OK so Jon thinks he has a bad Nova chuck and nobody called him back from Nova so for him Nova is dead but the rest of you (myself included) who have no problems why don't we put this thread to bed.
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Teknatool chucks not suitable to woodturning.
- Thread starter Lennart Delin
- Start date
No, that is not what I've said. I think the nova chuck is poor quality and it's been problematic for years, and I'm tired of dealing with it, and IMO their poor quality jaws. It bugs me you are misconstrueing the issues I had with the RMA of my nova lathe with the chuck issues. Nova left me completely in the dark for months in 2020-2021 regarding the RMA, from fall 2020 through the end of January 2021. I've never contacted nova about the CHUCKS. FWIW, after my prior experiences with their technical support, I have no interest in contacting them again, either. I simply want to be done with them.
I would appreciate you not putting words in my mouth and not misconstrueing my situation, Bill.
Otherwise, I agree, we can put this thread to bed. The horse is dead.
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I am fine with my SN2's you R fine without: therefore we are all fine so no harm no foul. That is my theorem and I think it works.
That's just legalease, IMO.
I hope you don't read the warning labels on any prescription drugs, cords or plugs, any electrical product or any product sold in California (it all causes cancer). We live in a litigious society and when you get 1 page of instructions followed by 5 pages of warnings, denials, waivers etc, you know you really should have gone to law school. LOL
A problem during turning can be avoided by creating a good solid tenon with a flat surface for the jaws to rest on, making sure there are no cracksin the blank that would cause pieces to fly off or the blank to "explode" apart. Also, sometimes I've made the tenon a little larger and used a larger set of jaws when I'm at all concerned. I recently started turning a piece out of an old piece of red oak (very dry). It was essentially a roughly square block with bark on one side and unevenly cut ends. I started out mounting betweene centers, specifically with an Elio Drive which uses the 3 points on the headstock. I put a little larger tenon on it, about 3 1/2" (slightly less) and used larger jaws than I normally would since it's an endgrain piece and it will be hollowed out. No issues so far except for cracks not obvious in the beginning. To me, that's more of a threat than exceeding Nova's recommendations. By the way, all my chucks and jaws are Nova right now. Never had a problem while using any of the chucks or jaw sets I own.
My SN2 serves me well too.
Based on what has been revealed, I still contend the issue Jon experienced was rooted in bad jaws (perhaps of questionable origin), and not the chuck itself.
Tim
Based on what has been revealed, I still contend the issue Jon experienced was rooted in bad jaws (perhaps of questionable origin), and not the chuck itself.
Tim
When I’ve checked metal turning chucks (all of mine having one piece jaws) I chuck up a ground steel rod to check concentricity.
For wood turning chucks with a multitude of different top or accessory jaws I don’t bother doing this. I simply put a DTI on the chuck body.
Only one wood turning chuck has failed the test and I’m pretty sure it was the screw insert. I’ve only bought direct threaded chucks since then.
I would though consider wood turning chucks with interchangeable back plates.
For wood turning chucks with a multitude of different top or accessory jaws I don’t bother doing this. I simply put a DTI on the chuck body.
Only one wood turning chuck has failed the test and I’m pretty sure it was the screw insert. I’ve only bought direct threaded chucks since then.
I would though consider wood turning chucks with interchangeable back plates.
It is certainly possible. Someone mentioned someone may have put a different set of jaws back in the package and returned it, then I bought it (for the 75mm jaws). Can't say, honestly. They do look like they were made by Nova. I think part of the issue is they may have been cut opposite the standard direction, as they do fit together slightly better when I arrange them the opposite direction as the slide numbers on the chucks. I also even tried to put the slides in the opposite direction, but the scroll simply wouldn't align with them that way. It also seems like there may potentially be two different sets of jaws in this one set. Two of them seem to be slightly wider than the other two, regardless of which way I order them (clockwise or counterclockwise). I guess its possible someone bought a set, mixed em up with another set, and returned em.
I would clock the chuck body first and if that looks ok I’d buy or borrow a set of jaws of known quality and see how they work out.
