"Lynn Coffelt" wrote in message
...
Thanks to all the great advice. .

(big snip)

Was PT Barnham correct? A fool born every minute?
I'll bring you up to date in a few weeks, after I launch or sling a
bowl or two, just to get the hang of it. Thanks again!
Old Chief Lynn

Well, I did get the Grizzly $99 scroll chuck and although I have not
used (or looked closely) at any other scroll chucks, I offer my opinion.

Although it was clear that it was not made by Swiss watchmakers,
it did look fairly well made. It's opening and closing seemed a little
"gritty", so I disassembled it and flushed it all out with plenty of WD-40.
Yes, there was dirt and a few small machining chips that came out,
and then after reoiling (mostly for rust protection) it operated fairly
smoothly.
Bought the additional jaws offered by Grizzly, and test mounted
them on the chuck. I noticed immediately that they did not come
together perfectly when fully closed, but found that by loosening the
jaw attaching screws slightly, closing the jaws together and then
retightening the screws resulted in an "eyeball" perfect closing.
Mounting the chuck on my 14" Grizzly lathe made it look pretty
small, but checking the runout of both the chuck body, and around
the outside diameter of the closed jaws showed less than .001".
I was impressed as the face plate that came with the lathe had
a lot more than that.
I tried turning some scrap (my best work to date) to use both
the internal and external dovetail sides of the jaws, and nothing
flew off. Seemed pretty secure to me, a certified greenhorn.
I dulled all my recently purchased (and sharpened) tools,
(a really elegant 7 piece carbon steel set which retailed at $29.95)
learning how to produce great "catches" and surprise "scrolling".
My 8 gallon ShopVac is full now, is there any good use for
these chips, curls and dust? Seems a shame to waste so much
good stuff!
Old Chief Lynn (whose SHMBO has been quite tolerant)