How do you clean them? I have been closing the jaws fully. Then put a little lubricant on and run the chuck at medium rpm. Hit with steel wool or some fairly high grit sandpaper.
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Teknatool in trouble in the USA
- Thread starter hughie
- Start date
same here. sandpaper works well.
What kind of lubricant is best?
I have two brands of chucks: Nova and Record Power. (Well, three, actually, I picked up a lever-locked scroll chuck about a year or so ago, not sure what brand, it was just a cheap thing off Amazon when I needed a chuck in the tailstock!) The RP is sealed, with this black plastic plate and I think a rubber o-ring, on the bottom. In all the years I've had it (four, now, I think) I have never had to clean it outside of some compressed air after each use. To this day, it is still working like when it was brand new. Thankfully, this was compatible with my Nova jaws, so I did not have to buy a duplicate set of jaws to use with it. I did buy some 100mm jaws for larger bowls (its a bit larger of a chuck than the Nova G3's I own.) Its a great chuck, and I appreciate not having had to disassemble and clean it at all.
The Nova chucks, on the other hand. They seem to rather quickly build up dust internally. Blowing them out is pretty much useless. Lubricant, at least in my experience, just seems to gum up the dust more and makes the problems with accumulation worse. In the last 5 years of owning two Nova chucks, I've had to disassemble them, drop the slides into some solvent to clean them off, then take a stiff bristle brush to the rest to really clean off the stuck on dust. I no longer use lubricant to clean (i.e. WD-40 or anything like that), but still...something about how the Novas are designed, they seem to pack the dust in underneath the slides, and it builds up, doesn't blow out well with compressed air (even at 100PSI), and you start to feel the friction and tension and stiffness over time as you try to open and close the jaws. So periodically, I have to take them apart. Its a real pain in the rear, as reassembling them requires lining up all four slides with a flat worm plate underneath...its not fun.
FWIW, over the year and a few months that I've owned that other scroll chuck, I've never had to clean it. I blow it out, but, its never had the sticking/dust capture problem that the two Novas have had, either.
I have 3 Supernova II chucks. They come with the bottom sealed and don't collect dust internally. I never put any kind of lubricant on the internal parts of the chuck. As per your experience, the lube would collect dirt and dust and eventually make the chuck not workable. My method as described, and as stated, is for cleaning rust or staining off of the jaws only. The lubricant I use on the jaws is Boeshield T-9. I think any lubricant would work but that is what I happen to have on the shelf.
No wet lube as it will retain dust, so dry lube, but again pick it carefully, as some will leave a thick layer on the working parts, the basic rule of thumb is no lube .It is a conundrum as ideally you need a dry lude coating that will stick on the surface with out attracting dust etc and yet be of minimal thickness and long lasting.
The alternative is to use what ever you want but get regular maintenance and cleaning program going, say weekly. Lol as much as I know I should this aint gonna happenI have Nova chucks and as Darryn mentioned the back is covered, but over the years dust still gets in and find I have to periodically pull them apart and clean them and they are all due for some attention now.
Yeah, I don't use lubricant anymore. I clean my jaws themselves periodically in solvent. I used to keep them in a tray on one of my workbenches. One day I went out and grabbed the tray, and noticed some kind of gunk on them. Then I noticed that gunk, was kind of all over.... On a lot of my benches, machines, and anything else I had laying around. Theeennn...I noticed the mouse poop. It seems mice like to crawl all over the place and pee as they go... Well, I had been using the same sets of jaws for a while, and their pee had tarnished all my other jaws. That got me into the habit of really, REALLY cleaning them. I guess I do it about once every 4 months now? After the "Mouse Piss Event"...which I think was because I'd left a bag of birdseed behind one of my benches, and the mice found it and had a hayday...I had to spend a few DAYS cleaning my shop, once I noticed that they had peed over about half of it. I've become a little obsessive about cleaning things more regularly now. And the jaws, tend to get a good solvent cleaning. They still have a bit of tarnish....I can't really touch them without gloves. I mean, mouse and rat pee and turds, have caused some of the greatest epidemics in history....