Jon,FWIW...i am ditching nova because of my own personal repeated bad experiences with their...stuff.
I am certainly not encouraging anyone to follow me down this path...I'm just fed up, and I don't like tools that get in my way or create hassle.
Would you please share your bad experiences?
Simply stating the equipment is bad doesn't help your or anyone else. Their SN2s are the only chucks I've used for close to fifteen years now without any problems EXCEPT for when I make a mistake relative to the tendon size or snapping off a tendon. Agreed that's anecdotal evidence at best but if you could explain what you're experiencing we ourselves can either re-think the brand or potentially identify the problem.
I thought I did explain in rather great detail earlier in the thread... I made several posts, even shared images... I don't know where those posts are though, I am not seeing them anymore.
I was having a lot of trouble with one of them in particular, holding onto these spindles I was turning at the time. One jaw slide in particular seemed rather loose, and wouldn't clamp onto the spindles unless I REALLY, EXCESSIVELY cranked it tight. I even hurt my hand trying to get it tight enough. Without cranking it that much, the spindles vibrated, even when I only had a couple of inches left (if turning multiple pieces from a single spindle) or was turning close to the chuck. I eventually took all the jaws off all my G3 chucks (again, this is just the G3, I've made no commentary about SN2 chuck quality here), and noticed that they had some issues. One 75mm set was cut rather poorly and the jaws did not align with each other well, and were even different widths. Some people are saying it was probably because someone bought them, then returned them, and mixed up other jaws of the same kind. Its possible, but I don't think that's the case. I tried ordering them in both directions. In the direction where the jaws matched the numbers of the slides, they were horrible. The other direction, things improved slightly, but they were still out of alignment and mismatched in size (diameter). The saw marks between each jaw, however, seemed to match the last time I examined them, so I think they were indeed all from the same set, vs. some mixed up set someone returned. The thing that really bugged me, which is when I decided to just write the darn things off, was that when the jaws were ordered to match the jaw slide order (1-4), they were particularly bad, but were a little better when ordered OPPOSITE the slide order. I even tried to put the slides in going the opposite direction...not even possible, as they then don't line up with the scroll. You can only order the slides one way if you want them to fit the scroll plate. So, these jaws were cut and then labeled...in opposition to the order of the slides? Even when ordered according to how they were cut, there were still issues. Two of them fit each other ok, the other two fit each other ok, but the two sets did not meet up well...one seemed to have a larger diameter than the other (and yet, the saw marks between each jaw, seem to be consistent, so I think they were indeed the same set...I honestly don't know what to think of that. Did one half of the jaws end up having more material removed between them both, than the other half, somehow?)
This, I think, may have been partly why I was having issues clamping down on those spindles. One of my sets of 50 seemed to be similar, although not quite as bad. The 100mm jaws seemed to be ok, my pen vise jaws seem to actually be...either mis-machined, or maybe they were bent somehow (certainly not by me, I have nothing that could clamp them with that kind of force or provide slow but steady force to bend them just a tiny but consistent bit for both jaws)...but the pen vise jaws are slightly angled. So at the outside edge they actually don't hold a pen blank as much as the end near the chuck. I had noticed that I'd had some problems with them in the past, but I always assumed it was blank imperfection or user error. I just became even more miffed when I found that the jaws actually seem to have a manufacturing problem...or rather, that ANOTHER set of jaws, after finding the serious problems with the 75mm set, ALSO had manufacturing problems.
There was also the issue with the rather loose jaw slide. I think in part it was due to the fact that the jaws were cut poorly, ordered backwards, and that may have prevented one of them from contacting well enough to hold the slide in place. However, that one slide, at a certain point on the scroll, seemed to have a ton of loose play anyway, more than the others on that chuck, or on my other G3. I've had issues with both packing in dust rather densely, requiring fairly regular cleanings. So they were just a lot of work already to keep em operating smoothly, and once I discovered the jaw issues.......
