Does anyone here have a Pen Pal?

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naynay

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Fallon, NV
Through this great forum, it was suggested that I look at the Pen Pal? It fits my needs and I am determined not to let apartment living keep me from starting something that I like. Is there anyone on this forum who uses the Pen Pal? A lathe for under $200 seems too good to last. My thought was to set up on a small bench on my porch, use and then take back inside when not being used.
 
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I don't have the Pen Pal, but I do live an apartment. I purchased the Excelsior lathe from Rockler. I put it on a cart with wheels. I added a shelf to hold my tools and sandpaper. I use a spice rack to hold my bushings. I also have a separate cart that holds my pen blanks. Everything sits in the living room. When I do some turning, my Hubby helps me push my cart into the bathroom along with my Fein shop vac. I keep the bathroom door closed, because we have cats. I find keeping the door closed also helps with keep chips and dust in the bathroom as well. I also turn the exhaust fan on too, With this setup I can turn all year round. I hope this helps.
 
Complete casting setup in my apartment. Just put blue tarp down before pouring resin
 

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acmaclaren said:
I don't have the Pen Pal, but I do live an apartment. I purchased the Excelsior lathe from Rockler. I put it on a cart with wheels. I added a shelf to hold my tools and sandpaper. I use a spice rack to hold my bushings. I also have a separate cart that holds my pen blanks. Everything sits in the living room. When I do some turning, my Hubby helps me push my cart into the bathroom along with my Fein shop vac. I keep the bathroom door closed, because we have cats. I find keeping the door closed also helps with keep chips and dust in the bathroom as well. I also turn the exhaust fan on too, With this setup I can turn all year round. I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Will you snap a pick of your setup.
 
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When I first started this adventure I didn't want to put a bunch of money into a new lathe. I bought the Penn State Pen Pal package figuring if it didn't like turning pens I could sell the entire system and recoup most of my money.
As to the Pen Pal lathe, it's compact, runs well although I don't care for the speed control and I only turn pens and key chains on it. It says that it can handle bottle stoppers, but that's really pushing it. In my opinion it's a bit under-powered for larger items. Everything else I turn, coffee scoops, ice cream scoops etc, and all larger items get turned on my larger lathe. My larger lathe does not bog down like the Pen Pal when turning larger items.
The Pen Pal is quiet and for apartment use would probably not attract any neighbors attention if used inside. But it does have restrictions on what it can handle size wise.
I figure at some point I'll burn this lathe up and will replace it with a different one, but for now I'll still use it for smaller items. And it does have a verry small foot print.
 
Here's a picture of the cart I keep my pen blanks in. There's a shot of the front and side of my lathe cart. I'm sorry those pics aren't better. I came home to find that my cats decided to push stuff off the bookcase behind it and in front so it's literally buried in stuff. However, I wanted to be sure and get you some pics.
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My hubby took this pic of me in our bathroom where I turn. The cart is almost butted up against the counter. It leaves just under 2 feet for me to stand and turn. 42795.jpeg
 
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Sounds like my bathroom. You gave me an ideal for when it rains. I would have never thought to do that but maybe it's an ideal. I have a porch I can work on or the area outside my kitchen door that has a concrete wall dividing the property next door and the property my apartment sits on. I don't think the shop vac will be needed outdoor. When I turned the pen in my friends garage, he had no shop vac running. I just swept up the floor.
 
I sold my rentals and with them my four car garage shop. I was hoping to hold onto my midi lathe, but recently decided it just wasn't going to work. My SO would not tolerate the set-ups pictured above in our living areas. I bought a pen pal. I figure when I have space I can upgrade to a larger lathe and probably keep the pen pal for finishing. I have not used it yet.
I looked at a couple tea carts and sewing machine tables, but it just didn't seem workable.
 
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