As for the chucks themselves and their slides...I clean them off periodically, probably at least every 4 months, but more often if they start getting tight. I just have the G3 chucks, and meh....they aren't very good. Which surprises me, given I picked up the Record Power (actually a kit with the chuck, and a number of additional accessories, and its an insert chuck so I can just swap out inserts based on my lathes spindle size) for a bit less than just one of the G3s! At some point, I figure I should see if I can sell off the two, and just get another record power or maybe get one of those higher end chucks with quick-release jaws? I hate having to unscrew and then re-screw EIGHT small black screws every time I need to change jaws... (Which is how I ended up with so many in the first place!
I HATE changing jaws! I guess I'm more inclined to get more chucks, than to have to swap jaws. 
) The nice thing about the Record Power (and I guess a Supernova II) is they are compatible with all my existing jaws....would be a bummer to have to buy all new jaws if I bought into an incompatible chuck system...Anyway. I don't recommend the G3 chucks to anyone. I do recommend the record power. It is (or was) a bit less expensive than a G3 chuck kit, and you get about the same amount of stuff in the RP kit, plus its a bigger chuck, the 100mm jaws are really nice for larger bowls & platters, its sealed and never really needs cleaning, and the ball head hex key you use with it is so much easier to use than the Nova chuck screw to open and close it (getting that screw in and seated often takes a bit of fiddling, the ball head hex just goes in regardless of any slight off-angle and just works.)
All that said, I'd love one of the EWT quick-change chucks. Those things are nice...or at least, they look real nice. They are close to $500 for the chuck, though, and over $100 a set for new sets of jaws.
Some day. 
It seems to me you're comparing apples and oranges. I have a record power SC3, same as a g3. It's open backed. Carbon copy. I assume you have an SC4 which is a copy of the supernova.
Is there a reason that Record Power chucks looked so much like the Novas? I believe that when you have a factory in China with excess capability to produce more things like that occur. I've asked but never received a yes or no.
I have 2 Nova g3 chucks. When purchased I disassembled and degreased them, deburred sharp edges, then used paste wax on all friction surfaces. In the 5 yrs I’ve used them they have not been apart, and work great. I blow them out occassionally.I have two brands of chucks: Nova and Record Power. (Well, three, actually, I picked up a lever-locked scroll chuck about a year or so ago, not sure what brand, it was just a cheap thing off Amazon when I needed a chuck in the tailstock!) The RP is sealed, with this black plastic plate and I think a rubber o-ring, on the bottom. In all the years I've had it (four, now, I think) I have never had to clean it outside of some compressed air after each use. To this day, it is still working like when it was brand new. Thankfully, this was compatible with my Nova jaws, so I did not have to buy a duplicate set of jaws to use with it. I did buy some 100mm jaws for larger bowls (its a bit larger of a chuck than the Nova G3's I own.) Its a great chuck, and I appreciate not having had to disassemble and clean it at all.
The Nova chucks, on the other hand. They seem to rather quickly build up dust internally. Blowing them out is pretty much useless. Lubricant, at least in my experience, just seems to gum up the dust more and makes the problems with accumulation worse. In the last 5 years of owning two Nova chucks, I've had to disassemble them, drop the slides into some solvent to clean them off, then take a stiff bristle brush to the rest to really clean off the stuck on dust. I no longer use lubricant to clean (i.e. WD-40 or anything like that), but still...something about how the Novas are designed, they seem to pack the dust in underneath the slides, and it builds up, doesn't blow out well with compressed air (even at 100PSI), and you start to feel the friction and tension and stiffness over time as you try to open and close the jaws. So periodically, I have to take them apart. Its a real pain in the rear, as reassembling them requires lining up all four slides with a flat worm plate underneath...its not fun.
FWIW, over the year and a few months that I've owned that other scroll chuck, I've never had to clean it. I blow it out, but, its never had the sticking/dust capture problem that the two Novas have had, either.
I strongly suspect RP either licensed the design or made a deal with Nova to buy their chucks and jaws. Agree they are coming out of the same mfg facility. The slight changes RP made are accomplished by changing the machining program, very easy to do.
