I've reassembled one. Reassembled fine, put on the jaws, and yes left them slightly loose until I tightened them in the center then locked them down. Even with that, I am not sure that actually affects things, since the holes for the screws are countersunk, so the screws when tightened will either reposition the jaws slightly, or not actually hold tightly an the jaw will be slightly loose. In any case, even pulled tight to the center, there are still some slight misalignments at the outer corners of the jaws. I honestly don't know if that matters. The Nova jaws generally require about 1/4" spacing between them to produce a true circle with the jaw lips themselves. Pulled tight to center they are more of a slightly boxy circle. This is generally how I have used them as well...with the jaws at about this setting open, to ensure that I'm clamping down on any tenon at the optimal radius for a true circle. The only times I do not, are when I'm working with spindles that simply cannot support a tenon that large.
On this particular chuck, all four jaws, seem to be about as loose as the one jaw on the other chuck. So, I am now wondering, if it is more that three of the jaw slides on the other chuck are packed with enough dust that they don't exhibit as much play as is "normal"... Compared to my RP, the amount of looseness in the jaws of the G3 is disturbing.
My 75mm on the Record Power SC4 chuck, showing inconsistent gaps when closed tightly
I am also starting to suspect that Nova/Teknatool don't cut their jaws well! I have a 75mm set, which was on my RP chuck. They didn't look well aligned at all (see above). I checked the order, and each jaw was properly matched with its numbered slide, 1-4. I pulled the jaws off the chuck, and set them on my the ways of my lathe (again in the proper order), and noticed that they didn't even match each other when just set on the bench with the centers all tightly touching. In fact, this is my only set of 75mm jaws, and as far as I can tell, they are NOT a matched set at all. There are two jaws that seem slightly larger than the other two, and they match each other better, but still not optimally. Just really crappy QC or something, but this...
The 75mm jaws, pressed tightly together, in 1-4 order, showing how inconsistently they were machined/cut!! (Bottle keeps them from tipping outward.)
I know everyone has their preferred brands. Personally, though, my experience overall with Nova/Teknatool, has been terrible. The first lathe I owned was Nova, it was just as cheap as these G3 chucks and their even cheaper jaws. I had to contact tech support about control box issues, which turned into about an 8 month+ ordeal with them, which was one of the worst expreinces with customer service I've ever had with any company. I am NOT a fan of Nova. I think I'm just going to see if I can dispense with these chucks, and maybe even all the jaws...now I need to check all the rest of them as I have some spigot jaws, 100mm jaws, pen vise jaws, and some others. I'm concerned about all of them now. Two of my 50mm sets of jaws also seem to have discrepancies when I put em on a chuck and close it down. The one set with 1-4 marked on the top (vs. stamped on teh sides) engraved with marking spray, I am pretty sure, were the RP. There are very tiny discrepancies in the corners when closed all the way down, but less than with the Nova jaws.
Maybe I'll get another RP, or perhaps an Axminster. Whatever it is, I need to expunge my shop of Nova, as my experiences with them have NOT been good, at all... The jaws above, I guess I never checked them before, but this is beyond unacceptable quality. These all came out of a single box, bought from the local Woodcraft store. So its not like I mixed up my own jaws, I only have one set! This is atrocious quality.... Absolutly atrocious...
When I bought most of this stuff, I had either just started turning, or had only been turning for about a year or so. So I didn't really put a lot of thought into the quality of the chuck as the time. Now that I'm trying to turn better, optimize my performance as a turner, I am noticing issues and things that seem to be limiting me. I'm apalled at the quality I'm starting to observe with Nova equipment. The 75mm in particular...is just unacceptable. Eh, time to see how the other jaws I haven't tested yet look...I may be dumping the whole load here...
Unless its just a demon with a bone to pick with Nova, I guess. 
In any case... Those 75mm jaws are my last straw. The camel's back is broken, and Nova broke it. The only bummer is, I'm still not in a position to spend much money these days, so....bleh...I may be stuck with these demon-infested chucks until who knows when... 
