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Chuck question...

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edhayetc:
Hello all!

I'm a newbie here and just wondering if you could help me (and my son who's also decided to take up woodturning) with an answer to a question that I hope isn't too stupid...

We recently acquired a 2nd hand lathe that came with a selection of bits and pieces, one of which is what appears to be a relatively nice 4 jaw chuck. The question relates to the various jaws it came with, or more specifically how to swap them over. When I have seen others the jaws simply bolt on and off using the allen keys...which these have...but as you can see each of these jaws already have their own 'rack' (probably not the correct term, but hopefully you know what I mean) attached to them.

So my question is; should I wind the jaws all the way out and then wind the other ones in, or simply bolt them on and off? To me simply bolting them on and off seems easier? Or is it that each of the jaws is matched precisely to its own 'rack'?

Thanks in advance, ed

John Peachey:
Hi Ed,

I think it's one of those questions that different turners will give different answers.
I personally change jaws using the bolts, I don't have carriers for each set of jaws that I own.
I suggest having a go at winding out the jaws and see how you get on, if you find it too tricky then use the bolts on future changes.

Which ever method you use, make sure that the correct jaw goes in the correct place. Some chucks/jaws are better marked than others. If you don't put jaw 1 in position 1 then you will have problems.  If you leave the jaws on the carriers then they may well not all go in.

John

edhayetc:
Thanks for the speedy reply, much appreciated!

I suspected that might be the answer, many ways to skin a cat/turn a bowl and all that, just wanted to make sure I didn't go messing anything up.

And yes thankfully this chuck/jaws seem to be pretty clearly numbered.

Thanks again, ed

Paul Hannaby:
That's an Axminster super precision chuck. Axminster no longer sell them. They were discontinued when they brought out the Evolution SK114 chucks but in my opinion they are still the best chuck Axminster ever sold!
AS John has said, you can unscrew the jaws from the jaw carriers or you can buy a set of carriers for each set of jaws so you just wind out one set and wind in the other set.
Any of the 100mm jaws currently sold by Axminster will fit the chuck and the jaw carriers currently on sale will also fit.

Bill21:
Welcome to the forum. What you termed the “rack” are more correctly called “Chuck Jaws”, although Axminster themselves call them “Accessory Mounting Jaws” - see picture below. Sadly other manufacturers and even some professional wood turners give them all kinds of names like carriages, carriers and even travellers. The parts that bolt on top of the Chuck Jaws are often just called jaws or accessory jaws but I prefer the term Top Jaws. This name comes from the metal working industry where the concept of two part Chuck Jaws originally came from. German woodturning tool suppliers can be congratulated for still using this term. Sadly they let themselves down by calling the Chuck Jaws “Base Jaws” but I suppose they can be forgiven for this. It’s not as bad as Travellers!

It’s your choice whether you just remove the Top Jaws or both Chuck and Top Jaws together. If you choose the former buy some spare screws, they are easily lost in shavings!

Although many Wood Turning Chucks have numbers on the body you do not have to worry about which Jaw goes in which slot, the important part is that the Jaws are placed in the chuck body in the correct order. Including those for my metal lathe I have six or seven chucks and only one has numbers on the Chuck body.  ;) I personally think putting numbers on the body is useful but not all manufacturers do it.

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