Who makes the best 4 jaw independant 6" chuck

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For a logan 11" , need 2.25 by 8tpi threaded backplate and a mathching chuck.
Any advice would really help my choice in purchase.
Thanks,
Jon
 
I would avoid most of the direct ship vendors from India. While their pricing may be pretty good the level of quality is kind of sporadic. Some stuff from Indai is not so bad some is not so good. Unfortuantely you cant tell without actually having the item in hand and inspecting it. The time you waste sending stuff back and forth and the cost for postage makes any issue at all a real deal breaker. So unless you know the vendor of a particular item and have seen it from the vendor in India I would leave it alone. There have been quite a few threads here and on other sites about the wishy washy quality on some of the items It doesn't seem to follow and particular type of product either there seem to be good and not so good tools and accessories from across the board in everything, tooling, workholding, ctters, mills, rotary tables, spin indexers and collets just to mention a few. Bison manufactures a pretty good item from what I have read, but you might give Matt at Precision Mathews a call and see what he has in stock and would recommend for your machine. His prices seem pretty decent on accessories and items like that. Worth a call if nothing else but to get a second or third opinion. Hope this helps.

Bob
 
I bought a 8" Gator 4 jaw chuck for my Enco lathe a couple of years ago. It's a good quality chuck and the price was right; about $260 with shipping as I recall.
 
I've heard Gators are good. IIRC they are a cheaper line from Fuerda. Bison is from Poland and are supposedly very nice. Toolmex are Bison's cheaper line though I don't know if they're made in Poland. If I had the $ I'd go with Bison.
 
I've always managed to get by with no-name brands from Shars that cost under $200 and the ones that came with my lathe. Yes, they need to be balanced and fitted but once you know how, it only takes an hour -two if you sip coffee along the way. FWIW, Precision Matthews is an authorized Bison dealer and he's been selling quite a few lately. I've heard good things about all the name brands including Bison, Gator/Fuerda, Rohm, Burnard etc... They can get pretty expensive though...

The major factors are the types of jaw mechanisms (one piece or two piece), balance, speed rating (most are good up to 2500 RPM -some higher) and material. Some are made of steel and some are made of "semi-steel". Steel units don't stain as much and usually don't have dynamic balance problems. Some have a "true-set" feature which I never really understood and dont' know how it works because once I true up a cheap chuck and mount it, it's usually perfect within my ability to measure it.

With things like this, I try to establish a budget of what I'm willing to pay then go look for the best one in that price range.


Ray
 
If you can find a "Kalamazoo" brand with the 2-1/4 threaded body, that or the equivalent Buck brand would most likely be the original equipment fitted to the Logan. Buck manufactured most all of the chucks fitted to Logan lathes, and probably Atlas, Craftsman, etc. (would a more knowledgable member please comment on that last claim?) Buck is very expensive, and a little weak on customer service. Another excellent brand is Pratt-Bernard, some of these are British manufactured and some US, they're good. I think MSC represents them. Again on the pricey side.

The other posts about Bison are correct, they are a good, heavy well made chuck and have gone up in price, but still good value over the Asian products. I have a Bison six inch, three jaw universal, nice chuck. It has the two part jaws.

The Asian four jaw chuck(s) I have are heavy, but the screws are a bit on the rough side. They work it just takes some patience to true stuff up. Grizzly probably has the best overall selection in the budget area...
Geoff
 
Ray C said:
I've always managed to get by with no-name brands from Shars that cost under $200 and the ones that came with my lathe. Yes, they need to be balanced and fitted but once you know how, it only takes an hour -two if you sip coffee along the way.

..................... once I true up a cheap chuck and mount it, it's usually perfect within my ability to measure it.

Ray
Click to expand...

RAY
Hi
Thanks for this
Pardon our ignorance, but how does one BALANCE and True up a CHUCK on a Lathe ??
aRM
 
I just bought a like new 6" Bison with 2 1/4" backplate for $299 shipped on ebay. I hate to give away secrets but often times guys do not put items for sale in the correct categories and if you are not very specific about what you search for you may never find what you are looking for. I was very happy about the Bison because I have been looking for a 4 jaw for threading barrels for some time.
 
I have a Bison 3 jaw, if the 4 jaw chucks they make are the same quality ( and I'm sure they are ) you will not be disappointed.
 
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