Scroll Chucks for the 46-140

Although there are several types of scroll chucks on the market, there are only two companies that I am personally aware of that manufacture chucks that will accommodate a 7/8-14 tpi headstock. They are Teknatool and Oneway, both of which provide high quality products. I happen to own the Nova G3 by Teknatool, pictured below, and I am quite pleased with it.

Pictured above and starting clockwise from the bottom are my (well used at this point) G3 with 50mm jaw set, 7/8-14 spindle adapter, woodworm screw insert, spur center insert, and T handle chuck key. All of the items in the photo were sold as a single package. I bought mine from Woodcraft about five years ago. They still carry it. Amazon has them, too.

The G3, like many other scroll chucks, requires a headstock spindle adapter to fit this or any other lathe headstock. These adapters are standard accessories that are manufactured by Teknatool. Depending upon where you buy your G3 chuck, the spindle adapter may or may not be included as part of your package. So be sure to check. Here is a link to Teknatool's list of spindle adapters for its various chucks. It may well be the case that you'll have to speak by phone with a sales representative from the company you buy from since their web sites (usually the U.S. sites) frequently do not list the 7/8-14 adapters -- giving the impression perhaps that they are simply not available, which is clearly not the case.

The advantage of the spindle adapter of course it that if you move up to a different or larger lathe at some point in the future all you'll have to do to take your scroll chuck with you is buy the requisite adapter for the new machine.

Additionally, there are all sorts of available jaw sets for this chuck. Personally, I only own the 50mm "standard" jaw set. Changing jaw sets is mostly a matter of unscrewing, re-inserting (and not misplacing) eight machine screws and doing a little alignment of each jaw part. It's not difficult by any means but it's a sufficiently time consuming operation that you would reasonably try to avoid doing so more than once during a given work session.

A Canadian company named Oneway sells three different models of scroll chuck (the Oneway, the Talon and the Stronghold). Here is a link to the Oneway spindle adapter chart where you will find adapters for just about every spindle size there is. All of these items may be purchased from online retailers such as Rockler and Woodcraft. Here's a link to Oneway's complete list of Canadian, US and international resellers. Various types of jaw sets are also available for each of these models of scroll chuck.

In my estimation the sole drawback of using a scroll chuck is that the chuck body extends out from the headstock far enough to essentially consume most of the "gap" in the lathe bed. In other words, if you intend to turn lots of bowls or platters with this lathe then you might be better off buying or making a faceplate or a "longworth" chuck so as to maximize the depth and diameter of the pieces you'll be able to turn.