Getting "Chatter" on the mandrel.

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cowchaser

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2007
Messages
927
Location
Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA.
The tool is not sharp or
you are taking too deep a cut or
your tailstock is not tight.

I agree completely with this. It is what I ran into when I was first started to make pens. Some of it was caused by technique for me and found myself holding the tool incorrectly to present it to the piece being turned. I worked rubbing the bevel on the piece and slowly moving it to the point it started cutting. After I got all that figured out I found it was the sharpness of my tools and had to work on my sharpening technique.
 

ed4copies

Local Chapter Manager
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
24,523
Location
Racine, WI, USA.
IF the mandrel is bent, you will, after a few passes, be turning an out of round, but consistent, shape. The chatter stops.

Chatter is vibration that is not "regular".

If your finished pens are not round, but oval as viewed looking into a tube, THEN you have a bent mandrel. Suggest using the "pro" mandrel and doing one half a pen at a time. I've not had an oval pen since I switched to this method.
 

ed4copies

Local Chapter Manager
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
24,523
Location
Racine, WI, USA.
The position of the toolrest IS another possibility.

Too low, too far away either way can reduce your tool control and result in vibration.
 

bradh

Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Messages
688
Location
Aurora, Ontario, Canada.
Sometimes it is just a combination of things. I usually try adjusting the lathe speed a bit (faster or slower, doesn't matter which) and the charter will often go away.
 

turnaround

Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2010
Messages
65
Location
Winona, Ms
I was watching a turning show on pbs saturday and they mentioned if you use your scraper a lot, then you need to sharpen the scraper a LOT. The edge does not hold on the tool very long. Just a small amount of scraping will dull the tool quickly. When I worked with my father back in the '50's, I got the job of removing the old finish when refinishing old furniture and I did a lot of scraping by hand and I also did a lot of sharpening on the hand held scraper.
 

RussFairfield

Passed Away 2011
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Joined
Feb 10, 2004
Messages
1,522
Location
Post Falls, Idaho.
The only thing I will add to what has already been said is to try different tailstock pressure. Sometimes using too much can be the same as using too little.
 
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