New pen turner question?

[musky]

Hello, I still have not ordered my lathe yet, but I did buy some pen kits in a lot on ebay. They are PSI designer twist pens, funline pens and a longwood pencil. I looked on the psi site and they had a different set of bushings for each set. Do I need all 3 sets of bushings or are some of these actually the same?

 

[hewunch]

Yep, those are different bushings assuming the "fun line" are really slim lines, I think there are a couple of different "fun lines". Now, many times, you will get the fun line/ slimline bushings with your mandrel. So I would not purchase those. Hope that helps.

 

[SamThePenMan]

Now, many times, you will get the fun line/ slimline bushings with your mandrel. So I would not purchase those. Hope that helps.

In my experiance, though I could be wrong, usually the mandrel only comes with 3 bushings, and maybe one of those compression fit twist spaces that don't always work. Depending on the length of tha mandrel you may need either more bushings to make up the space to the brass nut on the end of the mandrel, or you could always just use a scrap piece of wood, or something else to make up any extra space, if any.

 

[stevers]

Bushing are three bucks a set, buy the correct bushings and take that part of the guess work out of the equation. Don't make your first few pens more difficult than they need to be. Once you get a few under your belt, all your questions will be answered.