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WEN Chucks?

Looks the same as what Penn State sells. No experience with either, but had a Tommy bar chuck in the late 80s that I hated. You need 3 hands to grab a bowl tenon. Not nearly the holding power of a key chuck, so maybe not the best for students.
 
At a Mike Mahoney live club demo this year, he said that he uses the tommy bar chuck because it is faster for production work. His chuck always travels with him and said he doesn't have a problem holding the work as the shape of the tenon or recess is the important part. He frequently positioned the tool rest to rest one of the tommy bars on top to both tightened and sometimes loosen the chuck with one hand. Locking the spindle takes too much time and sometimes the lock is the indexing pin which should not use as a spindle lock. I believe he said the chuck was a old VicMark.
 
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It does look like the Penn State chuck, except it has dovetail jaws instead of grip jaws. Probably made in the same factory. I would speculate about the same quality as a the Penn State chuck, but that’s a guess.
 
I don’t think tommy bars work well in the classroom.

Along with mike
Other production bowl turners use the tommy bars for speed.
most add long handles to tommy bars for extra leverage.

Things many of us find inconvenient like spring loaded spindle locks and tommy bars are preferred by those who benefit from their faster use.

Using these effectively requires skilled hands not often found on students.
 
I have the Penn State Industries Tommy Bar chuck. It is really good for some things. However on bowls and a few other things, I find that centrifugal force can loosen the chuck jaws from starting and stopping. . Also dust gets down into the place between the back plate and chuck body and can make it stick. For quick repetitive small work, it is great. It does not have near the holding power that my G3 has
 
I also noted grizzlle also has
6 pc. Lathe chisel set reg.$116.95 sale
$109.55
that's less than $20 a tool.....guess they are not gouges
 
A student has enough stuff to learn without needing to contend with a tommy bar chuck. In my mind it might be enough to make the student decide that they aren't interested in woodturning..

Okay, say that you have two different Nova G3 Chucks to choose from:

One of them has a key for tightening, has an insert for the 1X8 spindle, and it's $115.

One of them uses Tommy Bars for tightening, has a direct 1X8 spindle thread, and it's $98.

Which do you choose?
 
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Okay, say that you have two different Nova G2 Chucks to choose from:

One of them has a key for tightening, has an insert for the 1X8 spindle, and it's $115.

One of them uses Tommy Bars for tightening, has a direct 1X8 spindle thread, and it's $98.

Which do you choose?
I'd go with a Hurricane HTC100 chuck (sells for about $160...or cheaper when they have one of their sales). The Hurricane chucks are built to last a lifetime, they have great service support, and they have a great selection of easily replaceable jaws, They simply are the best quality chucks for a reasonable price. I was so impressed with these Hurricane chucks that I sold my Novas and Oneway Strongholds and replaced all of them with Hurricanes. They make 2 different sizes of chucks and they go on sale on a fairly regular basis.
 
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When you lose a Tommy Bar you can easily make another one, you lose the chuck key tool and you have to wait until the back-orders are filled to get another one. If it takes three hands to mount a work piece you have a better chance of forcing them to put their cell phones away. :-) Nothing wrong with teaching students the basics starting with the conventional tools working their way up to the modern ones.
 
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