# choosing a chuck



## gt40 (Mar 13, 2010)

I just took delivery of my hf 8x12 lathe. Chucked up some thick walled 1.5" tubing and made some shards. I quickly found the stock chuck lacking. I see all these pretty Bison s6 jawed chucks but damn. 1k to 2k for a chuck on a machine I paid 380 for. I need a decent chuck but even the 600 on ebay for the few bison 6 jaws I have found seem crazy. Anyone tried the grizzly 6 jaws or alternatives? On a final note, found a place specializing in buck chucks called plaza machinery. I talked to him and he said family business in buck for many years till they went import. Now they just deal with used usa made buck chucks and other stuff. I am about to buy a 4"buck adjustable 6 jaw in "excellent condition" from him for $290. It has both sets of jaws and is "flawless" Is this a decent deal?


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## wquiles (Mar 13, 2010)

gt40 said:


> I just took delivery of my hf 8x12 lathe. Chucked up some thick walled 1.5" tubing and made some shards. I quickly found the stock chuck lacking. I see all these pretty Bison s6 jawed chucks but damn. 1k to 2k for a chuck on a machine I paid 380 for.


You can/should get smaller TIR and better grip for thin walled parts from using a collet chuck, but since I got my Bison set-tru 6" 6-jaw I have been able to maintain less than 0.0005" TIR, and I am extremely happy on how easy to use and how "spot-on" this chuck is every time I use it. So I would say that yes, these are very expensive, but you get what you paid for.

We (Brian and I) were lucky we bought ours when they were "only" around $600, right before they jumped to $900-1000, so we got lucky as well. I would still look for something on Ebay, even if it takes a long time - finding a good deal on Ebay and patience go hand in hand, in my personal experience.




gt40 said:


> I am about to buy a 4"buck adjustable 6 jaw in "excellent condition" from him for $290. It has both sets of jaws and is "flawless" Is this a decent deal?


Sounds reasonable. Does he offer a return policy if you are not happy with the chuck? If he does, then the risk is much lower, so it would be worth to try it out.


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## precisionworks (Mar 13, 2010)

> found a place specializing in buck chucks called plaza machinery


Plaza Machinery has been in business for about 30 years, and Joe is a great guy to deal with. Good prices, great service, 100% honest & does not exaggerate.


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## gt40 (Mar 18, 2010)

precisionworks said:


> Plaza Machinery has been in business for about 30 years, and Joe is a great guy to deal with. Good prices, great service, 100% honest & does not exaggerate.


 
I talked to Joe- seems like a good guy. I went ahead and ordered a 4" 6-jaw Buck chuck with both sets of jaws from him. He said it was in "excellent" shape.


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## gt40 (Apr 4, 2010)

UPDATE:

I got the used 4" Buck chuck from Plaza machinery and it was in pretty good shape. Here are some pics:






































Looking foreward to mounting it. I almost done with the adaptor plate- Thanks to dark zero and wquiles previous posts, it is going quite well. This place has some awesome info:huh:


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## KC2IXE (Apr 4, 2010)

Nice chuck 
That said, personally, I would never go back to a chuck with solid jaws! Beside it being a pain to swap out the jaws when needed, and keeping track of them, it precludes the use of soft jaws

Soft jaws (sorry, no pics from my shop right now) are one of those things a LOT of people forget about - both on the lathe AND the mill

If you have a job you're going to do a LOT of times, and sometimes even just once, but it's challanging to hold, soft jaws (aka machinable jaws) can be a great tool to have

Milling example - I offer a service (plug - sorry http://www.thegallos.com/morsemod.htm ) where I put a pocket in the base of Morse Code 'paddles' to mount a 1/8" miniplug - the problem is that unless you want to take them apart, many paddles (including the fairly common kent paddle) have NO where to grip them because there are parts in the way - by machining away parts of the jaws, I am both able to grab the keys without taking them apart, but I'm also able to grab them more securely, repeatably, and accurately


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## gt40 (Apr 4, 2010)

I finally got the adaptor plate mounted and the chuck dialed. I ended up botching the first one because I didn't drill a couple of holes on center. Got a transfer set from hf and it was a breeze the second time. I really like this chuck:thumbsup:


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## gt40 (Apr 20, 2010)

Update:

After reading the threads on the Bison 6 jaw chucks, I ordered a new Bison 6" 6 jaw from Ajax They have a page buried in their site that still showed a price of $765, even though the online catalog shows almost a grand. They honored the lower price and I put the 4" buck up for sale on ebay. It is a nice chuck but I like the larger capacity and with the 1hp vfd conversion on the hf 8x12, I will have plenty of power for it. This place makes you spend all your money on tooling!


