A Little Mandrel Help....Please
- Thread starter Partyof5
- Start date
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
mbroberg
IAP Activities Manager, Emeritus
There are many members here who know far more than I do about mandrels (and most everything else) since I normally don't use one. I do own one, but it doesn't look like that. Mine is adjustable, I don't think yours is which may be why you have a compression fitting. If it fits on the rod you could tighten and loosen it to position it as needed. That is just a guess. The silver things at the bottom of your photo are spacers.
Lenny
Member
That compression nut and plastic washers are meant to be used to adjust the length between the morse taper end of your mandrel and the bushings and pen blanks (if you needed to shorten up) to allow the knurled nut to tighten against everything. Usually I just add an extra bushing or two if need be. The bushings you have are sized for a slimline pen and yes they would represent the cap, centerband and nib of the pen. You would slide one bushing on, then one half of the pen blank with the center grain match towards the tailstock end, then another bushing, then the other half of the pen blank matching up your grain match, then finally the last bushing.
Be careful not to over-tighten the knurled nut or apply too much pressure from the tailstock with your 60 degree live center. Here is where many like to use a mandrel saver as it applies pressure against the bushings and avoids the pressure on the end of the mandrel that can result in it bending and you pen blanks being out of round.
Most likely you won't need to use the compression nut unless you are turning a single blank pen (like a sierra).
Almost every pen kit will have instructions diagramming how everything would go on the mandrel. Pen kit instructions can usually be downloaded from the sellers website.
Be careful not to over-tighten the knurled nut or apply too much pressure from the tailstock with your 60 degree live center. Here is where many like to use a mandrel saver as it applies pressure against the bushings and avoids the pressure on the end of the mandrel that can result in it bending and you pen blanks being out of round.
Most likely you won't need to use the compression nut unless you are turning a single blank pen (like a sierra).
Almost every pen kit will have instructions diagramming how everything would go on the mandrel. Pen kit instructions can usually be downloaded from the sellers website.
Last edited:
robutacion
Member
Yes, Lenny has already gave you pretty much, all the information you need to work it but, I though I could add a little more. The compressing brass nut set with those 2 nylon bushes, were added to the mandrel design, which is one of the older types available or the most common. This happened when people started to get into TBC which means Turn Between Centers.
While many manufacturers started making new mandrel designs where the rod length is adjustable by the new apparatus created to make it adjustable (more than 1 type available), so that people have the option to shorten the rod and created a system where only 1 pen barrel is turned at one time, therefore reducing the possible wobble of the full extended rod turning, which is the closer thing you can have to the proper TBC set-up which your JonnyC is a specialist at and sell them.
To use the tension brass nut set-up you've got there, you unscrew the 2 part brass nut system, insert the smallest piece on the mandrel rod first, making sure the threaded end is towards the beginning of the rod where you insert these stuff from. After you have that first brass nut in you insert the 2 nylon bushes ad then the other part of the brass nut.
Screw them together until the complete brass nut system feel tight to the rod, then release the pressure a little and push into the right location and tight it again. Most times, hand pressure in enough to tighten these tension nuts but, if not, use a coupe of spanners (one on each end) but be gentle, do not over-tight...!
Now, you have probably already realized that, this tension nut system only needs to be used if you want to turn 1 blank at the time or if you are turning a single barrel pen kit, such as the Sierras. The tension nut, should only be inserted after the pen barrel is already in the mandrel rod with the 2 proper kit metal bushes on each end so that the tension nut can then push everything together and be tighten. At this time, the big brass nut, is not needed, you just push the tail stock to the mandrel's rod end, which has a 60 degree recess (hole) where the dead center of the tail-stock will butt to gently but firmly.
After that you are ready to go...!:wink:
While this all seem an excessive detailed information guidelines, for most of us, is not so for those that never seen or worked with many of these tools, we often forget the questions we asked ourselves in the very beginning, huh...???
Good luck...!
Cheers
George
Last edited:
Partyof5
Member
Thanks guys. I did purchase a mandrel saver, it's just not here yet. I imagine someday I will TBC, but for now I will learn with the mandrel and bushings.
Thanks again
Thanks again
crabcreekind
Member
I have the exact same mandrel, and i asked the exact same question to myself. the metal things at the bottom are the bushings, and end brass things are the end nut. i use the brass double nut looking thing to have as a spacer if i dont have a long enough blank. And i have NO idea what the plastic things were, and i lost them of course. The bushings are slimline bushings, i believe they work with all slimline kits. this mandrel has worked great for me and i haven't bent it yet spite of tightening the nut with a wrench, which i stopped doing. I hope it will work for you as much as it has worked for me.