On Fri, Jul 7, 2023 at 12:22?PM Bill in OKC too via <wmrmeyers=[email protected]> wrote:
Oh, if you buy an older chuck, you're taking pot luck that it will be useable. I put a Shars 4-jaw 6" chuck on my Atlas when I bought it, because the Atlas chuck that came with it was out by .014".? And the Shars was cheaper than an original Atlas chuck. Which might be good, but might not. I would love to put a Buck Adjust-tru chuck on it, but they cost more than I paid for any of my larger lathes. If I were working as a machinist, that would probably be easily justifiable. As a hobbyist, nope! YMMV!
With a decent 4-jaw and a stub spindle you get better accuracy than you would with all but the best 3-jaw chucks, and less time spent dialing parts in. You don't always need the accuracy of a 4-jaw, but I don't see it hurting anything unless you're working for high production. Your needs are unlikely to match mine, so my advise may not fit at all, but! A stub spindle will speed you up with a 3 jaw chuck, too, so very worth doing.
