Hi

I'm going to buy a 4-jaw independent chuck and it's difficult to decide. The "better" (non-Asian) brands I found don't have the size I'm looking for or didn't feel as good as their price… I found a few options and wondering if anyone here has experience with those. I'm considering ordering from abroad (I'm not in the UK).

Chinese(?) chuck from Pro Machine Tools. Huge advantage is that it comes with an adapter plate that fits my lathe (Emco). I can also order just the adapter plate from them and probably fit it to most other chucks, as long as they have a register.

I found Zither chucks. It seems that they have regular ones (on their website) and thinner ones (found on Arc Euro Trade). They are more expensive than the Chinese chucks if that means anything? Since it's on a permanent plate the front mount is really not important, but the bolts are inside the register, which probably means it should touch there. Maybe it's my imagination that it's more rigid with the chuck and plate touching on the outside with inner register, but I don't really know.

There are the Vertex chucks. Are they really made in Taiwan? I know from other fields many Taiwanese companies have products made in China…
I've never seen a Vertex chuck here but I know a local importer which sells Vertex vises so they can probably order it.

There are some other chucks locally that I'm still checking, where they are made, etc. Prices are higher than the UK which means nothing since the same Chinese tools usually cost much more here.

I've had some problems with Chinese chucks before so a bit worried… like significant run out, tapered jaws, etc.

Thanks for any suggestions

Thanks. I'm not so concerned with run out in that sense because it's a 4-jaw independent chuck. What's important is that the jaw ways are reasonably perpendicular and the jaw grip surfaces are parallel. One issue I had with a Chinese chuck is that the jaws weren't griping at all at the front, essentially making stick out significantly more than it than it should be.

I'm wondering if I should save myself a lot of hassle by just buying the Chinese chuck with adapter plate… or how much better any other option would be really… I rather fit an adapter plate than grind the jaws… the latter is not a realistic option for me at all.