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BMWOOD $69.99 CHUCK

Bill Blasic

Bill Blasic

Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
1,830
Likes
1,759
Location
Erie, PA
Well I said I had to find out about this chuck. I ordered it on July 25 from BMWOOD home page (that is where I new it was China). I expected delivery in about 2 to 3 weeks, surprise it's here was delivered last night July 31. The first thing I noticed was the weight as I thought it was a little heavy for a Nova size chuck. When I opened the box there was a black box labeled BMWOOD. I opened the box (still felt heavy) and it was packed very nicely and it looked very nice. I put the box down and this morning took it down to the shop (only the 3rd time in a month I was able to get to my shop - back problems). So I got a Nova G3 out of the cabinet along with handle and screw (direct thread as the Chinese one is direct thread 1" X 8). Along with taking pics I got out my scale to get weight comparisons. In the initial thread where I mentioned I wanted to see if the Chinese handle would fit the Nova, it does not. It is bigger. The Nova chuck with 2" jaws weighs 3 lbs 5.4 ounces, the BMWOOD weighs in at 4 lbs 6.7 ounces. The handles weigh Nova 4.8 ounces and the BMWOOD 8.07 ounces and it is bigger. From here I'll just speak as to the BMWOOD chuck. The handle fit in to the chuck very easily. The jaws move Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty. The jaws open and close very smoothly with very little noise. The threaded end has 4 holes if you wanted to tighten on the lathe spindle (don't know where they might tighten to the spindle did not put it on the lathe but they look ok). The jaws look a little beefier. The fit and finish is very nice, I am really amazed! If I were in the market to get a few chucks for the midi lathes at the moment I would have no qualms about buying more, I' not. It remains to be see how it works on the lathe which at the moment my back is not allowing it but at sometime hopefully soon I'll get down there and give it a ride. Sorry the last 2 pics are blurry. This company also makes 4.5" and 5.5" chucks (but a lot pricier $199.99 and $215.99 and the screw that comes with those looks like a Vicmarc screw). There you are, I'm not endorsing them but I sure am surprised. On their site they have 242 woodturning items.
 

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Thanks for the review Bill. I have the BMWOOD collet set and IMO it is very good quality. I’m not in the chuck market right now, but would consider this chuck. I believe the Nova jaws fit, but not sure.

Hope your back is getting better.
 
the key looks like an original SuperNova (before SN 2).
If it fits, the cost of your new chuck is close to the cost of an old key replacement, especially if the jaws also fit.
 
BMWOOD's price includes shipping to U.S. I recognize the Collet Chucking System I purchased from Penn State Industries and other items of their product line in the BMWOOD site.
BMWOOD may also be the source of the Barracuda Chuck line.
 

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Bill Blasic said:
Well I said I had to find out about this chuck. I ordered it on July 25 from BMWOOD home page (that is where I new it was China). I expected delivery in about 2 to 3 weeks, surprise it's here was delivered last night July 31. The first thing I noticed was the weight as I thought it was a little heavy for a Nova size chuck. When I opened the box there was a black box labeled BMWOOD. I opened the box (still felt heavy) and it was packed very nicely and it looked very nice. I put the box down and this morning took it down to the shop (only the 3rd time in a month I was able to get to my shop - back problems). So I got a Nova G3 out of the cabinet along with handle and screw (direct thread as the Chinese one is direct thread 1" X 8). Along with taking pics I got out my scale to get weight comparisons. In the initial thread where I mentioned I wanted to see if the Chinese handle would fit the Nova, it does not. It is bigger. The Nova chuck with 2" jaws weighs 3 lbs 5.4 ounces, the BMWOOD weighs in at 4 lbs 6.7 ounces. The handles weigh Nova 4.8 ounces and the BMWOOD 8.07 ounces and it is bigger. From here I'll just speak as to the BMWOOD chuck. The handle fit in to the chuck very easily. The jaws move Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty. The jaws open and close very smoothly with very little noise. The threaded end has 4 holes if you wanted to tighten on the lathe spindle (don't know where they might tighten to the spindle did not put it on the lathe but they look ok). The jaws look a little beefier. The fit and finish is very nice, I am really amazed! If I were in the market to get a few chucks for the midi lathes at the moment I would have no qualms about buying more, I' not. It remains to be see how it works on the lathe which at the moment my back is not allowing it but at sometime hopefully soon I'll get down there and give it a ride. Sorry the last 2 pics are blurry. This company also makes 4.5" and 5.5" chucks (but a lot pricier $199.99 and $215.99 and the screw that comes with those looks like a Vicmarc screw). There you are, I'm not endorsing them but I sure am surprised. On their site they have 242 woodturning items.
Click to expand...
how do like the chuck after using it? thanks
 
Manny truthfully I have not used it yet. And I'm sure I'll find it when it comes time to try it out as it is still sitting in that pretty box somewhere in my shop. Believe me I have no doubts that it will work as advertised.
 
