Scroll chucks

[Bope]

I am looking to turn up my turning skills a little and need a scroll chuck. I have an old Delta Homelite lathe so no full size heavy duty chuck needed. I am also just a hobby turner that sells some pens. I was looking at the Nova G3 and the Record Power SC3. The Nova has a nice pen kit that makes it slightly cheaper then the Record once you get the same accessories. The next step up looks to be the Vimarc VM100 or the Oneway Talon. Am I really gaining anything going up to the Vimarc or Oneway? Since Nova changed to righty tighty is there really anything different between the Nova and Record? The lathe has a 1" 8tpi so that isn't an issue with any of the chucks. Right now I only do pen like turnings but I would like to try my hand at some small bowels in the future. Any thoughts on these chucks or others I should consider?

 

[SabertoothBunny]

I got the NOVA chuck set for my midi lathe that came with 3 different jaw sets. It is a solid chuck and I have zero issues with and turn small bowls, salt cellars, etc on it without any issues concerning the chuck itself. Sometimes the smaller lathes can bog down when taking too big of cuts in bowls and other small turnings with more wood. The chuck itself does its job well.

NOVA vs others, potato vs pototo honestly. There are a few features differences between chucks that are different but for a hobbiest who doesn't do a ton or needs the speedy quick change outs of jaws (biggest difference between some) they are not worth the extra cost. You can get quick release attachments for the older NOVA chucks now as well if you need them at some point. All the brands make solid chucks that can do a lot but the NOVA tends to be on the less expensive side compared to the rest but has just as much variety in jaw attachments.

Go with what you can afford. Don't break the bank for features you don't necessarily need at this stage.

 

[donstephan]

My preferred chucks are Vicmarc. They hold extremely well short well formed tenons and mortises. I started with a Nova and purchased my first Vicmarc when my 5th or 6th blank came out of the Nova chuck.