I also bought one some years ago.. seem to remember it was only 80 or so

and just as you its excellent and is my everyday fitted chuck

I bought a six-jaw Sanou chuck last year. It was probably from the same UK seller as yours Chris, by the sound of it. I was originally attracted by the price, too – £99 inclusive of VAT and delivery. Its only downside is that it will not grip very small or very large diameter workpieces, for which I swap it out for either a 3- or 4-jaw, but nevertheless spends 99% of the time mounted on my lathe. Can't fault the finish or accuracy within the limits of my measuring equipment.

John

I purchased a Sanou 3 jaw 4" chuck recently ( I think it was from Arc, had their logo but a Sanou number) I cannot fault it at all. Brilliant quality, irrespective of the low price.

I believe that Sanou have upped their quality standards over the last year or two. I would not bother looking elsewhere for a new chuck.

Andrew.

That is what tends to put me off buying one as well. In the USA, you can get the model with the two piece reversable jaws, I was shown a picture on the Home Shop Machinist forum.

Edited By old mart on 27/03/2021 19:47:16

Useful information, thanks for taking the time to post this Chris, appreciated, Colin.

Before I duck down and take cover below the parapet, could any of you gentlemen who are satisfied with these chucks and praise them for quality and finish tell me if the jaws are hardened or not.

Being a sceptic, I find it hard to believe they are.

Regards

Brian

Brian,

I've just nipped out to the workshop and tried a file on my six-jaw chuck. Result: the file skids off without leaving a mark, I'm relieved to say. So, my assumption is that, yes, they are hardened, or at least, mine are.

John

You can come out from beneath the parapet now.

Excuse me for asking a stupid question, but what is the advantage of a 6 jaw chuck over the usual 3or 4 jaw ?

Hello Brother John ! Me too !

I have two Sanou chucks supplied with my little Warco lathe (WM180) and was surprised by their quality when they arrived…. The only 'con' for me is that the jaws are not only very hard but also 'as machined' with very sharp serrations…they easily damage work pieces unless you are prepared. I have made copper jaw covers for my 4-jaw and use a collection of copper split tubes for the 3-jaw, which I don't use very often as i usually use 4 Jaw or excellent collet chuck also made by Sanou. The Warco supplied chucks have the name Feurdo but are facsimile and bear same model numbers etc.

If you read Joseph Nochi’s (who’s views I respect) experience on this forum about Sanou Chuck which he purchased via a marketplace platform a few years ago, they were less than complementary.

So, in early 2019 a decision was made to visit the factory to see for our selves. My wife and I on behalf of ARC, along with representatives of two other organisations who purchase lathe chucks for various customers around the world, went for days meeting.

SANOU is a well organised family run business with two brothers at the head. They are an extremely alert pair. Both have their figure on the pulse in terms of engineering, finance, marketing and most importantly politics (subject in which they take strong national pride).

As a result, they will produce whatever the customer wants, at whatever price level, provided large MOQs are provided. They do not keep any stock, working on a 'just in time' system. The level of advanced automation is one of the best I have seen. Their major production mostly for larger size chucks is made of consumption within China. Overruns or rejects sold off to whoever wants them.

The quality is very much dependant on what the customer wants to pay for the price. So, you will see different grades of the same product in different market places around the world, all with the SANOU mark.

ARC purchases the quality it is happy with, at the price it pays to its manufacturing supplier. At present, the supplier for its Chinese origin lathe chucks is SANOU. We pay a premium for our branded product for a specific specification, along with the two other organisations as mentioned above.

– Technically, the K**-###* mentioned by Jason above, refers to a standard Chinese numbering system. This is what is supposed to be used by ALL Chinese lathe chuck manufacturers for a given size/type, originally established in the old Russian collaboration days.
– Around four to five factories were established by the communist state in four corners of China, led by Huhhot and Yantai – the original set-ups, followed by their engineers being sent to the other corners on the country to establish lathe chuck factories following the same systems.

Now a days, although the numbering system remains, several lathe chuck founding factories have collapsed, either financially or politically, leading to new set-ups rising from the ashes. One always has to keep an eye on these lathe chuck factories, as it is difficult to be sure about when changes will take place.

Keeping all of the above issues in mind, ARC made a decision to sell Chinese origin lathe chucks in its own brand. We don't know if and when we have to change the manufacturing supplier, but at present we are happy and grateful with SANOUs ability to supply us what we need. We will not supply lathe chucks under the SANOU brand as far as possible (unless we have no choice), because we are aware of the different grades available, especially for the smaller sized chucks, all of which carry the SANOU brand.

Ady1: Keyless drill chucks are a very good example of after market product which ARC buys from a different source other than SANOU. The quality for this product from SANOU fails to meet our needs. There are sub-contract factories to SANOU for this product range, branded SANOU, but outside of their QC, because the price paid to them for this product is seriously low for them to consider production in-house. Having said this, many machine manufacturers will use such drill chucks as well as key type chucks procured through SANOU directly or through wholesalers. Price paid by ARC for keyless chucks from another location in China is far higher than the offering from SANOU. Similarly, back in 2019, I am aware that ROHM procured its components for such products from elsewhere.

Bob Stevenson: Fuerda is a different factory from SANOU, based in a different location.

SOD Dave: After visiting the state of the art SANOU factory, I would suggest it is difficult to make decent chucks. I have visited several lathe chuck factories in China as well as in India. Yes, I would agree that there is a high level of politics, especially associated with this factory, and for this reason it always helps to be friendly with more than one maker, for reasons stated above . As far as the Chinese and Indians are concerned, they are both extremely focused on their own national pride, with a healthy measure of sabrer-rattling at each other. Whilst is is very true that the current generation on Chinese and Indians are extremely confident of their own abilities – rightly as well as wrongly, probability of India entering into a 'REAL' healthy relationship with China at present are low.

Even though SANOU sends a high volume of variable grade chucks to India, the demand for locally produced chucks within India is far higher, mainly due to national pride, and SANOU has a very small market share.

Ketan at ARC

Ketan: Thanks for the inside view of the industry. Always interesting to hear what goes on behind the scenes.