Berea Slimline Pen Bushing on PSI's mandrel?

[Dominic Greco]

Quick one here people;
I'm in the process of making some last minute Christmas gifts for the family and need to buy about 32 slim line pen kits. (Nothing like waiting until the last minute, eh?)

Before my Dad passed away, he cut down a large limb from the huge old maple tree that was on the front lawn of the house he and my Mom lived in for 50 years. Since he knew I was a turner, he gave that branch to me. Not long after he passed away, the tree had to be cut down (it was leaning towards the house). You know, the old house just doesn't look the same with out that tree. So, I decided to make the entire family pens from my "Dad's Tree".

Arizona Silhouette has a special on the Berea 24K Plain Kit Slimline Pen kits (#BHW-10) for $1.49 each. That's about the best price I have seen for these kits (and I like dealing with Bill). So it looks like I'm going to buy them.

Only, I don't know if the bushings (p/n: 1A) Berea sells will fit on my PSI mandrel. Anybody have an idea on this?

Thanks,
Dominic

 

[Fred in NC]

I am using the bushings I already had with the Berea kits from Bill. The mandrel is from Woodcraft, and some bushings are from PSI. The PSI mandrel I have measures .244, the Woodcraft is .246. The Berea bushings I have fit the Woodcraft a little better, but are usable in both.

 

[Randy_]

The Berea 7 mm mandrel is 0.247+0-0.002 inches. The PSI mandrel is 0.243 inches. Therefore the the Berea bushings will be a hair loose on the PSI mandrel; but should probably work OK.

On the other hand, if you are doing 32 kits, it would probably be worth spending the few additional dollars and do it right by getting the Berea mandrel..... they are only $6. You may also need to purchase an arbor($6) if the Berea mandrel won't fit the PSI arbor.

 

[Fred in NC]

Randy, I agree, and also should point that I have saved a lot of time by having more than one mandrel. I do batches of 4 pens at a time.

 

[Randy_]

One last little note to put this all in perspective. The paper that they print your daily newspaper on is about 0.003" thick so we are not talking about big differences here!!!

 

[thostorey]

I would try one pen to completion with the bushings/mandrel you have and see how the tip fits. It could be that with a loose bushing, one side of the wood will be a little proud of the tip but maybe not enough to notice. Just a thought.

 

[jkirkb94]

I use Woodcraft slimline bushings and mandrels from them as well as Craft Supply. I also have bought various bushings from Penn State. The Woodcraft bushings always seem to be the beefier of all my bushings. Kirk [8D]

 

[Dominic Greco]

Thanks for all the input people!

You know, I really should just buy another mandrel anyway. They're not all that expensive and like Fred said, I could always use another one for production work.

Thanks again.