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Peru, Lima
1 Level
691 Review
51 Karma

Review on Grizzly Industrial G8784 4-Jaw Chuck With 1 Inch Round Piece Capacity And 8 TPI Thread. by Benjamin Glasper

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Surprisingly good chuck.

I got two of these as spares in addition to a couple of higher end chucks I have, since I have a habit of leaving unfinished work sitting around, and I prefer to never re-chuck my work to so I don't get wobble when I re-chuck. I was expecting a cheap tool that worked as well as a cheap tool should, but was quite pleasantly surprised.For a test, I turned a 8" piece of wood in a Wood River chuck. I rotated the wood in the chuck 90 degrees, and got a tiny bit of misalignment, exactly what you'd expect. I repeated this, for 180 degrees total rotation, and got the same results.I then chucked the same piece of wood in the Grizzly chuck, and got the same tiny bit of misalignment. No better, no worse.I repeated the test with a PSI Barracuda and got the same results.In addition, the jaws from the PSI and Wood River fit on the Grizzly, although the locating keyway is inverted on the Grizzly, so the Grizzly jaws can't go on the PSI or Wood River. The screws on the PSI are a different size from the Grizzly, and the screws need to be conical-headed to locate the jaws, and the Grizzly screws do not have conical heads, so you'll need to get new screws to put PSI jaws on the Grizzly. Any decent hardware store should have them.The jaws grip just fine. I prefer this type of jaw over the ones with the multiple sharp grooves, which frequently dig into the wood. The chucks I received grip on both the ID and OD, the other user who commented on that may have gotten a mis-machined one - it wouldn't be the first time that had happened with low-end woodworking equipment.I also tried swapping the jaws with a One Way "Talon", but the hole spacing is different.The threads on the Grizzly are a bit longer than the other chucks, so I needed an extra spacer on the spindle of my Powermatic model 45.Also, the "wrenches" (metal rods) and holes are a bit smaller on the Grizzly than on the Wood River, but I drilled them with a hand drill to match the Wood River, reducing the tool count on my bench.The finish is not as good on the Grizzly, it's all a black oxide finish, and the movement is a little bit rough, but I assume it'll loosen up with a bit of use. I'm giving this five stars because it appears to perform just as well as the PSI and Wood River, and it's 1/4 the price of the Wood River and 1/3 the price of the PSI. I would love to support companies that cater specifically to the woodworking industry, but the prices for PSI and Wood River are just plain ridiculous, and as near as I can tell it all comes from China anyway.

Pros
  • Was not sure I liked it at first. After using it a few times, it is a very nice chuck.
Cons
  • The 1-inch round piece capacity of this chuck may limit the types and sizes of materials it can accommodate, making it less versatile than other models