Justin H
Member
First and foremost I want to say "Thank you!" to this group and it's members. I'm new here but have been lurking for quite some time.
I'm a newbie making pens, I just recently got my lathe (Thanksgiving-ish) and decided to make some custom pens for family for Christmas... I am now hooked and I can't stop buying kits and blanks and... everything. lol
Anyway, my mandrel question is this.
I have a basic mandrel and a mandrel saver. Most of the single barrel kits require spacer bushings at the head-stock end of my lathe to get the barrels out over my ways so I can turn them far enough away from the head-stock.
Being a newb, I have a tendency to over-tighten my tailstock to stop my blanks from spinning, especially when I forget to turn my lathe speed back up after finishing my last pen....
In doing this, I've managed to jam a spacer bushing hard enough against the head-stock to actually crimp it ON to the mandrel. While hand-turning for with-grain sanding, the mandrel tends to come unthreaded from the MT portion and now that bushing will not allow the mandrel to thread.
Is it worth it for me to purchase another mandrel, or should I, since Christmas is past and gifts are not so time intensive, just learn to turn without it? And what would you suggest for tutorials if I were to do so?
Thanks again for the help, and happy turning!
I'm a newbie making pens, I just recently got my lathe (Thanksgiving-ish) and decided to make some custom pens for family for Christmas... I am now hooked and I can't stop buying kits and blanks and... everything. lol
Anyway, my mandrel question is this.
I have a basic mandrel and a mandrel saver. Most of the single barrel kits require spacer bushings at the head-stock end of my lathe to get the barrels out over my ways so I can turn them far enough away from the head-stock.
Being a newb, I have a tendency to over-tighten my tailstock to stop my blanks from spinning, especially when I forget to turn my lathe speed back up after finishing my last pen....
In doing this, I've managed to jam a spacer bushing hard enough against the head-stock to actually crimp it ON to the mandrel. While hand-turning for with-grain sanding, the mandrel tends to come unthreaded from the MT portion and now that bushing will not allow the mandrel to thread.
Is it worth it for me to purchase another mandrel, or should I, since Christmas is past and gifts are not so time intensive, just learn to turn without it? And what would you suggest for tutorials if I were to do so?
Thanks again for the help, and happy turning!