I have the BM Wood lathe ways mount for dust collection and love it. Very sturdy. It appears identical to the one sold by Axminster.

www.bmwoodturning.com

Woodturning Universal Dust Hood for Woodlathe Extraction.

Hood size 230 x 130mm with a spigot for 100mm hose: This Universal Dust Extraction Hood measures 230mm x 130mm. This tapers down to a 100mm diameter round spigot. Fully adjustable, quick and easy positioning: The bracket system allows plenty of adjustment, horizontally: side to side and...
www.bmwoodturning.com www.bmwoodturning.com
 
William it has been a very bad year for me with my woodturning. 4 or 5 months with back and sciatica and then when I saw my new doctor he thought that 135/75 BP was high and he gave me another (that I didn't realize) BP med which has left me with really low BP. I have cut out all BP meds and I am going to get down to the shop this weekend as I owe two pieces. Hoping to get them done. 109/71 just now.
 
@Bill Blasic No problem, take care of yourself first and foremost. Was thinking about this chuck to use on my threading jig for the 16 6pi threads. However looking at the available BMWood tools they had a adapter to go from 1” 8 to 1 1/4” 8 I am going to try first, Not sure it how much runout it may add, but eliminates the adapter on the lathe as I can use my regular chucks.
 
William Rogers said:
@Bill Blasic Just wondering if you ever got the chance to try the chuck.
Click to expand...
William, I have the BMWood collet chuck and have been using it for several projects. It is well machined and runout is low (3-5 thousandth) as measured with my dial indicator on the shank of a good quality drill bit. So far, I've been very happy with it and the included collects. I did buy an additional set of collets to add more sizes because, inevitably, I have some piece of dowel that needs 3/32nd larger or smaller size collet.
 
I was attracted to the thread title.
I have 2 nova chucks now but if I buy a third one I may just try one of these units.

That being said,
I was scrolling through BMWoods Amazon listings and came across this.


For $30 it might be worth it to have on hand.
I do remember trying to turn something and the chisel handle would hit the head stock
I don't remember what my work around was.

Craig
 
Craig Duncan said:
I was attracted to the thread title.
I have 2 nova chucks now but if I buy a third one I may just try one of these units.

That being said,
I was scrolling through BMWoods Amazon listings and came across this.


For $30 it might be worth it to have on hand.
I do remember trying to turn something and the chisel handle would hit the head stock
I don't remember what my work around was.

Craig
Click to expand...
I bought their adapter for the 1x8 one way chuck that I have. Being a hobby machinist, I can appreciate the quality on this adapter. Since I only have one chuck and after seeing the quality, I am thinking on buying a set they have ...
 
Craig Duncan said:
I was attracted to the thread title.
I have 2 nova chucks now but if I buy a third one I may just try one of these units.

That being said,
I was scrolling through BMWoods Amazon listings and came across this.


For $30 it might be worth it to have on hand.
I do remember trying to turn something and the chisel handle would hit the head stock
I don't remember what my work around was.

Craig
Click to expand...
I have two of these. I cant attest to their accuracy but they work well for what I use them for which is to space the chuck further away from the headstock when I burn spokes on basket illusion type bowls on my smaller lathe. I use both of the sometimes when the bowl shape dictates and the lathe isn't powered on. Just turning by hand with an index wheel installed.
 
Bill Blasic said:
William it has been a very bad year for me with my woodturning. 4 or 5 months with back and sciatica and then when I saw my new doctor he thought that 135/75 BP was high and he gave me another (that I didn't realize) BP med which has left me with really low BP. I have cut out all BP meds and I am going to get down to the shop this weekend as I owe two pieces. Hoping to get them done. 109/71 just now.
Click to expand...
So sorry to hear about the back...I've had many sports related injuries in life and can almost always find a way to work around them. Unfortunately...a back injury will put me down instantly. Can't take a deep breath, can't bend over to tie shoes, or do just about anything...and heaven forbid I have to sneeze.

Good luck and feel better soon...(and then let us know about those chucks).
 
