El Grande Problems

[Neillarson]

I tried my first El Grande today, faountain version. Ran into an odd problem. The bushins did not fit the mandrel. They are the right bushing for the pen, they fit it fine and are in my cross reference chart but they are loose on the mandrel. Are there diferent size mandrels? did I get the wrong set anyway? I have the M2 mandrel from Wooedcraft and my other bushings fit fine.

 

[Rudy Vey]

The El Grande bushings come in two versions: A for the small 7 mm mandrel (sold by Woodcraft) or the B version, 8 mm mandrel for the Berea original (#16B).
Maybe there was some mix-up.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Are you using a standard 7mm mandrel? Or do you have the larger 8mm mandrel and the bushing might be for 7mm. But, there is always a possibility of undersize holes. Check by trying to insert drill bits.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

What I do on most all of my larger pens is to turn with a dead center in the headstock and the liver center in the tail Use the bushings like you normaly would and you need not worry about a loose fit, bend shaft, or "whip". You also are able to let the blank slip a bit to prevent catches. This works great on cigar pens where the bushings never seem to be tight enough for me. If your lathe is lined up point to point, you are not going to get the blank to run much more true than this does.

 

[gerryr]

Woodcraft only sells a 7mm mandrel. They may also sell El Grande bushings that fit the 7mm mandrel. If they don't, you will need the larger mandrel shaft that Berea sells.

 

[Neillarson]

Thanks for the info, I ordered thew 8MM manderel from Berea today along with some more eEl Grande kits. I really like the feel of that pen.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Neil, don't forget the Churchill is a very nice kit too and shares the same bushings (man, I love that!)

 

[Neillarson]

Cool tip, thanks, I will try a Churchill next.