On 1 Apr 2007 08:51:10 -0700, "Fred Holder"
wrote:

Hello Lynn,

I haven't personally checked out the Grizzley scroll chuck, but I
think it is a Chinese copy of the Vicmarc Chuck. Victor, owner of
Vicmarc, said that the Chinese even copied his user manual to supply
with it. The Chinese are capable of making fairly good quality stuff,
so I would consider purchasing the chuck in your case.

An earlier Grizzley chuck with two tommy bars that I purchased to
check out was so sloppy that I wouldn't trust it to hold anything;
however, someone else has posted that they use that chuck. So maybe
the one I received was extra bad for some reason.

Since I'm the guy that is using one of them, I figure I'd better add
in at least one qualification-

My inital response to the cheap Grizzly was the same as yours, and I
did lose a few pieces when I first got it, even when reefing on the
bars as hard as I could.

Of course, having little cash on hand, I had to make the one I had
work, rather than rushing out to buy another, and while I made no
modifications to the chuck itself, I did find that some modification
to the work I was turning was in order.

What I found (and it's still quite possible that yours was just extra
bad, as you suggest) was that the chuck works really well, but only on
a limited range of tenon sizes (only slightly larger than the chuck in
the fully closed position) Using a large tenon or recess might work
out ok with a better chuck that has a little more bite to it, but with
the smooth-jawed cheapie, it needs all the metal contact it can get.

After using it for quite a while, I can say with some confidence that
it works well- though I would have had a different opinion about it
the first time I tried to chuck up a piece with a 4" diameter tenon on
the bottom, and it went sailing off the lathe!

All that being said, it's like any other cheap tool- it works fine
with a little practice and fussing around, but it's not a miracle
worker right out of the box.