In comparison, the 50mm jaws that came with my Record Power chuck are extremely good. Not 100% perfect, very very slight corner discrepancies, but otherwise they seem to be machined better and more accurately, the cuts are cleaner (the 75mm nova jaws have some pretty notable saw marks between the jaws of that set).
So... ...yeah. Once I found the issues with the 75mm set, which were really bad, then discovered that most of the rest also had some kind of issue or other except my 100mm set, I just decided the G3 chuck wasn't for me. Sick and tired of cleaning em, really ticked off about the poor quality and QC of the 75mm set, and I don't want to have to deal with the issues from them anymore. The quality of the G3 chuck is not the only time I've had an issue with the quality of a Teknatool product. I also have a 14DR lathe, which I had issues with, had terrible experiences with their tech support and customer support over, ended up being entirely ghosted by Teknatool for months, and recently I just put my Beall buffing wheel system on it so I could buff a bunch of items I was turning on another lathe without having to constantly swap out the buffing system and my centers on that other lathe...and discovered that the 14DR motor barely has enough power to even handle BUFFING! (In comparison, the Wen 14x20 I own handles buffing without any issues at all, plenty powerful enough.) That was an issue with the 14DR early on as well, and I was too inexperienced (my very first lathe) to fully realize why I was having those issues. The motor was also one of the things that crapped out and forced me to RMA the thing... I've had nothing, really, but bad experiences with Nova/Teknatool stuff. So I'm moving on from them. I don't think I'm unjustified in that at all, my experiences with them and their products have sucked, I'm fed up with the entire brand, and I just need to move on from all of it. I know other people have different experiences and opinions here...not trying to change anyone's opinions. Just saying, my experiences suck, my opinion of Nova/Teknatool is not good, it won't be changing, that's that.
I'm going to unsubscribe from this thread, because I really, honestly, truly, DO want to move on from this whole stinking brand. And I keep getting sucked back in because of these notifications. So, apologies, but, don't expect any more replies from me...and I'm not trying to be rude, just...I want to be done, with Nova.
I was having a lot of trouble with one of them in particular, holding onto these spindles I was turning at the time. One jaw slide in particular seemed rather loose, and wouldn't clamp onto the spindles unless I REALLY, EXCESSIVELY cranked it tight. I even hurt my hand trying to get it tight enough. Without cranking it that much, the spindles vibrated, even when I only had a couple of inches left (if turning multiple pieces from a single spindle) or was turning close to the chuck. I eventually took all the jaws off all my G3 chucks (again, this is just the G3, I've made no commentary about SN2 chuck quality here), and noticed that they had some issues. One 75mm set was cut rather poorly and the jaws did not align with each other well, and were even different widths. Some people are saying it was probably because someone bought them, then returned them, and mixed up other jaws of the same kind. Its possible, but I don't think that's the case. I tried ordering them in both directions. In the direction where the jaws matched the numbers of the slides, they were horrible. The other direction, things improved slightly, but they were still out of alignment and mismatched in size (diameter). The saw marks between each jaw, however, seemed to match the last time I examined them, so I think they were indeed all from the same set, vs. some mixed up set someone returned. The thing that really bugged me, which is when I decided to just write the darn things off, was that when the jaws were ordered to match the jaw slide order (1-4), they were particularly bad, but were a little better when ordered OPPOSITE the slide order. I even tried to put the slides in going the opposite direction...not even possible, as they then don't line up with the scroll. You can only order the slides one way if you want them to fit the scroll plate. So, these jaws were cut and then labeled...in opposition to the order of the slides? Even when ordered according to how they were cut, there were still issues. Two of them fit each other ok, the other two fit each other ok, but the two sets did not meet up well...one seemed to have a larger diameter than the other (and yet, the saw marks between each jaw, seem to be consistent, so I think they were indeed the same set...I honestly don't know what to think of that. Did one half of the jaws end up having more material removed between them both, than the other half, somehow?)
