[Autodidact]

LMS has 4" and 5" chucks to upgrade with and I'm very tempted to go to a 5" 3 jaw. However I'm concerned the bearings and motor may not approve of my choice.
Will the 5" be a overload on the machine? Would I be better of with a 4"? I may buy the longer bed later and it would have greatly improved the functionality at a affordable price.
The standard 3" chuck with only one set of jaws I found very limiting quickly.

[jfong]

I have 5" chuck on my CNC converted 7x12. At the time I bought it, I also purchased a set of taper bearings for the upgrade. It's been about 5 years now and I still haven't replaced the bearings. The lathe has been running fine. One day I will replace them but would rather work on other projects first.

[Autodidact]

5 years and its still going it must not be a problem then! Thanks for the reply!

[jfong]

5 years and its still going it must not be a problem then! Thanks for the reply!

It's not a machine I use everyday but it's done quite a few parts. The motor has no problem spinning the chuck. At the time everyone said it isn't recommended but I did it anyway. Of course your machine may behave differently. I might of lucked out and and received better bearings if that is possible with these inexpensive lathes.

[RTP_Burnsville]

I have a LMS 4 inch, 4 jaw on mine and it works just fine. FWIW, I prefer a 4 jaw over a 3 jaw. Once you get the hang of aligning, it's almost as fast as a three jaw without the runout issue.

Robert

[Autodidact]

Since this thread is a few months old a update is in order. I ended up with a 3 jaw 4" and bought the 16" bed upgrade which is very nice addition.
The 4" chuck was waaay out of balance. The little lathe made a obvious rump rump sound! I made a ball bearing aluminum wheel balancer and ended up drilling out almost 2oz to get it in balance.
I would still like to have a 4 jaw if LMS will run a sale ...