Boy you read alot of people having out of round pens. Just wondering what is going on??? Have you figured out why yours was OOR??? Did you tighten the mandrel too tight??? Was the blank sitting in the bushings correctly??? Did you use the right bushings??? Is your lathe true??? Was your mandrel bent??? Is it an adjustable mandrel, and I ask because there are times you can shorten the mandrel and turn one blank at a time and the mandrel will not be bent then. Are you using a 60 degree live center??? If not then the old live center may have wore a hole off center in the end of the mandrel. So many things to check. Not that it is not a good idea to learn to turn mandreless but what went wrong.
No offense, but if i knew what was wrong, or what i was doing wrong, i would have simply corrected and went on. I wish i did know what was wrong, but really there seems to be too many variables for mistakes compared to CTC.
to answer your questions:
i have no idea why it is going OOR.
I may have tightened the mandrel nut (or the tailstock) too tight, again i have no clue.
the bushings tend to bounce around sometimes, so maybe my bushings are wallowed out, but they arent that old.
it was a Euro kit, so the blanks dont actually ride "on" the bushings.
Yes, they were the correct bushings for that kit.
I have a Jet Mini VS. so i am fairly certain it is true, or at least very very close. the drive center and live center line up perfectly when they are tightened down and such. is there another way to check the "true" of a lathe?
the mandrel may be bent.
yes, i have the adjustable mandrel (and my next step is to shorten it to one blank at a time.
no 60 degree center, just the stock live center that came with my lathe.
It may be my cuts. the blanks seem to flex back slightly when i am cutting. I use a spindle gouge or round scraper most of the time.
I have also went back and noticed that a bunch of my old pens are slightly oor too. I really think i need to go between centers with a digical calipration device.