Newbie question - interchanging mandrels and bushings

[mbower]

Hi, folks, this is a real newbie question (which I am).

I bought my mandrel from WC and I've always bought my bushings and kits from either WC or WTC.

But I'm looking at a kit from Berea (customer wants matching pen/pencil/letter opener).

Here is the question:

Are mandrel and bushings interchangeable? Can I generally use bushings from whomever on whatever mandrel? Berea lists a Mandrel A and Bushing 11B (I think it is). But will the bushings they ask for work on my mandrel?

TIA

Michael

 

[LostintheWoods]

Berea has a few pens that use a "B" mandrel, which is a bit larger than the [standard] "A" mandrel. All bushings from all suppliers will (or should!) work on any "A" mandrel, with the exception of the few bushing sets from Berea designated "B", which will require that you use a "B" mandrel. The 11B bushings would require a B mandrel, which is not the mandrel you're using for slimlines, euros, Sierras, etc.--That one is an A mandrel.

 

[leehljp]

"B" mandrels are larger and as such do a better job at resisting some of the problems that occasionally develop with "A" such as bent mandrels or OOR for one reason or another.

However, there is a way to use both "A" and "B" bushings on the same setup - Mandrel-les, No-Mandrel, or Turning between centers - which are all the same, just the different ways that different people express this method. Contrary to what some people seem to think - special bushings for this are NOT needed - just a dead/drive center and the normal bushings.

A caveat is that this does not work with normal slimline bushings.

 

[mbower]

I mis-quoted

Based on your statement, I looked again and they state mandrel A and bushing 11A. So it sounds like I'm ok.

Thanks for the help, folks. Always a good place for answers and fun.

Michael

 

[Russianwolf]

Based on your statement, I looked again and they state mandrel A and bushing 11A. So it sounds like I'm ok.

Thanks for the help, folks. Always a good place for answers and fun.

Michael

you should be fine. Also, many of the Berea kits are also sold through WC just using a different name. WC only sells the A bushings and has some of the B series in an A sized version. So if you do run into a kit that Berea says is B only, check to see if WC has it in A and you will be set.