Ok, I am picking up a wood lathe tommorow and am looking for a jacobs chuch and 4 jaw chuck for it.

The lathe takes MT2 and has a 1" x8 TPI. Hopefully some of you know what the heck that means and can point me in the right directions.

Thanks,

Scott Sheets
www.smsrods.com

Look and try these different places.

[www.woodcraft.com]

[www.pennstateind.com]

[www.rockler.com]

I have found that having both the three and four jaw chucks is the best way to go.
One very important piece of equipment to buy is a grinder for sharpening your tools, it is probably the most important piece of equipment next to your lathe, with out sharp tools you can cause accidents and get hurt, and your work will suffer. Sharp tools make a world of difference in the quality of your work.
Another place to find a Jacobs chuck is at (see link below), it has a shorter arbor which gives you more room on your lathe.

[littlemachineshop.com]

I have had great service and products from all four locations, all are highly recommended by me.

The OneWay Talon is an exceptional scroll chuck for the headstock.

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When you pick up your lathe, ask all those questions and make sure you get answers.

A morse taper is essentially a tapered hole in both the head stock (motor end) and the tail stock. The jacobs chuck is usually mounted on the taper that fits your lathe so it fits in the tailstock end if you want to bore a piece spinning in the headstock, or use it to hold small pieces in the headstock. The taper on the male end is speced at a specific angle and size. The most common sizes are #1 and #2, looks like yours is a #2 which is very common.

The headstock also has a threaded head. Your's is 1" in diameter with an 8 thread per inch pitch. You must know this if you are buying a 3 or 4 jaw chuck that screws on to the head stock. Another common size is 3/4" with 16 threads per inch.

Tim is right. Plan on getting a sharpening system for your tools. Any wood turning you will use this often. Many woods dull tools quickly.

Terry

Scott
In my humble knowledge, Mini wood Lathes come in two sizes of taper: MT1 and MT2, which stands for Morse Taper # 1 ( small size) and Morse Taper # 2 ( large size ). Your chuck will accept any head stock or tail stock that have MT#2. The 8 TPI means: 8 thread per inch.
When getting your chuck, select the one that has the size of 8 thread per in its hole. Hope you enjoy working with your chuck and please remmember: Be Safe.

Be sure to check on the 4 jaw chuck if it will actually hold anything when you get it. Many of the 4 jaw chucks on the market require that you buy an additional set of accessory jaws to be able to actually grip a round rod and turn or drill it. And you probably want to be sure you are getting a "self centering" 4 jaw chuck. There are also "independent jaw" 4 jaw chucks on the market., but they are not generally useful for general turning and drilling.

The self centering, 4 jaw chucks are very popular. I personally prefer a self centering 3 jaw chuck for most work and you can generally pick one of them up for a lot less than the 4 jaw and the accessory jaws. And check the chuck you get for runout right away. I got one of the popular 4 jaw chucks for Christmas one year and it wobbles a bit. Choices seem to be to send it back to Australia or watch it wobble. I just put in on the bottom shelf for when I want it to hold a bowl with the dovetail jaws and went back to my old, cheap, Taiwan 3 jaw chuck that actually runs perfectly straight. for my rod work.

Wow,
Thanks for all of the information. I think I know what I am looking at now as far as sizes. I have noticed in searches and from Bills post that some prefer a 3 jaw over a 4 jaw chuck. What are the benefits/negatives of each?

Scott Sheets
www.smsrods.com

I have both 3 and 4 selfcenter jaw chucks. I prefer to use 3jaw chuck because it is lighter and easier to work with. The 4jaw chuck is suppose to have more " grip ", but for grip turning, I do not see any differences.

Scott you have mail

Most scroll type keyed wood lathe chucks are going to be 4 jaws. With these, you also have access to a wide variety of interchangeable/replacement jaw sets.

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Thanks for the great information so far everyone, very helpful.
One last questionI hope...would i be able to hold cork, wood, or acrylic stock to bore in a 3 jaw chuck? Or should I go with the 4 for right now.

Scott Sheets
www.smsrods.com

Scott,

For myself, I use my 4-jaw chuck more than I do the 3-jaw one I bought first when I got my lathe. Only time I am using my 3-jaw chuck any more is when I need to ream out some parts with my round file, becasue that chuck holds the file better. You should have no problems with uisng the 4-jaw chuck.

Mike

You will need a 4 jaw if the piece of material you are starting out with is square. The 3 jaw will only hold round or triangle stock.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)