I am thinking about buying a custom powerwrap lathe. It is model H289-18R. It has the heavy duty chuck that uses three turn screws to secure the blank to the lathe. I would rather have one with the self centering chuck but the price on this one would save me a bundle (lightly used). How important is the self centering chuck and if I wanted to convert, is it possible to do?

I wouldn't have mine without it, the gearbox and chuck make shaping cork or foam so much easier and puts much more power and control at your disposal.

If you plan on using it to do anything other than rotate rods for drying - get the self centering chuck. It's a bargain in the long run.

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Thank you for the response. I will go with my first impression that I need the self centering chuck. I presently have a self made rod wrapper using the pac bay chuck and will continue to use it until a better deal comes my way.

Mel I used the exact model you are talking about for nearly my entire career in Custom Rod Building. It served me just fine. I actually enjoyed it without the self centering chuch because it I accidentally over wrapped on a flat wrap it was much easier to back up and fix. If you chose to go with the thumb screw type chuck you will need to make sure the butt end of the blank is cut straight so it sits properly in the beveled section of the chucK. It you are not making hundreds of rods a year you will find this set up quite functional. You will also find that you can purchase elevated supports that come in handy for weaving if you get really hooked on that technique. Any relation to Jimmy Shimizu down here? Might have asked that before. CRS again.

Thanks Doc. I dont build a lot of rods. Just for myself. About 20 or so per yr. I just sell off those that I no longer want or use. The set up that I have is on a reduction wheel so backing up would be impossible except that I have it running on DC with a reverse switch. All my rods I taper down the hypalon so I need a machine that will do that. This one comes with a dryer unit attached but I really don't need that as I have a three rod dryer already that I am very happy with. Nope, no relationship to Jimmy Shimizu although most of the time I get asked if Tady is a relative. No to that too. I'll wait to see the unit and if it is as advertised I may bite on it as I am not really happy with the unit I have now as the motor is getting tired. What is important to me is how smoothly the startup is. My motor being a bit tired tends to be a bit jerky at startup.

Mel, like the rest, I recommend the 3jaw setup, but the chuck isn't the only difference. Cpw's come as a rod wrapper or a rod lathe. The rod lathe has the 3jaw and the reduction drive to give more torque for turning/shaping cork or foam. I have owned other direct drive machines and don't have anything bad to say about any of them. But I bought the CPW lathe about a year or so ago and I really do like it. The reduction drive also has the benefit of nice smooth soft starts when power wrapping. I've had some before that are a little "herky jerky " on startup when trying to do low speed starts, but the cpw is much better in that respect. I would be willing to give up top end speed for an even smoother start and more torque, since the topspeed is faster than really necessary anyway. Contact Dave Lyons at Anglers Workshop and he should be able to give you all the info on this wrapper. Just keep in mind that it takes more power to shape than it does to powerwrap.

Thanks. I need to check on my priorities. I do have my present wrapper that is reduction driven so I could continue to do my shaping on it.