I'm about to buy a 6" independent 4-jaw lathe chuck. ENCO has their free shipping promo on this month, so I was looking there.
They have a no-name with threaded mount for $99.95 (ENCO #271-6382):
Bison plain back for $156.95 (ENCO #240-3064):
I do believe that you get what you pay for, but I also believe in buying what I _need_, even if it's not always the "best". So, what does the $200 Bison have or do that the $100 no-name doesn't? With an independent 4-jaw, all you really need is that the jaws are parallel to the spindle axis, right? How much worse will the no-name be than the Bison in this regard?
I expect that the chuck will get very little use, so durability is not something I need.
If I get the Bison, how fussy would I have to be in finishing the semi-finished back plate? My lathe experience was in high school shop,
45 years ago.I hope that this doesn't provoke a debate or too many rants about Chinese crap. My apologies in advance if it does ;-) Bob