Interesting. Maybe its the types of wood we turn? I turn a fairly wide variety, and plenty enough of oily woods. I don't know if oily dust would cause more problems.
Sounds like RP is basically the same chucks. I believe my RP is an SC4, although the whole kit I bought was less than one of the G3 chucks, which surprised me. I don't know if that is because Record Power is a UK company (given the exchange rate I'd have expected the opposite), or what? In any case, I'll simplify: I'm not a fan of the unsealed G3-type chucks.
They have NOT been quality chucks IMO. The RP SC4, which I guess is the same as the Nova SN2 (?), is a superior chuck...regardless of the types of woods I turn.
With the enclosed backs on my SN2's are never truly clogged up, I think I have opened them up once or twice in 15 years and all good, often blow them down thats about all.Interesting. Maybe its the types of wood we turn? I turn a fairly wide variety, and plenty enough of oily woods. I don't know if oily dust would cause more problems.
Sounds like RP is basically the same chucks. I believe my RP is an SC4, although the whole kit I bought was less than one of the G3 chucks, which surprised me. I don't know if that is because Record Power is a UK company (given the exchange rate I'd have expected the opposite), or what? In any case, I'll simplify: I'm not a fan of the unsealed G3-type chucks.
I suspect the difference is leaving the oem lube inside the chuck, which is just a magnet for dust. Its why I degrease and use paste wax inside them.Interesting. Maybe its the types of wood we turn? I turn a fairly wide variety, and plenty enough of oily woods. I don't know if oily dust would cause more problems.
Sounds like RP is basically the same chucks. I believe my RP is an SC4, although the whole kit I bought was less than one of the G3 chucks, which surprised me. I don't know if that is because Record Power is a UK company (given the exchange rate I'd have expected the opposite), or what? In any case, I'll simplify: I'm not a fan of the unsealed G3-type chucks.
Surprising you could purchase the RP chucks for less than the G3. I paid ~$85 US, shipped, for one a few years ago from KMS tool in Canada. From the prices I’ve seen the RP chucks have always been more expensive vs Nova.
Oh, the OEM lube was gone a long, long time ago. Both of the G3s have been cleaned so many times, there is no original lube left, and any lube I added myself the first couple of times was also gone a long time ago. They have been scoured clean with solvents many times since.
Now, one thing I have not done yet, is try to put a paste was on them. I guess the next time I clean them (which, really, they are due here), I'll try that and see if it helps.
Not sure why so many turners , here at least , are down on SN2. I cannot justify paying over 300 for a chuck when 150 will do the same job for me at least. And most of them I have bought were 110 or less. Just can't see running a product down when maintence may be the problem.
In my heyday of having my clubs hands on being held in my shop it was not unusual to have 11 lathes setup for these hands on. And when an instructor wanted a certain jaw set on the lathes I would make sure that all the lathes had that jaw set on them. That's what having over 40 chucks and multiple jaws sets allowed me to do. Now with over 20 + years with many of these chucks I have only once had to take one apart. That was a Supernova II that I had to replace the pinions on (I blamed that on the T Bar Handle with the ball end, I cut off that ball on all my T Bar handles and have not had that problem since). Other than blowing dust out of any of my chucks I have never had to lubricate or deep clean any of them. That may be the result of not just having to use one or two different chucks. And Gerald (above) the answer to your query is that Woodturners are notorious for "If I own it it is the best". And once again I will state that I have five brands of chucks in my locker and I do not think one brand is better than the others. As stated here a few times before when I go to the locker for a chuck I am looking for the jaws that are on the chuck and not the chuck brand.
I bought SN2's from KMS a couple years back for the same money.
This morning I examined some of my chucks, some of the older open-backed SN and some the closed-back SN2. None had signs of anything built up inside. The slides moved easily. I have disassembled chucks in the past, perhaps to show someone how to do it, sometimes to inspect. Occasionally I’d see a small amount of fine dust but nothing excessive and nothing I’d describe as “gummed up”. BTW, the Teknatool manual says to “lightly oil” components - to me that means put a drop of oil on a cloth and rub onto the areas of contact of the slides.
