Jaw or collet

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J

Jwardle81

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
7
Location
Ohio
Hello everyone,

I hope you all are doing well. I'm a complete novice. I bought a used delta lathe, then went to wood craft, and bought blanks, kits, a pen mill etc. Only to realize I had now accurate way to drill my blanks. I was wondering if It would be more practical to use a jaw chuck over a collet as I would like to eventually turn bowls, wine stoppers etc. I don't want to buy a drill press as I have no other real reason. I look forward to any help. I'm starting to get frustrated as I've already wasted a few blanks with a hand drill.
 
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Most blanks are square or somewhat square. A jaw chuck will grip on round or square objects while a collet will only do round and only if the round object is the correct size of the collet.

Hope that helps. Don.
 
The scroll chuck (jaw chuck as you called it) will do the job.


A Collet chuck is more accurate if you get to the point where you are trying some of the fancy segmented blanks that need to be drilled exactly in the center.
 
You can round a square blank between centers then grip it with Either
one. I prefer to drill in the collet chuck as it supports the blank better holding the blank back in the chuck rather than sticking out the end of the jaws.
 
Delta-18-Inch-Laser-Drill-Press-18-900L.jpg
 
I don't have/use the chuck that you linked but it seems like a good deal for the money. It also seems to be liked by the majority of the reviews on their site. Sometimes using the bars is a problem for those like me that only have two hands. Which may contribute to the lower cost. It is somewhat less expensive than the mini chucks I have.
 
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Used to have that chuck. Traded it for a really nice segmented blank here. Its ok. I wouldn't use it for anything too large as it tends to loosen too easily in my opinion.
 
Everyone, thank you! I'm going to do a little more research. All of your comments are really appreciated. I successfully turned/assembled my first slim line today......I've caught the bug :-)
 
I use a nova G3 with the pin jaws for all of my blanks. It works great. If the blank is square and small I put the edges of the blank into the jaw. If it is too big I just put the flat of the blank into the jaw. I don't bother to turn them down between centers unless it is a very touchy blank where the tube has to be exact center. Remember this is supposed to be fun! I think the chuck for your lathe is the right way to go and you will get a ton of use out of it too! I have not tried a collet chuck yet but would consider one if the need arose!

Where is the picture of your slimline! The rules say you need to post that! ;>)
 
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