PSI bottle stopper mandrel

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Parson

Parson

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Joined
Jun 10, 2009
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798
Location
Houston, Texas
I want to turn a PSI bottle stopper but I ain't paying ten bucks for the mandrel because I already bought a Rocker bottle stopper mandrel and they're different sizes.

Anyone have an idea for me?
 
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What are the threads on the stoppers? If they are 3/8" x 16 tpi, just get a piece of threaded rod or a bolt with the same threads. Grind off the head of the bolt, mount in a jacobs chuck and you have a bottle stopper mandrel.
 
The threaded rod or bolt works really good. You probably should add a nut on it to control depth. I use a shoulder bolt and nut with the head cutoff on my Barracuda chuck. Works great.
 
The two sizes of threads I have seen are 1/4 by 20 and 3/8 by 16. A gage for size of the base is handy, and a piece of baltic birch plywood, plastic, etc sized to the approximate diameter desired is handy to slip over the threads and keep some separation between the bottle stopper and what holds it--

What holds the mandrel -- jacob chuck, collet chuck, endmilll holder, custom MT2 holder, etc. Personally I like MT2 end mill holders and a piece of bolt with a slight flat to put under the grub screw in the side of the end mill holder housing. Be sure to have a draw bolt.
 
I don't have a collet chuck system and do not plan to buy one. I use a pin chuck for my wood river brand chuck instead... but the smallest diameter is still too large for a bolt and is something like a half inch.
 
Drill a hole in a piece of scrap corian, acrylic, wood, aluminum, brass, etc (material is not that important, although avoid softer woods), so it will just slip over the shaft of the bolt. Turn the outside of it round and glue it to the shaft of the bolt. Now it will fit in the jaws of your chuck.
 
mrcook4570 said:
Drill a hole in a piece of scrap corian, acrylic, wood, aluminum, brass, etc (material is not that important, although avoid softer woods), so it will just slip over the shaft of the bolt. Turn the outside of it round and glue it to the shaft of the bolt. Now it will fit in the jaws of your chuck.
Click to expand...

This works great! I then took a triangular file to the end of the bolt and turned it into a tap. Drill the pilot hole in your bottle stopper, turn your lathe on and center the bottle stopper on the bolt, turn off the lathe and PUSH. Threaded bottle stopper on its mandrel.

GK
 
Stan and Greg, this is the kind of out of the box thinking I needed. It may take a half hour to put it together, but right now I have far more time than money.

Thanks!
 
if there is a lawn mowers shop near by , get a bolt for the wheel , its a shoulder bolt . cut the head off, the shaft is about 1/2 in and 3/8 corse threads. use or make a washer the size you need for outside with a 3/8 hole .
if you dont come up with something , i can seed you one , tue. the 7 th

David
 
The PSI mandrel is just a stainless steel coupling that screws onto the lathe spindle, and that has a threaded 3/8" bolt extending from the end.

You can accomplish the same thing by attaching a piece of waste material to your faceplate, drilling a hole in the center, and then putting a 3/8" bolt through that hole to screw into the bottom of the blank. If you want to get fancy, you can turn the waste block into a nice circle with some edge work to make it pretty, and cut a recess into the side so that you can use a nut to permanently affix the bolt to the waste material.
 
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