Not Recommended Jaws!

[Art Dilione]

Guys, I'm relatively new to wood turning as I've been doing it for about 5 years now as a hobby. I have a Jet 1221 and a few Nova G3 chucks. I've been mostly turning bowls but I have a few pieces of oak from our property that is about 4.5 - 5" in diameter that I turn into 5-6" high vases with some bark left on it. Some of the wood has a bad center, ie soft wood in some areas which makes it impossible to use a wormwood screw on it like I normally do. I've downloaded Teknatool's Chuck Accessory Jaw Travel Table from their website a while ago. According to this table, the largest jaw set I can use on a G3 is a 100mm jaw set that has a maximum contracting spigot of 3.898". The 130mm jaw set on the Supernova 2 has a maximum contracting spigot of 5.039". However, the table says the 130mm jaws are "Not Recommended" for the G3. My understanding is the 130mm will fit the G3 and I plan on turning the speed down to about 500 rpm. Is the G3 just not beefy enough for the 130? Too much mass? What are the risks of using a set of 130mmm jaws on a G3? TIA!

[Neil Strong]

The 130mm jaws would be no issue with the wood size pieces you are turning as the G3 chucks are designed to swing pieces up to 14" diameter. The only thing to keep in mind is that you won't get as much travel in the jaws on the G3 as you would get with a Nova2 chuck, so the max spigot size you will get with 130mm jaws will be just a little less than 5".

[Art Dilione]

Thanks I appreciate the info as I thought both the SN2 and the G3 chucks had the same open/close travel distances.

[Robert Hayward]

The G3 is smaller in diameter than the SN2. 3 7/16" and 3 7/8" approximately.

[Art Dilione]

That is 7/16" difference and would explain the smaller diameter the G3 can secure. Thanks for the info!