What are the advantages.....

[Warren White]

...of the Nova Pens Plus Jaws over the Dedicated Pin Blank Drilling Chuck from, for example, PSI?

I have a Nova G3 Chuck and the Dedicated Pin Blank Drilling Chuck, but i wonder if I would gain an advantage having the Pens Plus Jaw? I have had no problem at all with what I have, but would like your thoughts.

Thanks again for being a great resource!

 

[jsolie]

If you already have a dedicated drilling chuck, then you probably won't gain much--other than a backup tool.

I only have one chuck, and original Supernova from many many moons ago, and had drilled a few pens using the small jaws. I didn't really care for how the grip was.

The pen drilling jaws fit fine on my old Supernova, and I really like how well blanks are gripped. They hold both round and square stock, but don't work so well with warped pieces (that's why my drill press is for).

 

[Dan Masshardt]

Similar idea.

Both have 2 jaws. The pen plus are very beefy. Don't know about the others.

And if you don't like using tommy bars - that's one difference.

 

[TonyL]

I snapped my tommy bars on my psi; and don't miss them - I did get about 300 blanks out of them though. Perhaps, I was too rough. My personal preference is the Nova.

 

[pfbarney]

I had the dedicated chuck from PSI and found that over time the jaws got to where they wouldn't grasp the blank the full length of the jaws, they would only grasp at the base. I bought the NOVA jaws for my G3 and had no more issues. Of course, now I use a home made jig on my old drill press for convenience, but the Nova jaws worked well.

 

[bobleibo]

Warren
I have a handful of chucks, not because I am rich but because I am lazy and got tired of swapping jaws all the time. One is a Nova midi and I have the larger PSI pen chuck. I bought the PSI chuck for the reason first mentioned, lazy. It works well for my needs. Then I realized that a pen blank will fit nicely INTO the middle of the slides (not the jaws) on the Nova chuck and be held very well enabling me to use it to drill on the lathe without even removing the jaws that are on it. The Nova G2 is pretty comparable in size, just uses the key instead of tommy bars. Give it a try and see what you think, it might save you a few bucks.
Tony, how in the he!! did you break tommy bars? I crank mine very hard and they never give in. You must have forearms like Popeye! Grrrr~
Cheers
Bob

 

[jttheclockman]

Tony the secret weapon Man to snap tommy bars takes some doing.

I too have many chucks but for various jobs. I always go back to the dedicated pen chuck because it just so versatile for what we do. I only wish they had the larger version when I bought mine. I still may make that purchase.

The wrenches I do not like is the ones used on the Collet chucks. I seem to strip them.

I guess if the chuck you have gets the job done stick with it. Good luck.

 

[TonyL]

Well Bob...considering your forearm (singular) is bigger than my thighs (sewn together!) , I doubt it has anything to do with my strength. When I say snapped my Tommy bars, I mean those little nibs that extend from the Tommy bar handle grips. Those puppies had bent within the first 100 pens. I kept rotating them to straighten them out.

I can barely bench the 4 wheel buffer that I made LOL.

 

[bobleibo]

Ok, that made me laugh.......but I still can't bend or break a tommy bar, working my way up to a #2 pencil.

 

[TonyL]

You need to try my work-out......do nothing .

 

[Warren White]

Thank you for your observations!

I will most likely just stay the course. Naturally, later in the week I noted a post that indicated Woodcraft just lowered the price of the Pens Plus jaws.

Get thee behind me Woodcraft.....

 

[BSea]

I snapped my tommy bars on my psi; and don't miss them - I did get about 300 blanks out of them though. Perhaps, I was too rough. My personal preference is the Nova.

Warren
I have a handful of chucks, not because I am rich but because I am lazy and got tired of swapping jaws all the time. One is a Nova midi and I have the larger PSI pen chuck. I bought the PSI chuck for the reason first mentioned, lazy. It works well for my needs. Then I realized that a pen blank will fit nicely INTO the middle of the slides (not the jaws) on the Nova chuck and be held very well enabling me to use it to drill on the lathe without even removing the jaws that are on it. The Nova G2 is pretty comparable in size, just uses the key instead of tommy bars. Give it a try and see what you think, it might save you a few bucks.
Tony, how in the he!! did you break tommy bars? I crank mine very hard and they never give in. You must have forearms like Popeye! Grrrr~
Cheers
Bob

Well Bob...considering your forearm (singular) is bigger than my thighs (sewn together!) , I doubt it has anything to do with my strength. When I say snapped my Tommy bars, I mean those little nibs that extend from the Tommy bar handle grips. Those puppies had bent within the first 100 pens. I kept rotating them to straighten them out.

I can barely bench the 4 wheel buffer that I made LOL.

Ok, that made me laugh.......but I still can't bend or break a tommy bar, working my way up to a #2 pencil.

You need to try my work-out......do nothing .

This could be it's own thread. It made my day.