vicmarc jaws

[Ed Jarvis]

I need to buy some jaws for my VM120 what should I buy,

Ed

 

[R Henrickson]

What do you intend to make?

 

[hockenbery]

What @R Henrickson said.

If you have no jaws at all the standard jaws 48mm a worth considering.

 

[Ed Jarvis]

Multi axis and bowls

 

[hockenbery]

Multi axis and bowls

I turn NE bowls up to 15” dia using the standard jaws.

Most of The multi axis pieces I do don’t use a chuck.
When turning cubes I use a tenon on 3 faces - standard jaws work well.
I also do a mutiaxis ornament using a chuck with standard 2 jaws - I like the ONEWAY profile jaws for this.

 

[Ed Jarvis]

Thank you !

 

[john lucas]

I have jaws up to 5" and down to 1". I love them all. Pick what you need. I did buy a set of the stepped jaws. I never use those. I' hanging on to them just in case but I think it was a case of my eyes wanting more than stomach.

 

[Karl Best]

I'm slowly accumulating more of these ("collect the entire set!") but the cost adds up. And then of course there's the temptation to buy a chuck for each set of jaws so that you don't have to spend two minutes swapping them out each time. Six sets of jaws and three chucks will have to do me for now.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

I have the Shark jaws and they pretty much do everything. The size range of the compression works for 1x1 inch square blanks up to 3 inch round tenons. Pin jaws would be helpful if you did smaller work. It is easier to get a chuck per jaw set, but those chucks are expensive!

 

[JeffSmith]

I’ve got a set of the Vicmark 100mm jaws - they are the most used set in my armory. Work well for coring up to 18” blanks, platters, everything. I also have a set of the step jaws and have never found a use for them…thought they were a good idea, didn’t work out that way.

 

[Neil S]

What a wonderful innovation woodturning jaws have been!

Before those we used faceplates, jamb chucks
and gear like these...





Then we upgraded to these (yes 3 jaws)...



And, eventually, we got the first removable four jaw scroll chuck
(still no key)...

​

Other than a key, there has been very little further chuck innovation, but the jaw options have increased greatly.

I have just about all of the jaws for Vicmarc and Nova, most of which I use regularly, other than the 1" & 8-3/4". I mount pieces to finish turn on a foot recess so a wide variety of jaw sizes are needed to meet my design requirements. I rarely ever re-mount in tenon (clamping) mode for final turning, which Richard Raffan does, for which he designed the multi-jaw chuck, so I don't have a set of those.

Nowadays I have a chuck (about a dozen) for every jaw set that I regularly use, but that has happened incrementally over decades. I began with just the first ones above and only added to them as they paid for themselves.

 

[Mick Fagan]

I do a reasonable amount of bowl work, some of which are quite heavy as I green turn often.

I have one VM120 chuck and three sets of jaws and two Vicmarc faceplate rings to compliment the 120 Jaws.

The standard 48mm jaws plus the faceplate ring to go with those jaws.

The 105mm jaws, (shown on the chuck), plus the faceplate ring to go with those jaws.

The next size up jaws in the range, 173mm. I found this set of jaws to be very handy for large platters where I then have the choice of quite a large insert on the bottom, or a largish tenon.

Over a period of time I found that Vicmarc faceplate rings were stronger than they look, they also speed up things when one is doing multiple blanks.

The jaws I use the most on this chuck, and by a very long margin, are the jaws currently on the chuck, the 110mm ones, and the accompanying faceplate ring. This combination is shown below holding a heavy blank.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Neil, an interesting point about the Vicmarc step jaws.

I have the step jaws for the VM100 chuck, primarily bought so I could use the accompanying Vicmarc faceplate ring; otherwise I wouldn't have bought them. Now though, I use the VM100 step jaws for a lot of my VM100 chuck work, followed closely by various shark jaws. Funny how we evolve our turning methods, sometimes by intent, sometimes by an unintended piece of equipment being used mainly for something other than what it was purchased for.

I mainly use tenons on the base so the step jaws are very handy, followed by the largest shark jaws for the VM100.

 

[Vincent Vogel]

Does anyone know if VicMarc jaws interchange with Nova ?

 

[Neil S]

Does anyone know if VicMarc jaws interchange with Nova ?

