Adjust-Tru Bison

ddickey said:
Well their back plate is $280 "only" $50 less than a Bison. This is a six jaw. IDK
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The backplate for a Bison 6-jaw & 3-jaw Set-Tru is the same. However for Gator they offer their adjustable chucks in semi-steel & steel which Bison does not. For some sizes the chucks are different size, ie 6.0" (semi steel) & 6.3" (steel), not sure about their 8"/8.25" so have to pay attention to that if getting a Gator backplate but at that price doesn't make sense.

Another wow, on Gator's prices now but that's to be expected with all the tarrifs.
 
$235 on Zoro free ship. 15% off code I used a few days ago no longer works. I think it saw nov19deal.
 
ddickey said:
$235 on Zoro free ship. 15% off code I used a few days ago no longer works. I think it saw nov19deal.
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Here you can have mine, this one is tartgeted but I'm not gonna use it.

20191123_141701.jpg
 
darkzero said:
Yup, these days prices are so much I'd probably just make my own like I did when I had a 5" Bison 6-jaw on my mini lathe.

The Bison Set-Tru adapters are expensive to begin with cause they are steel, fully machined, & both mating faces are blanchard ground. I bolted them right on with no truing up needed. Same when I had a Gator 3-jaw chuck with Tech-Tru backplate, it was blanchard ground on one face, not nearly as pretty as the Bison and it was cast iron but it did the job just fine. It was a decent chuck, only sold it cause my sales guy at MSC gave me a smoking deal on a Bison 3-jaw Set-Tru that I couldn't pass up.

I wonder what happened with Gator distributors. When Fuerda first came out with the Gator brand, lots of places were carrying Gator. Now a days not so much & their prices have gone up at least 3 times since I purchased mine. Maybe the price increase has something to do with it?
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My Buck plate is steel and I think its ground, too. I will still take a pass across that face before mounting, just because.
 
I was looking at this recently myself. I bought a Bison 5C Set-Tru at Ajax. At the time I found their prices to be pretty competitive on new.

The 6"-6J Gator works out to 1195 USD including D1-4 Adjust-Tru backplate

The Bison 6"-6J forged Set-Tru is 1635 USD including back plate as combo

6 1/4" Bison 6 Jaw "SetTru" Forged Lathe Chuck + Adapter Plate

www.ajaxtoolsupply.com
If you buy the chuck (7-868-0600) and backplate (7-875-063) separately it works out to 1294+364=1658

So that's a (1635-1195)=440 USD difference on list price basis. I bought a 5" Gator 4J & 3J specifically for my rotary table & mill setup. My opinion is that price ratio to Bison about matches the overall quality, fit & finish wise. If you can get a good deal on a Bison chuck, I wouldn't be opposed to getting a Gator Adjust-Tru backplate to save some bucks. All it has to do is fit the spindle nose well & allow for the Set-Tru to be adjusted. Then it stays put hopefully for many years. I found a few deals on Ebay but by the time I factored shipping 2 chunks of iron separately, the price gap started closing.

I've come to the personal conclusion that chucks are critical to doing good work & should be treated as an investment. Maybe that's just my inner voice trying to justify the cost. If you only need a 6J for grip, then you can mitigate the Set-Tru & get a conventional backed 6J chuck. But if accuracy & repeat ability is a factor, then the 'adjustable' chucks are really the way to go. I lived with my plain 5C collet chuck runout for too many years. It was also Bison but also had run-out & nothing one can do about it. In hindsight I wish I ponied the extra bucks. But that's a personal decision we all make independently.

To make you feel better, its less expensive for me to buy a Bison from USA & have it shipped to me vs. buying through CDN distributor. I really don't know why, but it is what it is. If anyone does have a Gator 6J Adjust-Tru, I'd like to hear your opinion & findings but I don't want to side track this post.
 
I think Bison like a lot of things are just way over priced now. I have an 8” Bison I hardly ever use. Just don’t always need an 8” chuck much and it is just a pain the lift and heft around. My Shars zero ajust 6.25” is more accurate and will just about do anything “hobbyist needs”, and yea the chuck, D1-4 back plate cost less the the Bison back plate. Dang 1658.00 usd for a hobby chuck is a lot of good tools for other things, but if you got it spend it, you can’t take it with you. I thought with the strong USD. They would be cheeper.
Good chip making.
CH
 
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