Steelex Faceplate and Spindle Adapters

I received a Steelex 8-inch faceplate (D 1088) and a pair of inboard and outboard spindle adapters (D 1096 and D 1105) as a birthday gift. These were obtained from Amazon.com for substantially less than other sources (19.50 USD for the unthreaded faceplate, 7.80 USD for each adapter).

The adapter mounts to the rear of the faceplate and is held in place by three rather small hex head cap screws. I spun up the outboard side first and turned the lathe on at its slowest setting. A slight wobbling of the faceplate was detectable by eye and by feel. Ditto for the inboard side. For the sake of comparison, no such imbalance is detectable with my Nova chuck. I shall have to spend some time with these to determine whether or not a little shimming of the adapter will get it to run true.

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.

Source of Accessories In The U.S.

Updated 25-Oct-2010

Busy Bee's web site says that they will ship internationally. You have to phone them however to ascertain shipping costs. I don't know how recent this development is or how expensive it is, but I just happened to notice it this evening. Anyway, at least there is a theoretical possibility that owners of the 46-140 and Beaver 3400 lathes can get parts a little more easily.

N.B. After doing a little more searching I have learned that the Grizzly and Busy Bee faceplates are Steelex brand. These faceplates and their respective inserts will occasionally turn up on Amazon and eBay and various other online tool retailers.

• 8-inch faceplate (unthreaded)
  
  
• 4-jaw independent chuck (unthreaded)
  
  
• 7/8-14 spindle adapter (for inboard use)
  
  
• 3/4-16 left hand spindle adapter (for outboard use)

I personally do not own any of the above so I can't vouch for the quality of the items. If you have one or more of these you are invited to post a comment to this article for the benefit of those who follow.

I have since acquired a Steelex faceplate. See this post.

Canadian Source of Parts and Accessories

N.B Hyperlinks updated as of 21-Sep-2010.

U.S. Shipping info added 25-Oct-2010

Busy Bee of Canada stocks a number of 7/8-14 RH and 3/4-16 LH headstock accessories as well as Nova and Oneway scroll chucks, accessory jaw sets and standard Morse Taper tooling. Since the 46-140 was manufactured in Ontario it makes sense you'll be more likely to find parts and accessories there. Their web site says that they now ship to the U.S. and generally internationally, which formerly had not been the case, however it is necessary to phone them to find out the shipping costs involved.

• 6-inch faceplates (already threaded for 7/8-14)
  
  
• 8-inch faceplate (unthreaded) and required 7/8-14 spindle adapter (for inboard turning) or required 3/4-16 left hand spindle adapter (for outboard turning)
  
  
• 6-inch, 4-jaw independent chuck (for holding square and irregularly shaped objects) and required 7/8-14 spindle adapter or required 3/4-16 left hand spindle adapter (for outboard turning)
  
  
• 6-inch, 3-jaw independent chuck (for holding square and irregularly shaped objects) and required 7/8-14 spindle adapter or required 3/4-16 left hand spindle adapter (for outboard turning)
  
  
• 7/8-14 insert for Nova scroll chucks
  
  
• Cole jaw set for Nova chucks
  
  
• No-name brand scroll chuck and required 7/8-14 spindle adapter.
  
  
• Accessory pin jaw set for no-name scroll chuck, above.
  
  
• MT#1 live tailstock center