Help on identifying a mandrel

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eppen

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Jun 11, 2017
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Oakville Ontario
Hi there I have just taken up pen turning and bought a bunch of stuff from a eBay seller who had given up pen turning.
I have regular mandrels and bushings but one of the items appears to be some form of mandrel but I cannot identify it or figure out its use.

Picture attached.


Thanks for such a friendly interesting forum.

Anthony.

a7cfbbceb2c4f8f66dc12bb2b1b84c0d.jpg




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magpens

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Welcome to IAP, Anthony !!!!! . Introduce yourself in the "Introductions" Forum and you could win the monthly prize drawing for newcomers.

Never seen a mandrel like that before. But I'll take a shot ....

Looks like the right-hand piece has a Morse Taper 2 which may mean it would fit into your tailstock .... but only do that if the piece seems to consist of two ends which can be easily turned with respect to each other.

The piece on the left seems clearly to be solid and probably goes in your headstock chuck.

The rod at the bottom clearly goes between the other two. .... what is the diameter of the rod ?

Let me know what you think about this speculation
 
Last edited:

duncsuss

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Wilmington, MA
The piece on the left: is there an indentation in the "outside" (the face we can't see in your photo)?

If so, perhaps it's designed to fit over the 60 degree cone of a live center (which goes in the tailstock of your lathe).

The other piece, with the Morse taper, could go in the headstock, and the mandrel fits between the two.
 

eppen

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Jun 11, 2017
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Location
Oakville Ontario
Now it makes sense. See attached picture. I guess you would use bushings to set the length so the rod doesn't push too far into the piece that goes on the tail stock

Would there be any real benefit to a mandrel like this vs an adjustable mandrel and a a mandrel saver?
a09f539cfe8dfb64129cfb37c05239f3.jpg



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magpens

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Thanks for the added pic.

"Would there be any real benefit to a mandrel like this vs an adjustable mandrel and a a mandrel saver?"

To answer your question, I can't see an advantage over what you suggested.

Now what about the right-hand piece in the picture .... the long part with MT2 ....
Can you hold it in your two hands and twist the ends oppositely ?

If you can, than that part has to go in the tailstock.

If you can't, it has to go in the headstock.
 

eharri446

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Mar 17, 2016
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Marietta, GA
It looks to me like the small part has a dimple in the end that fits on the live center and the mandrel rod fits between the two pieces while the Morse taper part fits in the head stock.
 
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