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## darkzero (Apr 20, 2010)

gt40 said:


> Update:
> 
> After reading the threads on the Bison 6 jaw chucks, I ordered a new Bison 6" 6 jaw from Ajax They have a page buried in their site that still showed a price of $765, even though the online catalog shows almost a grand. They honored the lower price and I put the 4" buck up for sale on ebay. It is a nice chuck but I like the larger capacity and with the 1hp vfd conversion on the hf 8x12, I will have plenty of power for it. This place makes you spend all your money on tooling!


 
Congrats on the new chuck, I got mine from them too. Although wquiles had a 6" on his HF 8x14, that's a whole lot of chuck for this lathe & IMO too big even though you are doing the motor upgrade. I think 5" is the perfect size for this lathe.

on my HF 8x14 I chose to go with a 5" Bison 6 jaw. The 5" set tru 6 jaw is not very popular & some places don't carry it. Chances are you would end up paying more for the 5" than the 6". I was lucky to find mine on ebay. The 5" is also way easier to adjust since the set tru adjustment screws are located at 12', 2', 6', 9'.... on the 6" they're at 11', 1', 5', 7', I hate that about the 6".

Anyways, keep in mind that the 6" 6 jaw is a heavy chuck at 25 lbs without the adapter. Who knows how well the spindle bearings will up up in the HF in the long run. You will loose a lot more capacity in bed length, when I went from the 5" 3 jaw to the 5" 6 jaw the difference was pretty significant. You would also need to make the adapter plate thick enough to support the weight of the chuck but at the same time take into account for not loosing even more capacity lengthwise than needed.

Well at least you will not need to buy a new chuck when you decide to get a bigger lathe.


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## wquiles (Apr 20, 2010)

darkzero said:


> Congrats on the new chuck, I got mine from them too. Although wquiles had a 6" on his HF 8x14, that's a whole lot of chuck for this lathe & IMO too big even though you are doing the motor upgrade. I think 5" is the perfect size for this lathe.


+1

The 6" is in fact too big and heavy for the weight/size of the 8x12 lathe. I was always a little scared of running it above 600-700 rpms.




darkzero said:


> Well at least you will not need to buy a new chuck when you decide to get a bigger lathe.


+1 again

Consider the 6" chuck a down payment on your next lathe, probably a 12x :devil:


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## gt40 (Apr 21, 2010)

wquiles said:


> +1
> 
> The 6" is in fact too big and heavy for the weight/size of the 8x12 lathe. I was always a little scared of running it above 600-700 rpms.
> 
> ...


 
Thanks for the feedback. I bought the 6" with an eye on definitely getting a bigger lathe after I get more up to speed on learning how to use this thing. I will make the adaptor plate with upgraded automotive studs like i saw here:






I got the pic and idea from this thread. Lot's of info for modding the hf 8x12 lathe:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95419&page=17

He even upgraded the spindle to 2" OD, with a 1-3/4" ID............better than a 12x36 :huh:


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## precisionworks (Apr 21, 2010)

If you'll ship the 4" Buck to me, I'll mount it in the 10" 4-jaw ... that would make a 14" 10-jaw


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## darkzero (Apr 21, 2010)

gt40 said:


> an eye on definitely getting a bigger lathe after I get more up to speed on learning how to use this thing. I will make the adaptor plate with upgraded automotive studs like i saw here:


 
Only took me less than 1 year before I decided to get a bigger lathe & I even decided to get an even bigger lathe after I made the initial purchase. :laughing:

I blame the guys here for that, not going to name any names but they know who they are, but I'm thankful for that.

I like the idea of using studs with nuts. You can find many references online who use that method. Makes changing the chuck much easier. I never did it cause I really never needed to take the 5" 6 jaw off.




gt40 said:


> He even upgraded the spindle to 2" OD, with a 1-3/4" ID............better than a 12x36 :huh:


 
There's a member on the LatheMaster Yahoo group who also did this & IIRC in the photo or uploads section he's got the plans listed for the spindle. I believe he made a threaded spindle which is much more convenient for chuck changes over the studs/bolts.

ID might be bigger than the 1236 but not better.  Still cumbersome to remove the adapter from the spindle & having to readjust runout when put back on. I can not tell you how much I love the camlock spindle on the 1236 which is one of the reasons I changed my mind from the 1127VF. So much more conivenient changing chucks & they go back on with the same runout. With the 8x14 I never really needed to change chucks & avoided it, now with the camlock I'll change chucks without hesitating when needed & quickly.

Don't forget to post pics of your install! :thumbsup:


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