This, I think, may have been partly why I was having issues clamping down on those spindles. One of my sets of 50 seemed to be similar, although not quite as bad. The 100mm jaws seemed to be ok, my pen vise jaws seem to actually be...either mis-machined, or maybe they were bent somehow (certainly not by me, I have nothing that could clamp them with that kind of force or provide slow but steady force to bend them just a tiny but consistent bit for both jaws)...but the pen vise jaws are slightly angled. So at the outside edge they actually don't hold a pen blank as much as the end near the chuck. I had noticed that I'd had some problems with them in the past, but I always assumed it was blank imperfection or user error. I just became even more miffed when I found that the jaws actually seem to have a manufacturing problem...or rather, that ANOTHER set of jaws, after finding the serious problems with the 75mm set, ALSO had manufacturing problems.
There was also the issue with the rather loose jaw slide. I think in part it was due to the fact that the jaws were cut poorly, ordered backwards, and that may have prevented one of them from contacting well enough to hold the slide in place. However, that one slide, at a certain point on the scroll, seemed to have a ton of loose play anyway, more than the others on that chuck, or on my other G3. I've had issues with both packing in dust rather densely, requiring fairly regular cleanings. So they were just a lot of work already to keep em operating smoothly, and once I discovered the jaw issues.......
In comparison, the 50mm jaws that came with my Record Power chuck are extremely good. Not 100% perfect, very very slight corner discrepancies, but otherwise they seem to be machined better and more accurately, the cuts are cleaner (the 75mm nova jaws have some pretty notable saw marks between the jaws of that set).
So...
...yeah. Once I found the issues with the 75mm set, which were really bad, then discovered that most of the rest also had some kind of issue or other except my 100mm set, I just decided the G3 chuck wasn't for me. Sick and tired of cleaning em, really ticked off about the poor quality and QC of the 75mm set, and I don't want to have to deal with the issues from them anymore. The quality of the G3 chuck is not the only time I've had an issue with the quality of a Teknatool product. I also have a 14DR lathe, which I had issues with, had terrible experiences with their tech support and customer support over, ended up being entirely ghosted by Teknatool for months, and recently I just put my Beall buffing wheel system on it so I could buff a bunch of items I was turning on another lathe without having to constantly swap out the buffing system and my centers on that other lathe...and discovered that the 14DR motor barely has enough power to even handle BUFFING! (In comparison, the Wen 14x20 I own handles buffing without any issues at all, plenty powerful enough.) That was an issue with the 14DR early on as well, and I was too inexperienced (my very first lathe) to fully realize why I was having those issues. The motor was also one of the things that crapped out and forced me to RMA the thing... I've had nothing, really, but bad experiences with Nova/Teknatool stuff. So I'm moving on from them. I don't think I'm unjustified in that at all, my experiences with them and their products have sucked, I'm fed up with the entire brand, and I just need to move on from all of it. I know other people have different experiences and opinions here...not trying to change anyone's opinions. Just saying, my experiences suck, my opinion of Nova/Teknatool is not good, it won't be changing, that's that. I'm going to unsubscribe from this thread, because I really, honestly, truly, DO want to move on from this whole stinking brand. And I keep getting sucked back in because of these notifications. So, apologies, but, don't expect any more replies from me...and I'm not trying to be rude, just...I want to be done, with Nova.
According to Teknatool the Supernova 2 was realeased nine years ago?
SuperNOVA2 Chuck and NOVA Precision Midi are released - NOVA, a Teknatool Brand
Teknatool launches the SuperNOVA2 Chuck, an updated version of the popular SuperNova Chuck. Includes innovative design features such as glass strand infused indexing backing plate, copper infused jaw slides for lubrication and durability and a unique TuffLock Gear profile. Teknatool launches an...
www.teknatool.com
The original Nova chuck that tightened the opposite way was much older.
The original Supernova 2 and Precision Midi were first released in 2004 and if memory serves I bought my first two Supernova 2's in 2005. I still have 2 of the original Supernovas one of which came in the box with the DVR3000. The original came with that wonky geared handle that a lot of folks had trouble with, I personally did not have a problem with them but I still bought a back up one that was made out of steel. In my heyday of turning I had over 40 chucks in which over 24 were Novas. I don't know how many I now have but I still probably have 20 Novas and at least 18 of the other major brands.