Grizzly mini

[Aerotech]

So i buy this tiny little lathe because i convince myself the only thing i will ever turn is a pen. its cute, trust me...

so, the problem. i buy a standard #1 MT mandrel from Woodcraft and when i put it into the head stock it bottoms out before filling the hole. needless to say is had a pretty loose fit and i'm no pro but i'm thinking thats a bad thing.

does anybody know of a stubby #1 MT or should i go with the pen mandrel that PSI carries that threads onto the lathe. or i suppose i can do what Woodcraft told me to do and grind off the back of the mandrel to make it fit. my concern with that would be accuracy. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

btw, the lathe is a grizzly G9247. you can see it on grizzly's site if you want to see what i mean about not having a pass through head stock.

 

[hilltopper46]

Bummer!!

I looked at the manual for that lathe on Grizzly's web site. I'm not sure, but it looks like the MT does not have a hole that goes all the way through the head stock.

I would take a hack saw and see if I could cut the MT on the pen mandrel. Use the spur center that came with the lathe as a guide. Mark where it comes out of the headstock and try to judge the length of the MT on the mandrel to be that long from the point on the MT with the same diameter.

 

[Aerotech]

Yeah..... The manual doesn't say much. The legnth of the spur center is approximately 2.125 inches and the overall depth of the head stock is approximately 2.3125. i was hoping i could find something without having to modify a perfectly good tool. PSI carries a universal that screws onto the 3/4 x 16tpi head stock. has anyone ever used a screw on type???

 

[itsmebill]

I actually have this same lathe, it's not bad at all for the money but there are a couple problems with it and you just encountered one of the. I actually had two mandrels, one was slightly shorter than the other and worked fine but would not hesitate to trim the other if I needed it. The biggest frustration I had with the late was no hole through the headstock which made it really tough to change between the mandrel, center and chuck. After battling with it for about a year, I drilled it through including a small hole through the black plastic which allows for easy knock out.

 

[Crashmph]

Simple fix for that lathe is to take your mandrel to the grinder and shorten it a little bit. I had to do the same thing when I had the ShopFox super mini lathe.

 

[oneula]

I have one and it works just fine although I'll be getting a Jet as soon as I sell enough pens to pay for it.

I got one of those PSI pass thru tail stock holders that reduces the pressure on the mandrel so I don't keep bending them.

A VS for way less than $200 and it's not a bad way to get started with turning.

 

[Aerotech]

I was thinking about getting PSI's "mandrel saver". i've read some good and some bad but it seemed like the only way to use my particular lathe and not have to use spacers since we cant adjust through the head stock.

Thanks to all for the advice.

Bill, i may look into doing what you've done and drill through the back. i assume you drilled through the upper gear???

 

[itsmebill]

The headstock goes all the way through the plastic top gear which allows you to drill all the way through without even removing the gear or headstock from the lathe. I used a chuck mounted in the tailstock to drill it. The bit was not long enough to go all the way through the cover but marked it with a pencil through the tailstock, removed the 6 screws and drilled it. I was not a fan of the hole on the cover so I found a rubber plug to cap it off and simply remove when needed. J

 

[Aerotech]

Thank you to everyone for your advice but i decided to take the easy route. i just didnt get a warm and fuzzy about the grizzly lathe and decided to return it. i purchased a jet this past weekend because they were on sale for the 4th but of coarse out of stock. needless to say it'll be another week or two before i turn another pen..... bummer....

 

[DurocShark]

Interesting. The HF mini that's usually around $100-120 is fully featured, it just has MT-1. I used one for a while and loved it.