I wonder if the difference between clean and gummed up is more about what is turned and how it is sanded.
- I rarely turn wet wood, almost always dry.
- I never power sand with a rotating disk on a close quarters or other drill.
- I use a powerful 5hp cyclone to extract much of anything that comes off the wood.
Someone who works differently or primarily with wet wood may have more and different stuff flying around in the air and more need to clean the inside of chucks. Just a guess.
JKJ
This is the one major appliance I don't yet have: A proper dust collection system. I do use a shop vac, but that has very severely limited collection power. So I have plenty of dust floating around when I sand. I turn mostly dry wood, but a lot of what I turn, I sand up to 800 to 1500 or even 3000 grit. So, I wonder if that might indeed be a factor in my issues with..."open" chucks... Its not just the back of the chuck, though, dust gets packed in under the slides as well.
I almost bought a ClearVue CV1700 system, but things changed at the time and I wasn't able to fund it. Sadly, it now seems to no longer be an option, despite my opinion that they had one of the most effective systems out there with the best filters...the owners are retiring and they no longer seem to be selling. I honestly don't know what to do now, with the CV systems off the market. I liked both their cyclone, and their very fine filtration capabilities. I've considered Oneida, but their systems are a lot more expensive, on a filter and horsepower standpoint, compared to ClearVue. A 5hp CV1700 was almost $2000 less than the cheapest 5hp unit from Oneida...
I installed a ClearVue when I built my shop. It's incredibly powerful - the company used to have a video where they let it suck up a 30' measuring tape, carry it down the duct, and dump it into the bin. I tell people not to let a cat get close to the pickup nozzle at the lathe.
I made a bin from a 30gal metal trash can. I made it twice - the first time I used a new can from the farmer's co-op, turned out the supplier had reduced the thickness of the steel. The first time I turned it on the bin collapsed. So I pulled an older can from the barn - it was made with thicker, stronger steel. Been using ever since. My longest runs are maybe 38' of 6" PVC.
I really like the clear plastic construction so I can see how everything works and that it's working ok. It's fun to go in the closet (with good hearing protection) and watch it work while someone dumps handfuls of sawdust or chips into the pickup nozzle. The stream spiral around as nearly all of the chips and sawdust drop slowly towards the drum. The spiral apparently allows a tiny amount of extremely fine dust rise to the filter stack. I return the filtered air to the shop through a baffled plywood duct I built up between the trusses. The insulated closet keeps the sound WAY down and the Dylos particle counter reports no significant dust is returned to the shop. The cyclone cone is tall which I understand can be more efficient than a shorter cone.
You can make your own. Bill Pentz, who designed the ClearVue, has plans on his web site. (It would be a LOT of work!)
JKJ
I wish now that I had bought the system when I was looking at it a couple years ago. I felt the Pentz Cyclone was the best design, but also their filters were second to none, and you could stack them for greater area. I planned it all out, have a spot on my wall picked out for wall mounting it, everything... Really bummed they are out of business.
Also, the price for what you got, was really good...I think the whole system I was looking at at the time, was about $3400.
Apologies if I missed this in the previous posts. Jon, do you have a dust extractor? That's your best option to remove fine particulates. The Rikon 1100 is under $400.
I have a Fein Turbo I dust extractor, along with a bucket vortex, that I use for turning and sanding dust collection. It is ok. I also have an overhead Jet air filter, which generally keeps the air clean. I'm extremely sensitive to dust, though, and its not really enough. Plenty of dust doesn't get captured. Primarily the super fine dust from my higher grit sanding.
I did a lot of research a couple years ago, well, maybe three years ago now? It came down to ClearVue CV1700, or maybe one of the Oneida dust collection setups. When I fully priced out all the necessary ducting and blast gates and all that, it was over $6000, and I just couldn't do it at the time. I was pretty dead set on the CV1700...the Pentz cyclone seems to do a better job at separation than any other vortex, which minimizes how often the filters need to be cleaned. I also thought at the time that ClearVue had the better filter design.
