Mandrel saver question

[hazmat74]

Finally had some free time yesterday to start working on a pen. Had some trouble getting everything proper with the mandrel saver. Got bushings and blanks onto the mandrel, slid up the tailstock and made it what I thought was tight, but when I started turning and drew the business end of the gouge down to meet the wood, things hung up with the mandrel spinning within the bushings/blanks. It took a while to get things right, but it seemed that I had to sort of aggressively jam the tailstock up against the bushing to stop the free spinning. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong or if there are any tips to making sure I get it all right on first set up. I ended up a bit annoyed so the turning procedure wasn't as enjoyable as it can be.

 

[raar25]

Yes you do have to mke it pretty tight.

 

[eranox]

I had the same experience, and was getting frustrated. I eventually discovered that my tailstock was slipping just slightly (1/16" or so), and this was loosening the Mandrel Saver's grip. I wiped down my lathe bed and the underside of my tailstock, and cleaned up all the doodads in the locking mechanism. This very nearly fixed the problem, but not quite. Now I just move the tailstock into position, turn the lathe on (the vibrations help), and advance the quill slowly. The tailstock will creep a little, and then will find a good spot and grab. I could probably rough the bed, tailstock, or both to fix the problem, but I don't want to do that.

As tight as it gets, it's never the same as using the knurled brass nut to tighten things up. I wasn't sure I liked this at first, but now I prefer it. If I get too aggressive, my workpiece stalls briefly, instead of tearing out a large chunk of material. Plus, I really, really like not having to either adjust my mandrel length or having to play bushing math to make sure my workpiece is the right length. It saves lots of time and headache, and lets me do things such as rough out three barrels at once, then quickly switch to working on one barrel at a time for better accuracy in final shaping and finishing.

 

[hazmat74]

Thanks for the info, Dave. I'll do some work on the tailstock and then try working up to the mandrel as you've explained. Once things got going, there was little slippage, though if I got too aggressive(which I did) with the tool, it would stop. As you said, not a terrible situation, all things considered. I need to get some more practice in with the tools, and only using them will get me there!

 

[LouF]

I had the same problem with my tailstock slipping I did not notice it was the tailstock I was thinking maybe the mandrel saver was not seated right at first so I tightened down the tailstock. I started the lathe and began carving and again it started to loosen up the mandrel it was spinning on the mandrel saver then I retighten the tailstock made a mark on the bed with a sharpie, and I started the lathe once more and noticed the tailstock slipping so I tighten the washer under the tailstock and have had no problems since.