I have been a machinist for 54 years now. I would have done the same thing as you did. But I really appreciate your patience and kindness explaining to others what needs to be done. Have a great day!

Thank you for your honest and knowledgeable review of the Sanou chuck. I purchased the 100 mm self-centering 3 jaw chuck but my pinion gears had sharp edges which would bind and lock-up on the retaining pins. I could not afford to return the chuck (freight charges cost as much as the chuck) but the seller offered to refund $20 which I accepted as fair. I corrected the issues with the pinions by grinding down the sharp edges and making new retaining pins (the originals were badly cut up by the pinions) and now the chuck performs very smoothly. You get what you pay for, yet I am pleased that, as a hobbyist, I got a functional chuck at the fraction of the cost of a QA certified instrument. Regards, Al

I recently received an 80mm Sanou 3 jaw. On arrival it felt like it was filled with sand and was very stiff. Having watched your 6 jaw video I dived in and stripped it down and deburred everything and then ultrasonically cleaned it before re-assembly with moly grease. It now feels lovely with a run out of +/-0.05mm which is more than adequate for my application. Thanks for sharing your experience and giving me the confidence to attack it.

Excellent review, being a novice Lathe owner and trying to understand what to do to get my lathe setup, Thank You

I got a Sanou 6" 3 jaw as part of the package when I bought a BS-1 indexing head. The diecast back surprised me. It is actually an OK chuck. I'm surprised they can be sold as cheaply as they are. Your video should help new people to the hobby.

Just received a LMS mini lathe that came with a 3-jaw Sanou self-centering chuck. Thanks to you, I know what I might do after initial testing!! Cheers ...

I appreciate your review. I really appreciate your making clear that the "value for money" proposition is very good. If it weren't a hobby, then spending $1500 for a chuck would probably be reasonable. As a hobbyist, that would be more than my lathe cost in the first place. I think that I would have ground the jaws and left the register; but that is a personal choice. Great review.

Ade, I have to fully agree with you about these Chinese chucks being great value for the home workshop. I have a couple of similar chinese chucks and find them very good. The same as you I always leave a bit of wiggle room on the backplate register to 'taptrue' the chuck into best concentricity. The Chinese chuck which came with my BS 0 dividing head is consistently within one thou for concentricity. Even on my Pratt Burnerd chucks on my harrison lathe I have the register a few thou undersize to facilitate setting dead true concentric (a poor mans Grip-Tru chuck)

Very nice video, had the same issue on the 200mm one, just needs to be re-grinded on the lathe. For me personally a press or heat fit for the chuck is a must, it is intended to be mounted with some interference fit, specially if larger chuck is used and you are dealing with high speed/feed and larger workpieces.

It's weird but I came to this video because I was curious about a tool used in an ASMR video, and then I come to find your voice very calming as well, and also informative of course.

Besides the bolts, if you cut circular, circumferential ridges into the face of the backplate, they will act as "teeth" to hold onto the chuck's rear surface. Even squirts of locking compound will help tighten the fit.

Lovely review Ade. My mini Lathe came with a 3-jaw that was consistently 5 thou' out of true. I sprang for a SanOu 4-jaw and now I can dial things in to 1 thou with ease.

The Christmasmen bring me the same;-) SanOu the Name of Qualität and small Money

I would loved to have seen what the runout was as it come from the factory. On my Craftex B2227 3 jaw self centering chuck, the rounout on a 1" bar is impercievable, no movement on the dial inticator at all. That chuck costs $165 CAD

Ade, thanks for your very thorough review, as well as showing the process for preparing the backplate. I am seriously looking at this K11-125 chuck for my 9x20 lathe. Based on your observations, I think this chuck will be just right for my hobby usage, and my budget. The K11-125 is also available through AliExpress. Shipping a 5" lathe chuck to Canada is pricey, no matter who the supplier is. :-(

Hello Ade I liked your review, no loud music, out of focus and personal stories , Not to mention unintelligible accent from the Scottish hills. Could you kindly send a link for the indexed back plate? I did not know this feature was available. A big thanks and a new subscriber today.

Great review. I too have some of these chucks and I think San Ou are these best Chinese chuck Ive found

Thanks for this review. I have just received the 4 jaw self centering San Ou 125 mm chuck. So will follow your lead.

Exactly what I did made my own set true mount

Quindi è una fregatura comprare quel modello di mandrino, visto che lavora storto. Grazie per la informazione . Ottimo lavoro BRAVO

When you fix a piece on the Chuck, pse use the 3 screws tightening the jaws, using only one is the best means of having terrible runout!!

