Thinking of getting a 6 jaw.

mikey said:
I'm with Will. I have a Pratt Burnerd 6 jaw setrite and due to the shape of the jaws, the smallest it will hold is about a 5/16" OD piece. A 3 jaw, at least in my experience, will go smaller. A 6 jaw also does not have the holding power of a 3 or 4 jaw chuck and being a scroll chuck it is not necessarily more accurate unless it is a Set-rite type.
Click to expand...

Interesting to hear that my experience isn't consistent with others. Thanks for the correction! As far as holding power, I've had no problems whatsoever, though I WILL say that I have a fairly large lathe/chuck, so I might just be at the point where the chuck holds 'well enough' for any materials a hobbiest uses.

If I only had 2 chucks, I'd use a nice 6 jaw for my scroll chuck, and a 4 jaw (plus of course my collet chuck :) ).
 
I agree with Mike. Although I love my 6-jaw chucks the most they're really considered second op chucks. As Mike said they're not as great for holding power like a 3-jaw or 4-jaw. I hear people often say that 6-jaws grip tighter but that is not true. If you work with a lot of oblong shaped stock & 6-jaw is not good for that.

I used a 6-jaw as my primary chuck for a while cause it was my first quality chuck. And I worked mainly with thin walled materials then. I can't count how much money I lost from parts (flashlight reflectors) flying out of the 3-jaw.

I don't have as many chucks as Mike does but I'm well equiped now & swap out chucks often accordingly. My 6-jaw & 3-jaw Set-Tru chucks are my go to. Followed by my 4-jaw & the cheap 3-jaw that came with my lathe. I use that 3-jaw as beater for sanding & polishing. Least used are my ER-40 collet chuck, magnetic chuck, face plate, & drive plate. Although I love the mag chuck, I find an excuse to use it whenever I can (hint hint Mike :D ). Rotary table has a cheap 6-jaw on it.

I can use 8" chucks on my lathe but only my 4-jaw is an 8". I went with direct mount cam lock so less weight & overhang. Set-Tru chucks are heavy so I decided to go with the 6.3" size. Plus they spin up & spin down faster. I don't work on stuff that big often to where I need an 8" chuck all the time.

BTW, I made a typo in my prev. post. I meant to say my 3-jaws can go down to like 3/16" or so, not 5/16". I normally buy nominal size stock so I don't remember the actual smallest dimensions off the top of my head that the chucks can grip down.
 
Yup! If I had a bigger lathe with chucks say 10" or larger. I definitely would not be swapping out chucks as often as I do!
 
sanddan said:
I have a PM1340GT lathe and have been thinking of getting a 6 jaw chuck for it. What are your thoughts on a "decent" quality chuck? Not necessarily the absolute best possible one out there (I can't afford that) but also not cheap Chinese junk either. I'm done buying Chinese unless it's intended to be a throwaway tool, one time use sort of thing. It would replace my 3 jaw for 99% of the type of work I tend to do.

Pic for attentionView attachment 326976
Click to expand...

Meant to say, REALLY NICE SHOP!
 
mikey said:
Yeah, if I had a 16" lathe the chuck, whichever it was, would sit on the spindle until I was forced to remove it!
Click to expand...
That is DEFINITELY the case :) my 4 and 6 jaw (and my small 3 jaw) are all 8 inch, but my 12 inch 3 jaw has a nice dust ring around it. I needed it 1x so far, and that was cutting a backing plate for the other 3 jaw.
 
Yeah, that Bison DarkZero has is BEAUTIFUL. Even if it had .03 runout...I'd put it on show on my mantle!
It looks like it would be excellent for small parts as well, as those jaws all come together pushed away from the chuck.
I need a sugar momma to buy me all the things a want...I mean need.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top