Hello from Illinois

[cbb007]

I live in Glenwood, IL. If there are any penturners in south Chicagoland or NW Indiana I would be happy to hear from you.

My wife and I went to a pen show a couple of years ago and I met Barry Gross and bought two of his books, "Learn to Turn" and "The Pen Turner's Workbook" - both are excellent books. I took the books home, read a couple of pages, and that was it.

A month ago we went to the Ohio Pen Show in Columbus and I saw a penturner in action. I also met a 13 year old boy who turned pens and had a table at the show. Well, between those two things, they lit my fire.

In the past 3 weeks I got a Craftsman mini-lathe, a 10" grinder, a drill press, a table saw and, as far as I know, just about everything I need to do this hobby - and more is still coming.

I've been reading this forum and it has multitudes of good stuff! I especially liked the post by Hank Lee about mandrel-less turning - I think that is the way to go.

However, until I get my dead center and my bushings in the mail, I have a question:

I have a pen kit with a 7mm tube. I drilled my blank, glued the 7mm tube in it, went to place it on my mandrel (which is 7mm), and the tubed blank will not go onto the mandrel. The mandrel is exactly the same size as the tube, so the tube goes over the threads and stops at the end of the threads.

Is there something I did not do right, or did I miss a step?

 

[ronhampton]

check for glue in your tubes,btw welcome from georgia:biggrin::biggrin:

 

[rej19]

Welcome Clay, I agree it is probably glue. If you don't have a pen mill I would highly recommend it. Not only is it a simple way of squaring your blank to the tube it also will clean out any glue that may have got into the tube. I've only been turning since summer so still have a lot to learn myself. Seems like everytime I turn a pen I find a better way of doing part of it. The endless ideas you read and see on this site will keep you busy for a long time!

 

[cozee]

Welcome from about 2 hours south!!!

Gotta agree, sounds like a bit of glue in the tubes. It could possibility be a burr on the mandrel left from the threading die.

Keep an eye out as more information gets posted as the Midwest's largest pen turning event is held down here in Champaign IL. The Midwest Penturning Gathering is tentatively scheduled for April 25th this year and will include an outdoor turning craft show/sale which will be open to the public. More will be posted after the holidays.

 

[Fred]

Welcome, Clay, to the Forum! Very glad to have you on board. :biggrin:

Definitely get a good pen mill and always use the appropriate shaft to fit the tubes. That way you will have clean tubes and flat mating surfaces for the pen components.

A hint ... prior to assembly finish the ends of the wood of the pen as well as the outside. This makes for a better looking pen IMHO! Also, align the grain of upper and lower pieces prior to completely assembling the kit.

 

[Ligget]

Welcome to the group!

 

[kirkfranks]

Clay,
First of all welcom to the Forum.

On the question as noted above glue would be a prime suspect.
If you have already used a pen mill as suggested above I would also caution that sometimes if the penmill has cut into the tube slightly it can leave a small burr inside of the tube. A small pen knive or exacto blade can be used to remove the burr (and also any glue if you didn't get it all out yet.)

One other thing you could do as a test. Assuming that you have more than one kit purchased is to try putting another set of tubes onto the pen mandrel. Just do one or two (without the wood) to test the fit. It would be rare, but possible that the mandrel and or the tubes were made out of tolerance. I would expect if you bought more than one of the same kit from the same supplier at the same time the would be from the same manufacturing lot and that would help to rule out the tubes themselves being too small.

 

[rherrell]

Welcome Clay! Sounds to me like you have a "B" mandrel instead of the "A" mandrel that's needed for that size pen. If you have calipers check it, the "A" mandrel should be .247", I can't remember offhand what the "B" mandrel is but it's bigger.

 

[Jim15]

Welcome Clay.

 

[hilltopper46]

Welcome, from southeastern Wisconsin!