Yes, Vincent, but the answer is complicated. The issues are that Vicmarc has two different screw distances it uses on its smaller and larger chucks and the screw sizes are different. It involves some drilling out of the screw holes in the jaws. I've also used an adaptor to attach VM jaws to Nova chucks, but I'm not sure if anyone makes those anymore.

Someone might have a summary of the details and if not there is a need for a posting in Tutorials and Tips to capture this so we don't have to keep repeating ourselves here.

 

[Bill Blasic]

If I'm not mistaken there were adapters (I think I have a set) that were used to allow Vicmarc jaws on the Nova chucks. That may have been 20 years ago and I found that it is best to use the jaws made especially for each brand. I may not have all the different Nova jaws but I have most that I haven't needed to step out of brand except to get 8" Vicmarc jaws for my biggest Bull Dog chuck.

 

[Tom Lucas]

I have the standard set. They work for many things. They won't let go on you.

On my wish list is a set of shark bites. These look to be very versatile and they get the work piece further away from the chuck body, making it easier to work on the drive side of a piece. I don't know for sure, but I suspect the small set of shark jaws would permanently replace my standard jaws. For bigger things, I have a Nova Titan with big jaws and several faceplates, I'm turning less and less big diameter things anyway.

I think your choice should be driven by what you plan to turn the most: size, depth, shape.

 

[Russ Braun]

I'm slowly accumulating more of these ("collect the entire set!") but the cost adds up. And then of course there's the temptation to buy a chuck for each set of jaws so that you don't have to spend two minutes swapping them out each time. Six sets of jaws and three chucks will have to do me for now.

Lol!! How many times have I said that!!

 

[robo hippy]

Only thing I would add is do not get the step jaws. Mine just collect dust....

robo hippy

 

[JeffSmith]

Interesting that, at one time, a couple of chuck manufacturers at least offered a way of using competitors jaws on their chucks. My set of 105mm Vicmark jaws are made to fit Oneway Stronghold chucks and my set of Oneway Stronghold slides accept Vicmark jaws. I assume there wasn’t sufficient demand to continue offering, but it could be a lack of communication to blame. Was anyone aware they were offered?

 

[Neil S]

VM jaws jaws --> Nova chucks

Someone might have a summary of the details and if not there is a need for a posting in Tutorials and Tips to capture this so we don't have to keep repeating ourselves here.

OK, I'll gone ahead and posted what I know over in Tutorials and Tips...

Using Vicmarc jaws on Nova chucks

The compatibility of jaws between Vicmarc and Nova chucks comes up as a question from time to time on the discussion forum but any information that gets assembled on the topic then fades away into the background of the forum topics until it gets asked again. I though a posting here with what we...

www.aawforum.org

If I'm not mistaken there were adapters (I think I have a set) that were used to allow Vicmarc jaws on the Nova chucks. That may have been 20 years ago

Yes, Bill, and I have added some info on that over there, thanks.

 

[Neil S]

View attachment 56502

Those faceplate rings have also been a nice innovation.

 

[William Rehm]

So I am going to order a VM120 with standard jaws for my PM2014. I am just starting to turn small bowls and boxes. Any other suggestions for needed accessories to use with the VM120?

 

[Mick Fagan]

I would suggest you think about Vicmarc shark jaws, they are really quite good for holding end grain turning if your box is an end grain type. Shark jaws are also very, very handy and over time I have been slowly turning to using them for more turning and being very pleased with their ability to do different things with a bonus of holding the work further away from the chuck; which with some lathes means greater access for the rear of the work when it is chuck mounted.

If you are getting a set of standard jaws, then you may wish to consider the standard faceplate ring designed for them. If you look at post 12 in this thread, you can see my VM120 chuck and the accessories I have for it.

Faceplate rings for bowl turning are quite a handy item, not for everyone or every job, but nonetheless, a very handy tool in the turning workshop.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHtKyMesHxM&t=1s

 

[hockenbery]

So I am going to order a VM120 with standard jaws for my PM2014. I am just starting to turn small bowls and boxes. Any other suggestions for needed accessories to use with the VM120?

You can do quite a variety of turnings with the standard jaws.

My thoughts are to get additional jaws when you have a use for them.

If you start doing lots of finials the pin jaws are good- I have those jaws for my strong hold so never bought them for my vm 120.

I’m comfortable doing a 15” diameter NE bowl with standard jaws on my vm120. If you start turning 13” diameter NE bowls you might be more successful with the 106 or 128 jaws.