# Axminster AWSL lathe and Goliath chuck



## Arvacon (30 Mar 2013)

Hi and nice to meet you.
I want start making tobacco pipes and I can afford only this small lathe (AWSL). The problem is that this work needs to catch wood pieces inside of the chuck and they usually have 50-60mm width. 

A friend of mine suggested me to buy the Axminster 80mm O'Donnell Jaws and the K10 chuck, but I am not sure if the maximum distance between these jaws at the K10 chuck will be enough to hold the wood. However a Goliath 125mm chuck would seems to be a better choice about its size for this work (in combination with these jaws), but I wonder about the weight of this, as I don't know if it is too heavy for this lathe. The other problem is that the K10 is temporarily out of stock now.. :| 
As I see, Goliath is 3 kilos and K10 is 2 kilos. 

Do you think that I will have any problem if I order Goliath, because of its 1 more kilo? Has anyone try it?
Has anyone these jaws installed at any of the above chucks, to measure and tell me what is the maximum internal distance of the 80mm O'Donnell jaws?


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## eribaMotters (30 Mar 2013)

Why not phone Axminster and ask?

Colin


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## Walter Hall (30 Mar 2013)

Hi and welcome to the forum. Others may think differently, but I am not sure why anyone would recommend 80mm jaws for a K10 chuck which is 110mm. They will fit but it would make more sense to buy the 50mm version of the Axminster O'Donnell Spigot Jaws which are designed for the 110 mm chuck and will accept a spigot of 50mm.

The size of the wood is not important, as to get a secure grip you will need to place it between centres and turn a dovetail spigot to fit the jaws before trying to mount it in the chuck..

The Goliath chuck will fit and function on the AWSL but it is overkill for a small lathe and quite unnecessary for the scale of the work you propose.


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## CHJ (30 Mar 2013)

As Walter says a Goliath chuck is overkill for the lathe in question regarding normal use but it does have one great advantage if you are gripping rectangular blanks of odd sizes.

The Jaw travel is considerabley greater than on a 100mm chuck, some 40mm diameter difference.
*See this thread for pictures*


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## Arvacon (30 Mar 2013)

Colin, I sent an email to them and they said that Goliath chuck is a little too heavy and they recommend the clubman K10, but I wanted a second opinion, as maybe someone has try this in practice and could be probably work for you.

Walter thanks. The reason that this friend recommended me the 80mm o'donnell jaws is, because that have smaller width and they leave you to work easier with these small briar blocks. Especially when you want to make the rectangular part round, at the side that the jaws hold it, or in case you want to work with some smaller blocks, as he said.

Because my english is not so good, can you explain me what is the spigot? Is it a kind of wood spacers that you need to make and put between the jaws, to help you hold your item secure?  

Just a small correction, the K10 clubman is 100mm and not 110, that's why I worry about the internal size that much. The Evolution chuck is the one that it has 115mm diameter.

From your sayings, I must forget the 125mm Goliath finally, as I don't want destroy my lathe of course. 
Maybe a good solution would be to make my own jaws too. The only bad is that the k10 chuck was available until yesterday and I was waiting their answer to do my order, but because of Easter holidays they late to reply and now the chuck is not available anymore (I hope that to not late 4 weeks as most of their out of stock items...) 

Something that I didn't mentioned is, that the briar blocks are oblongs, so you can work only with the 2 of 4 jaws.


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## CHJ (30 Mar 2013)

Arvacon":2my60cy9 said:


> ...Something that I didn't mentioned is, that the briar blocks are oblongs, so you can work only with the 2 of 4 jaws.


I would recommend that you use spacers as packing on the other two jaws, gripping on only two jaws on the sides of a rectangular piece is likely to result in the piece tipping between the jaws whilst turning.

If the Blanks are perfectly true rectangles and parallel sided then you could make your own jaws to a pattern similar to the
*

<<<<Pen Blank jaws supplied for some chucks*. Using Wooden Jaw plates and Plywood.

These are for the opposite (expansion) location but show the method.






An alternate chuck you may wish to consider is the *Versa Chuck from the Toolpost,* it can take a variety of different jaw carriers to enable jaws from differing manufactures to be fitted.


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## Walter Hall (30 Mar 2013)

By spigot I meant turning a spigot on the end of the square blank to hold it in jaws that are designed to hold round objects not square blanks.

Chas's suggestion of making your own jaws like a larger version of the pen blank jaws is a good idea as that will give you a really solid grip. Axminster make jaw plates that you can use to mount your own wooden jaws.


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## Arvacon (30 Mar 2013)

Thanks for the link. Do we know how heavy is the VersaChuck?
I just received a reply from Axminster and they told me that the older version of the Evolution chuck, the Super Precision as it was its name, it was 2,64 kilos and 100mm diameter. That friend was using this chuck at his AWSL at the past without problem, so it makes me think that maybe the 3kilos could not be that much finally. 
I wish I could visit them to check everything from close, but I live in Greece!
About the jaws, you have right, 4 jaws with spacers will be much better than just 2, but the pieces of briar haven't standard sizes, sometimes they are smaller than 50mm, some other times bigger, so it will need probably to create a few different spacers for every size.

About spigot, I see what you mean now, but imagine these briar blocks doesn't have any space for waste, as it is almost exactly at the length of a tobacco pipe, so you need be very "economical" and careful at the turning of this expensive small wood blocks. (hammer) 

I have a friend that he has a milling machine, so if I don't do my work correctly with these O'donnell jaws, I will ask him to make for me some jaws (but he is a little slow, so I will need wait for a month maybe..).