At the time, I also read all of Bill Pentz's site on dust collection, the general design of your "commercial" dust collection systems, and the rather poor quality of collection power (not enough CFM at ports, you can only get so much power from 1-2HP!), separation (vortex design, how much dust and chips are actually dumped into the bin vs. let through the impeller) and filtration (just not good enough in terms of micron level actually filtered). I had been to some workshops at Woodcraft, and they I think have a big Laguna vortex DC there. When I walked in the first time, I thought the air looked hazy, and by the time I left, I was quite stuffed up.
I hadn't read Pentz's content at that point, and I didn't really understand. Since reading Pentz's content, it was clear why I had problems...most commercial grade dust collectors lack on several levels: not enough horsepower, as 1-2hp when you do the math, is usually not enough to actually maintain sufficient CFM at the collection ports to collect EVERYTHING (the finest dust being the most important and also what requires the most CFM), not the most optimal vortex designs, so while most chips are dumped into the bin more dust is not and allowed through the impeller, which then leads to filtration...and while many of the commercial grade systems state ratings down to 0.2 microns, actual testing shows that they often don't filter lower than 2 microns, and most seem to have this "rubbing armature" that you rake back and for to scrape dust off the inside of the filters...which just destroys the filters and reduces their filtering capacity even more, allowing more fine dust back into the air. Doesn't seem to matter the brand for the most part, as far as I could tell when I researched...Jet, Laguna, Grizzly, Powermatic, etc.
The only two that seemed to consistently come up as doing a particularly good job at all three of these factors: Power, Separation & Filtration, were Oneida and ClearVue. (Its been three years, not sure if there are any other options these days.) Both offered impellers with horsepower up to 5hp or more, which was necessary for the size of my shop and the size/lengths of ducting I would have to use, and both seem to use a better vortex design (I don't know if Oneida actually uses a Pentz style vortex, but it looks very similar to the ClearVue Pentz design) so that most of the dust and chips get dumped into the bin, which lightens the load on the filters, which are legit designed to filter down to 0.5 microns at 99.999% efficiency.
I felt that ClearVue with their ability to stack two of their filters for huge filtration area, and the legitimate Pentz vortex design paired with 5hp, was the best bang for the buck. Today, with them gone, it looks like a comparable Oneida is about $4500...which would bring everything with all the necessary ducting and electrical work to something like $7500 or so, even more if I went with all metal ducting instead of pvc. Its just out of my price range... But, I have enough problems with wood dust, that if I invest in a system, I want to make sure I'm really getting enough collection power at the intakes and enough filtration to ensure no dust gets pumped back into the atmosphere. My shop is also my garage, and despite always using my Fein dust extractor and Jet air filter, a fine layer of dust always covers everything, including the cars and and everything else in the other 2/3rds of the garage.
My predominance with SN2 started early as the first chucks I bought have stuck with them out of convenience. Imported chucks from the USA were prohibitive in cost due to shipping and Vicmarc wasnt really into chucks back them. Add to that when I started I bought a heap of jaws very cheap with idea of changing as a cost effective instead buy more chucks. Lol that didnt last long
Although this drifts pretty far off the tread topic of Teknatool in trouble in the US…
I don’t recall the price in 2012 but pretty sure it was a lot less than that - I bought the CV1800 bundle, (including the starter relay, electronic controller, bin sensors). I found 6” PVC pipe for ducts at a local industrial piping company, some for free in a big pile out back of pieces with some damage, fittings at the local ACE hardware. Ran a 50 amp circuit for the sound-insulated closet for the cyclone and air compressor. (The thing is SO screaming loud I don’t think I could stand to have it in the room I’m working in.)
Designing and installing the DC system was the trickiest part of building the entire shop!
BTW, I crammed all the electronics for the bin-full sensor/alarm, remote receiver and low voltage power supply in a custom box in the main shop and added a lighted controller disconnect switch. I have multiple remote fobs to turn the system on from various places around the shop.
After using this system for about 10 years I’d REALLY hate to play in the shop without it!
JKJ