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Dome Chuck

Overview

Historical Dome Chuck

A Dome Chuck is used for holding the object perpendicular to the axis of rotation (or at some other angle which is not aligned with the axis of rotation).

The one shown to the right is a historical one. It is certainly combined with some other device used to hold the work piece (screwed onto the threads projecting up.

It was often combined with something like an an oblique chuck to achieve the artistic designs. That is why so many I see made today combine both functions into the same device.

If you want to buy one, Lindow Machine Works makes a very nice one. But, if you would rather make one, Bill Ooms and Jon Magill have some nice designs.

Additional pictures of this device

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Examples of work produced with this device

Bill Ooms made this wonderful piece using what he calls his Super Dome Chuck. Combining the dome chuck with the features of an oblique chuck allowed each of the flower designs to be centered on, and perpendicular to, the cutter at the time that one was created.

Image courtesy Bill Ooms

Notes on making one

Dome & Oblique Chuck
Image courtesy Bill Ooms

Bill Ooms made what he calls a Super Dome Chuck, and has published his plans. It is a combination of a dome chuck and an oblique chuck. He has built two very nice ideas into his design:

1. Use of a digital protractor for setting the angle, and
2. Use of a threaded mechanism to set the distance off centre.

Jon Magill made a combination dome chuck, eccentric chuck, and an oblique chuck which he showed at the 2016 AAW Symposium in Atlanta. (Images below are courtesy Jon Magill.)

Used as a dome chuck ...	... or as an eccentric chuck
... or as an oblique chuck	This is the back.

Sources for buying one

• Lindow Machine Works

More Information

Published Articles

• Creating a Spiral-Appearing Fluted Spherical Box on a Dome Chuck by Roy Lindley.
  • Part 1 - Ornamental Turners International Newsletter, Volume 26, No. 2 - Winter, 2019, pg. 8
  • Part 2 - Ornamental Turners International Newsletter, Volume 27, No. 2 - October, 2020, pg. 11
• Dome Chuck to Straightline Kit by (unknown). Rose Engine News, Volume 4, No. 2, Tool Bonus Issue, 2014, pg, 6.
• Dome Chuck and Accessories by (unknown). Rose Engine News, Volume 4, No. 2, Tool Bonus Issue, 2014, pg, 7.
• Lindow Rose Engine Alignment Procedures, Section 2, pg. 6
• Super Dome Chuck by Bill Ooms. Ornamental Turners International Newsletter, Volume 21, No. 1 - Spring, 2014, pg. 24
• Walter Balliet's Dome Chuck by Walter Balliet.
  • Ornamental Turners International Newsletter, Volume 3, No. 4 - September, 1996, pg. 3
  • Ornamental Turners International Newsletter, Volume 22, No. 2 - November, 2015, pg. 16

Books and Papers

• John Jacob Holtzapffel's 1884 book, Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, vol. 5 is a great source of information.

Presentations

• Brad Davis gave a demonstration to the club about his dome chuck in use making an acorn box. The recording for this video is in the Ornamental Turners Int'l (OTI) member meeting videos, April 2023.
• 3D Printed Dome Chuck (YouTube video) by PT.