Talking about chucks, newbie question here: I have a 4224B and the only chuck I have is a Talon 2985 from Oneway. I believe this is a 3.5" chuck. I use an adapter from BMwood. What size diameter do you recomend I get for my lathe? Thank you
 
Manny Yabar said:
Talking about chucks, newbie question here: I have a 4224B and the only chuck I have is a Talon 2985 from Oneway. I believe this is a 3.5" chuck. I use an adapter from BMwood. What size diameter do you recomend I get for my lathe? Thank you
Click to expand...
It really depends on what you plan on turning, though for that size lathe you can do large bowls/platters so I’d recommend a large chuck - VM120 or even VM150, Oneway stronghold, Nova SN2 or even Nova titan. You can generally use smaller jaws on a large chuck but can’t often use large jaws on smaller chucks. I have several SN2 chucks and use small jaws (pin jaws and 2” jaws) as well as large jaws up to 5+ inches.

Tom
 
@Manny Yabar , I agree with Bill on the 5” chuck, but not the “regardless of brand”. I had one of those “regardless of brand” chucks and it was terrible. I have the Axminister brand and also the Hurricane HTC125. Other brands in that size range are OneWay Stronghold, Vicmarc VM120, and Easy Wood. The Easy Wood chuck is by far the easiest to change jaws, but also the most expensive. The Hurricane HTC 125 is the least expensive, but it is a very good chuck. Similar too the Vicmarc VM120. I am not comparing them as I don’t have a VM120. I have had mine for about 10 years and it still works like new. It does have an insert, taper design similar to OneWay. I really like the Axminster, but the Hurricane HTC 125 is on sale now for $185 and if I were in the market for another 5” chuck that would be the one I would buy.
 
William Rogers said:
@Manny Yabar , I agree with Bill on the 5” chuck, but not the “regardless of brand”. I had one of those “regardless of brand” chucks and it was terrible. I have the Axminister brand and also the Hurricane HTC125. Other brands in that size range are OneWay Stronghold, Vicmarc VM120, and Easy Wood. The Easy Wood chuck is by far the easiest to change jaws, but also the most expensive. The Hurricane HTC 125 is the least expensive, but it is a very good chuck. Similar too the Vicmarc VM120. I am not comparing them as I don’t have a VM120. I have had mine for about 10 years and it still works like new. It does have an insert, taper design similar to OneWay. I really like the Axminster, but the Hurricane HTC 125 is on sale now for $185 and if I were in the market for another 5” chuck that would be the one I would buy.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I was going to buy the one from BMwood since they look pretty decent and the part that I bought from them seem very well made.. but now that I have your opinion.....
 
Manny Yabar said:
Talking about chucks, newbie question here: I have a 4224B and the only chuck I have is a Talon 2985 from Oneway. I believe this is a 3.5" chuck. I use an adapter from BMwood. What size diameter do you recomend I get for my lathe? Thank you
Click to expand...
What adapter are you using, and for what?

As others said, get a larger chuck for larger work for that lathe - my preference is a Stronghold using Oneway’s profiled tower jaws, I use #2 and #3, as well as #5 aluminum jaws for large stuff.
 
Manny when I said "regardless of brand" I meant Nova, Oneway, Vicmarc, or Axminster and only those 4. For me the 5" Nova Titan is the best of the bunch but that is me. Now that I bought a BMWood chuck would I be afraid to buy their 5.5" big chuck for $219? Heck no for that amount of money which is about half what other cost in that size I'd buy it in an instant. Have not ever had a Hurricane product but $185. Be aware that neither have a large selection of jaws. I like the jaws on the BMWood better.
 
@Bill Blasic The Hurricane line of tools is like a private brand for the Woodturning Store. I bought the HTC 125 years ago as it offered a 1 1/2-8 insert for my PM90 lathe. It is somewhat a knockoff of the VM 120. As far as jaws I couldn’t find that many for the BMWood 5.5” chuck. There is a decent collection of jaws for the HTC125, but not the same selection as Axminster. I do like BMWood products, but based on my experience I would buy the HTC 125 before the BMWood chuck. I don’t have any experience with the BMWood chuck and the HTC has been around for a long time.
 
@Manny Yabar jaw selection for a given chuck is critical. While nova & copies record power and rikon, axminster, vicmarc, and oneway chucks are more expensive vs the cheaper competitors, the cheaper products dont have the jaw selection. Just as a chuck makes it easier/quicker to mount a piece, having the right jaws for the varied pieces we make add to the quicker/easier aspect of mounting, which is the whole reason for chucks and jaws. Many talk “quality differences” but IMO its the “feature difference” of having many jaw types that differentiate the “big 4” from the rest.
 
That BMCraft extender showed up today.
The threads on the headstock ends seemed to have a little more wiggle than the threads on my Nova chucks but the wasn't bad runout once it was tightened.
However, the shoulder where the hex key is pointing was .007 to big to fit the either Nova chuck I own so I turned it down on my trusty old South Bend.
I think for the $30 it'll work out fine.
I guess BMWood and BMCraft are not the same even though it was sold through the BMWood store on Amazon.

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