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Versachuck

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Alan Wallington:
Hi Everyone

I know this probably an old question, but one I cannot find a good answer for, will my Axminster chuck carriers fit the Versachuck (3) body?

Background. When I started woodturning about twenty years or so ago, I purchased an APTC M900 lathe. It came with a clubman chuck, with a 1x8tpi thread. So since then I have built up a collection of jaws and carriers. I have now purchased a secondhand 10x18 midi lathe for demonstrating purposes. Ideally, I would like to buy another chuck, and the Versa chuck, with a 1x8 tpi backplate, seems to answer all my wishes, if the claim that it will accommodate all carriers is true. Can anyone confirm this?

Alan Wallington

Twisted Trees:
Yes they will, https://youtu.be/1cbJkUY2LWQ is my video on just that subject.

Bill21:
If you mean the chuck jaws then no, apparently the jaws themselves are not interchangeable between the Axminster and Versachuck bodies. Only the top jaws, sometimes called accessory jaws are interchangeable.

If you look at the chuck jaws on the vendors site you can see that the area of the jaws that enters the chuck body are quite different from the current Axminster jaws.

https://www.beaufortink.co.uk/toolpost-versachuck-wood-lathe-chucks/jaw-carriers-slides-for-versachuck-lathe-chucks/versachuck-and-axminster-compatible-jaw-carriers-jaw-slides-for-versachuck-wood-lathe-chucks

Bill21:
Some of you may find chapter four enlightening.

As someone who uses both metalwork and woodwork lathes I find the use of misleading names for chuck components quite frustrating at times.  ::)

“The Scroll Chuck

The scroll chuck was invented in 1840 and has been a work holding standard in industry ever since. Many different types are available with anything from two to six Jaws. Three and four jaw versions are common and are manufactured with single or two piece jaws.

Using two piece jaws increases the versatility of chucking systems.
It was perhaps nearly 150 years later that one of the wood turning tool manufacturers realised that this system could also be used on a wood turning lathe. Up until this point several collet chucks had been produced especially for wood turners but the design never stood the test of time and production ceased, replaced almost entirely by the scroll chucks we see today.

Most wood turning chucks are made specifically for the purpose but this has not always been the case. Indeed you can still buy the “Versachuck” from Beaufort Ink which is identical to those used on small Engine lathes apart from its Jaws.

Terminology for scroll chucks seems to cause some confusion for wood turners at times. This has not been helped by some manufacturers renaming the traditional parts of a chuck with their own terms. For over 180 years the term Chuck Jaws has been universally understood by machinists. This remains the case even with two part jaws, the bolt on top parts being called “Top Jaws”. Confusingly wood turning chuck suppliers call the Jaws “slides” or “carriers”.
The bolt on top parts are often more correctly called Accessory Jaws.”

Sometimes suppliers actually use the correct terms:

Twisted Trees:

--- Quote from: Bill21 on December 15, 2022, 10:53:34 PM ---If you mean the chuck jaws then no, apparently the jaws themselves are not interchangeable between the Axminster and Versachuck bodies. Only the top jaws, sometimes called accessory jaws are interchangeable.


--- End quote ---

Possibly historically incorrect naming, but Axminster themselves have used the name Jaw carriers for the part that goes in the chuck and engages with the scroll, and Jaw for the part that holds the wood.

I suspect that various patents apply to various parts which would explain the different thread used on the scroll...

The answer to the Original question is YES as long as you have the Axminster compatible carrier then Axminster Jaw sets can be used on the VersaChuck 3 (or record power or vicmark etc. as long as you have the right carrier or whatever you wish to call it  ;))

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