Which Pen Mandrel is best

[RJD2]

I just purchased my Jet Mini, and wanted your opinions regarding which pen mandrel to buy. Which one of these offerings from Woodcraft would you recommend?

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=3759
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=1608

[Tom Miller]

I had a bad experience with the second mandrel on your list (the "Professional" mandrel). I tried two from Craft Supplies, and one from Woodcraft, on two different lathes. All three had at least 0.010" runout!

What works well for me is to get just the 1/4" replacement rods for these (don't see them in the Woodcraft on-line, but got them from the local Woodcraft). I chuck them in my Jacobs chuck.

Regards,
Tom

[onedash]

Dumb question but do you have to have a chuck to make pens?
I thought I bought everything I needed today.
Rikon Lathe
3 piece pinnacle chisels
complete mill set ( thought that was drill bits)
some finish
10 pen kits
~40 blanks (6 acrylic)
A book about turning (including a section on pens) guess I ought to crack it open...

What else do I need?
--a mandrell
--drill bits
--a press (can you use a bessey clamp to squeeze it together?)

Got plenty sandpaper
anything else?

[RayintheUK]

Dumb question but do you have to have a chuck to make pens?

No. Mandrels fit into the Morse taper of your headstock and the live center of your tailstock.

What else do I need?
--a mandrell
--drill bits
--a press (can you use a bessey clamp to squeeze it together?)

Got plenty sandpaper
anything else?

See here for a run-down on the process and tools involved.

Ray.

[kwgeorge]

I have had the opposite experience from what Tom describes. I have the second one that you list and I like it just fine and have no issues with it. One of the things that I like about it is that it uses a collet to lock the rod in place so with that I can shorten or lengthen the rod as needed instead of just adding more bushings.

I have noticed that people make several mistakes when they first start pen turning and most of these are in the initial setup. The first issue is lathe alignment as your head stock must be in alignment with your tail stock. If your tailstock is shifted one way or another you will end up with what you may believe to be runout but it is not, it is a taper. Machinist often off center the tailstock to turn a taper. The second issue is with the live center that will be holding your mandrel at the tailstock side. Typically the live center that comes with lathes is very pointed and is meant to stab into the wood. Unfortunately the mandrels are countersunk with a 60 degree taper which is far less steep of an angle as the normal live center so with the mandrel rod being harder steel than the live center it normally destroys the tip on the live center and makes proper alignment impossible. The affect on the turning is that the end near the tailstock seems to come out oval instead of round when compared to the bushing. Woodcraft caries cheap live centers with a 60 degree taper on the point so plan on one of them also. The next issue is over tightening the mandrel. If you apply to much pressure on the tail stock you will flex the mandrel rod. You will know you are doing this as the center section of the pen will be more oval after turning.

Here are a few links to some things I have written on this subject;

Simple pen making; (did this one is 2004)
http://www.theturnersshop.com/turnin...en/slpen1.html

Modified Slimline Pen; (did this in 2005)
http://www.theturnersshop.com/turnin...od/slmod1.html

Blank Drilling Fixture; (I wanted a quick repeatable way to drill lots of blanks with the least hassle)
http://www.theturnersshop.com/turnin...drillfix1.html

Anyhow, all this should help you the thing to remember in turning is that it is a constant growing and learning experience.

Ken

[onedash]

No. Mandrels fit into the Morse taper of your headstock and the live center of your tailstock.

See here for a run-down on the process and tools involved.

Ray.

Thank you....I bought a book but it only has a couple pages on pens.

I think we need a page of links here. Lots of members have some good info on their own websites. (plus that can boost your web search rankings by being linked to from more sites.)