Adeyou commented about outside jaws for your old Bernerd chuck. I found a set to suit my Griptru chuck on Ebay sorry can't remember the site tho. Not too expensive either

Very nice review. I am looking at buying one but have an "unknown" I need to be able to put 30mm rod in the chuck and the spec's say the hole is 30mm, my question is how accurate is the 30mm hole. I pry maybe 30.2 or something other wise I would have to go to the k11-160 and the extra cost is hard to justify. Here in New Zealand the 125 is $200 or from aliexpress for $240. Would it be possible to hone out the hole a bit?

Thank you so much. But can you tell me how heavy is the package please?

Good review Ade, I have been looking at these chucks, like you I currently have a Burnerd but have got inside and outside jaws. I wanted to get as large a chuck as possible for my ML7 so do you think the 160mm chuck would be a problem for the lathe? Shame you had to introduce clearance into the register dia.

nice review. im thinking of buying this chuck in the near future.

Nice review, but I want to address a belief you expressed which is flatly incorrect. Quality management has been proven in every industry to actually reduce total product and/or service cost (vs price, which is market driven), increase reliability, and customer satisfaction. If you or anyone on this channel doesn't believe that, go briefly read up on the history of William E. Deming and the rise of quality in post-war Japan. There is not a major car manufacturer in the world, for example, who could compete today without employing this. Products like this Sanou chuck, or here in the United States retail houses like Harbor Freight which sell exclusively products made in China that are colloquially here called kits - not be confused with the Brittish use of "kit" - because they work after a bit of tweaking, correction, repair, and/or improvement are cheaper mostly because of lower labor costs. As in one doesn't purchase a whole product but in effect a do-it-yourself kit. Indeed, just as the rise of quality and manufacturing in Japan, Chinese manufacturing is learning and rapidly improving. I only pipe up because we all sell ourselves short for ever making excuses for poor quality. Comment aside, your outstanding competence at the lathe is amazing to watch - I love your channel!

G’day Ade good video mate I have the same thing coming up so this will be a great help thanks mate regards John

Good quality video thanks, Coventry UK.

comprei um e adorei, muito bom

Работа в матерчатых перчатках, свитерах с рукавами может приветсти к наматыванию токаря на вал!

Thanks for the review. I am interested in a Sanou 3 jaw chuck but do not understand the (chucks conform to is 03442 standard) is this a hardness rating and do I need this for a model lathe. I finally own a Myford ML7 to build my Stuart Turner double vertical 10 that I bought 50 years ago in 1969 when I lived in England. thank you.

I was wondering how good their chucks are, they do seem to be good value for the money, all things considered.

Nice review Ade. Helpful too, as it has answers to a few questions I had, having just scored me a nice little ML7. In your opinion, how do the San Ou chucks compare to the HBM chucks from RDG?

Thank you for sharing. Good info.

Good review

Great video, thanks! 👍🏼

Great video. I recently purchased one of these and intend to tear it down. Now this might be a dumb question, but you mention a paraffin wash to clean it. What is a paraffin wash? That is a new one for me. Clean it in melted wax? Thanks for any info...

This Chuck ! Looks ! A ! LOT LIKE The N.C.K ! Chuck's of the Eighties !!!

Nice fit to your back plate

nice , thank you

Legit. Thanks.

Great video. can you please advise if this chuck can be used on a wood lathe with a 1 inch x 8 tpi spindle. thank you.

😃 HI 😃 I want to ask the origin of the footer / even where it is produced made in ????

Could the punchmark have an impact on the runout?

I absolutely love your detailed videos !! By the way, You could easily make $$$$ doing "voice-overs" for one of my favorite actors, Sean Pertwee!

Pretty particular,, l would have lived with the 4 thousands before turning back plate not snug always risk of moving now.

the problem with these cheap chinese chucks is you will never win , it may run true on one diameter but run out on another so you are forever chasing accuracy , not only that if you search long enough you can find a real quality chuck for the same price , I recently purchased a same size old stock Pratt Griptru with both sets of jaws for less than £100 , retail is now £ 500 + , I am a toolmaker by trade and have had lots of experience with lathe chucks and the Pratt is far far far better than the chinese chucks , keep searching

I looked on eBay and they want 25,000 dollars

ade, can i email you ?

Stay away from Chinese chucks. It's as bad as you can get. I have four of them (two of the same make as in the video) which came with the new lathe I bought. In no time it had massive play between the jaws and the chuck. Bad stuff like 70% of the rubbish I bought on Aliexpress.