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## Walter Hall (30 Mar 2013)

The Versachuck is roughly the same size and weight as the Axminster Super Precision.


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## Arvacon (30 Mar 2013)

Then that means that I have to choose between these 3 chucks,

-K10 Clubman at 2 kilos and 100mm diameter
-Versachuck at 2,64 kilos and 100mm diameter 
-Goliath at 3 kilos and 125mm diameter

Those wood jaw plates of Axminster I guess they fit to all the above chucks, so I will have them in mind too.
I wish I could test them before I buy. I will order the lathe and chuck with jaws all together, to pay less shipping, as shipping cost is around 48 pounds to Greece, so that is why I am thinking so much about take the right choice, to try avoid troubles.. 

I hope to not made you tired


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## CHJ (30 Mar 2013)

Just measured as in working mode in my shop.


1. Versa Chuck with standard Axminster C jaws *3580* grams
2. Axminster Super precision with Wooden jaw plates and wooden jaws shown above *4020* grams.
3. Axminster Goliath chuck with smaller Cole Jaws fitted *3690* grams.


Versa Chuck and Super Precision weight can vary by a 100 grams or so dependant on the actual ISO back plate used.


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## Arvacon (30 Mar 2013)

Wow, I was not expecting that the jaws could be so heavy!
Thanks for these useful info CHJ!

Anyone with a K10 with jaws installed, to take a taste from that one too?


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## Walter Hall (30 Mar 2013)

K10 with standard Axminster C jaws 2155 grams


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## Spindle (30 Mar 2013)

Hi

If you are really limited to the amount of waste you can allow for I suggest you have a look at using a glue chuck. Basically a face plate, (wood or metal), onto which you glue the work using hot melt glue and then turn away with virtually no waste as a result of the mounting method. A glue chuck will also allow you to offset the pipe bowl and turn the stem should you wish.

Just a thought.

Regards Mick


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## János (31 Mar 2013)

Hello,

The standard means of holding a pipe blank for turning and drilling on a wood turning lathe is a _self-centering two jaw chuck_. I do not know any still in production nowadays.

http://www.drechsler-forum.de/phpbb/vie ... 7ddd5323d8

Pipe turning requires high skills to do it safely and properly.

A four jaw scroll chuck is not the best (and safest) thing to use for this kind of work. You could fit it with a home made pair of wooden jaws, but the grip and holding power would be much less than the amount offered by the "proper thing".

http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Articles/ ... wChuck.htm

Be very careful!

Have a nice day,

János


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## Arvacon (31 Mar 2013)

Oh.. Walter, as it seems, the K10 finally is much lighter than I was counting instead of the upper measurements.. Hmm..
Glue chuck? I had never heard about this again. I will search about it. I just wonder, can the hot glue hold the piece so strongly at a faceplate, when you don't support it with live center?
Janos thanks for the links, I saw some interesting things at that forum, so I bookmarked it. 
Of course it would be much better if I could find and afford to buy a 2 jaw chuck, but it seems that even if it's exist, it will be expensive enough.
I had a look at the pipe makers forum today, so I found this topic http://www.pipemakersforum.com/forum/vi ... 306#p34306 . The pipemakers admin and some other members suggest the "Oneway" http://www.oneway.ca/chucks/oneway.htm or "Talon" chuck http://www.oneway.ca/chucks/talon.htm with the "#2 Profiled TOWER Jaws" http://www.pipemakersforum.com/forum/vi ... 857#p40857

What do you think about this option? 
It seems I have to spend some more money for this, as oneway with jaws will cost around 200 euros, when axminster k10 with jaws is at 110 euros.. Hmm, double price, but these jaws seems so practical.. :|



Edit: Happy Easter for you guys! 
For Greeks is at next weekend and can't wait to eat the delicious lamb


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## Arvacon (31 Mar 2013)

It seems that I can't afford to buy that oneway chuck. I own an Optimum D180 metal lathe and I have a small vice slide too, so I think I will just buy a K10 chuck and then I will try to make my own jaws, something like the one in the pictures (with some corrections of course, as they seems too bulky). 
I think this is the easiest way to go, so I will post some pictures when I will finish them.

Thank you for your great help guys.


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## Arvacon (4 Apr 2013)

Hi guys.
Finally I changed my mind after a short talking I had with the customer service of Axminster, so I ordered the Goliath chuck. The technician said that the K10 would be the identical chuck for this lathe ( but it is not in stock and it will be available again at the end of May!!!), but he said that although the goliath is a little heavier, I would not have any problem with that, as it is not so huge the weight difference and if I understood well (as my listening with English language is not so good), he told me that they have try this combination and there is no problem, so finally his opinion was that I will not have problem to use this with the AWSL lathe.
I bought also the 80mm O'Donnell jaws, as a pipemaker suggested me, so lets hope that everything will be fine, although the practice at work will show if my choices were good or bad.
If those jaws doesn't work well with pipes, I will keep them for other lathe works and I will make my own jaws.
The lathe, chuck and jaws order is at the road from England to Greece now, so we will see!


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## Arvacon (12 Apr 2013)

The cargo arrived 2 days before. Shipping was very fast finally. 
I made a video about this topic. Hope you like it.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLOXqyXjyLo


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