you can spend the $50 more get the Barracuda 2000 chuck it's a much beefier chuck , I have done 6" and 8" bowls with it and it held them solidly . The Micro is a fine chuck but a little small for doing bowls .
 
I'm pretty cautious with my finger. Prior to deciding to build websites for a living, I was majoring in printing. I got my finger stitched flat in a local shop. Took a couple of hours in surgery to repair it. I was lucky the on call surgeon specialized in hands and finger reconstruction. He told me most other surgeons would have just cut it off at the first knuckle. After that I noticed that most other long time printing people had received major images at some point in their carerrs and I thought I'd be better find something a little safer.

As for the barracuda 2000, I was thinking about it, but was wondering if there was a big difference between the barracuda and the barracuda 2.

Ben
 
Congrats on the new chuck. It will be fine for you, within it's size limitations. I have two PSI chucks (as I mentioned previously), the mini GMC3 and the Barracuda 4. Each comes with several jaw sets. Thus far, I have found that between the two, they work for a wide range of sizes of blanks and projects. I believe you will soon be buying a larger chuck to compliment your mini. It sounds like you have answered most of your own questions. Do read carefully all the catalog descriptions, juggle against yer checkbook and make a choice.
 
I was wondering if you could give an update on how satisfied you are with this chuck? I am considering a chuck for my mini lathe for drilling pen blanks & turning small bowls & boxes (less than 6"). I like the single key operation & the light weight this chuck offers. Although it appears to not accept the rest of the jaws the "C" series chucks use. Have you used it for any small bowls & found it to not work well?
 
It's ok. I use it mostly for drilling blanks. I haven't turned any bowls yet because I don't have a bowl gouge but that is on my list of things to buy. To be honest I'm not even sure if I am using the right jaws to drill my blanks, lol. It does have 3 sets of jaws with it. Wish I could help more but I have nothing to compare it with since this is my only chuck.
 
Yes it has the right jaws for drilling pen blanks, Use the pin jaws. As for bowls you can use the #2 jaws. They will hold a foot big enough to turn a 9" bowl.
 
You don't necessarily need a bowl gouge to turn a bowl. I started our using a round nose scraper. I have the Barracuda 2. Seems to work really well. Bit think the mini chuck may be a little small for larger bowls.
 
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