Help selecting a 3 jaw chuck

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gi_984

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I'm helping a local guy (just starting out) with his Craftsman Atlas 12X36 lathe. It came with a four jaw chuck only. He would like a decent 3 jaw. I told him to join here and post a want ad. In the meantime nothing is turning up locally. He is wary of buying on "evil bay."

I'm hesitant to suggest one of the import chucks from Little Machine Shop, Shars, etc as I have zero experience with them.

Any recommendations I can pass on or should he wait for a good used one?
 
I've bought two very decent used 3-jaws off of the 'Bay for my Logan over the years. No problems.
I ended up with two pallets of chucks back in '11 and my BetterHalf sold them off on the 'Bay. USPS FlatRate shipping got abused.
That was before I had the 1440 with a D1-4... *drat*
 
Good for you. Hope you made a killing. Now does anyone have any experience with the import 3 jaws I just mentioned?


middle.road said:
I ended up with two pallets of chucks back in '11 and my BetterHalf sold them off on the 'Bay. USPS FlatRate shipping got abused.
That was before I had the 1440 with a D1-4... *drat*
Click to expand...
 
It's a crap shoot. Need to watch out for some. But you can get a decent chuck for hobby use. Some are quite good for the price point.
Generally speaking you should tear it down and check it out.
I've got a smaller 4 jaw similar to the one in video #1, works very well, no problems with it. I mount in a larger chuck to use it.
Here are two very good videos on the subject. He'll end up having to make a back plate for it to fit his lathe more than likely.
 
I have ordered 2- 6" 3 jaws, from Shars, and very pleased with them.
 
Bit off topic. Do any of you know if Shars shipp to South Africa? If so I guess shipping rates would off the charts. It's just that I see it so many times on this site,people talking and buying from Shars that I thought it must be a decent place to buy from.

Michael
 
Thanks for the replies. All my chucks are US made except for a solitary 4 jaw made in England. Wouldn't hesitate to buy a TOS either. We had quite a few at the tech school. My recommendation to him is to find a decent US or European made chuck and buy it. But he just moved to a new house and money is tighter than usual. He wants to get everything set up and running soon. But doesn't have a bunch to spend right now.
Yes, we spoke about machining the backplate on his lathe. I'll help him with that after getting the lathe all settled in and leveled without any bed twist.
 
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