Sizing and sorting your Bushings

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Bob Roehrig

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Joined
Aug 11, 2015
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Venice, Florida
As my accumlation of pen bushings increase and I seem to accumulate to many the exact same size, the question arose that it may be time to now organize and sort my pen bushings by size and not by the name of the pen kit itself. I would love to know what others do since there's many ways to do things and maybe there's a better way than the one I'm now thinking about doing......Thanks
 
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For Bushings I use a sewing item (I think it's a bobbin sorter thingy). It's got 6 to 8 trays that will hold my bushings pretty nicely and I use the label off the package to mark the slot. You can get them at sewing places and they're not really expensive (on sale). I cross reference them to my binder that handles all the instructions for the different pens and stuff I make (I refer to it as my Bible).
 
wolf creek knives said:
For Bushings I use a sewing item (I think it's a bobbin sorter thingy). It's got 6 to 8 trays that will hold my bushings pretty nicely and I use the label off the package to mark the slot. You can get them at sewing places and they're not really expensive (on sale). I cross reference them to my binder that handles all the instructions for the different pens and stuff I make (I refer to it as my Bible).
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Thanks and appreciate your reply, but I'm not quite seeing what your saying. Any chance you can post a picture of your organized bobbin tray? Pictures worth a thousand words :)
 
Woodchipper said:
FWIW, I now turn between centers. The only time I use bushings is to match the bushing to the ID of the blank tube. I need to post a photo of my setup.
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Curious about your firsthand experience here. I also turn between centers, but with bushings. So I don't necessarily have bushings for every pen I turn, but as long as I can find bushings that properly fit the inner diameter of the brass tube, I can mount the blank between centers and turn down to the correct diameter for the pen hardware just using calipers. Then I swap over to a mandrel w/ delrin nonstick bushings and a mandrel saver to do sanding and CA finish.

I've heard of people doing TBC without any bushings at all - a 60° dead center directly into the brass tube in the blank, and 60° live cone center in the tailstock side, again directly mating with the brass tube. Every time I've tried this, I flared out the brass tube to the point that it was no longer a good friction/press fit with the rest of the pen hardware. When I tried to avoid this by backing off tailstock pressure, I couldn't get enough hold to properly turn the blank. I can't seem to find the happy medium. What's your secret?

Edit: to OP, I started off with a pretty standard fishing-style tacklebox to store and organize my bushings. Ultimately I switched over to a custom 3D-printed TPU style of bushing storage that is very compact and hangs directly on my pegboard, so it's really accessible. I posted about it here.
 
I used bins like this from Harbor Freight in the past. It looks like they no longer have them, but similar products on Amazon (bead organizers). I used a label maker and just labeled the individual bushing boxes so you can view without opening.

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Bob Roehrig said:
Thanks and appreciate your reply, but I'm not quite seeing what your saying. Any chance you can post a picture of your organized bobbin tray? Pictures worth a thousand words :)
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He may be referring to Bobbin Boxes
BHuij said:
Curious about your firsthand experience here. I also turn between centers, but with bushings. So I don't necessarily have bushings for every pen I turn, but as long as I can find bushings that properly fit the inner diameter of the brass tube, I can mount the blank between centers and turn down to the correct diameter for the pen hardware just using calipers. Then I swap over to a mandrel w/ delrin nonstick bushings and a mandrel saver to do sanding and CA finish.

I've heard of people doing TBC without any bushings at all - a 60° dead center directly into the brass tube in the blank, and 60° live cone center in the tailstock side, again directly mating with the brass tube. Every time I've tried this, I flared out the brass tube to the point that it was no longer a good friction/press fit with the rest of the pen hardware. When I tried to avoid this by backing off tailstock pressure, I couldn't get enough hold to properly turn the blank. I can't seem to find the happy medium. What's your secret?

Edit: to OP, I started off with a pretty standard fishing-style tacklebox to store and organize my bushings. Ultimately I switched over to a custom 3D-printed TPU style of bushing storage that is very compact and hangs directly on my pegboard, so it's really accessible. I posted about it here.
Click to expand...
I also turn between centers and yes my tubes do flare, a bit.
I guess the secret is to only tighten enough to keep the blank from slipping. With the lathe spinning the dead center I will lightly hold the live center with my fingers while advancing the tail stock and when I cannot keep the center from spinning I stop advancing the quill and tighten the lock. This may happen many to a few times throughout the turning.
Honestly, I've not encountered the flaring to inhibit the press fit of the hardware into the tube.
 
+1 for Mark's (@hooked) organizer. I use the same ones from Harbor Freight (3 of them). I also noted that they don't seem to have them anymore.
 
I have done similar to the pictured solution, except that since I am 76 YO, I have a ready supply of prescription pill bottles, all the same and all with easy screw on lid (no kids in the house). I seem to have more control, avoiding accidental bush spills with the screw-on format vs the snap open variety The pill (bush) bottles all reside in whatever tray is handy and the right size.
 
I have a drawer that I keep the extra bushings in, I only pull them out if I end up damaging one that's in use or if one has been sanded down enough to not be the right size. If I happen to get a kit I don't have the bushings for I go looking for one that's close. I've got the Penn State Bushing Book PDF on my phone so I'll look at what the kit is supposed to have and find another that matches the tube size and OD. For the bushings that I use I keep them in the drawers with the pen kits or I've also got the Penn State bushing organizer. https://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKBUBSYS.html
 
SteveG said:
I have done similar to the pictured solution, except that since I am 76 YO, I have a ready supply of prescription pill bottles, all the same and all with easy screw on lid (no kids in the house). I seem to have more control, avoiding accidental bush spills with the screw-on format vs the snap open variety The pill (bush) bottles all reside in whatever tray is handy and the right size.
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Steve; Yes! you do not want a spill to scatter bushings if you drop a box. DAMHIKT!
 
Appreciate all the great advice and ideas from the group. Believe at this point I'm going to organize my bushings by size and not by style of pen. Every pen kit comes with excellent directions that also show the sizes of the bushings and a picture of. Easier for me to work with measuement diameters. This also keeps me from duplicating sizes which happens to me when I look at pen kit style. Going to pick myself up more of these little Bead organizers and label the sizes within. Thanks everyone who contributed their ideas....they were all great.
 
hooked said:
I used bins like this from Harbor Freight in the past. It looks like they no longer have them, but similar products on Amazon (bead organizers). I used a label maker and just labeled the individual bushing boxes so you can view without opening.

Amazon.com: Bead Organizer Box, 30pcs Small Clear Plastic Storage Containers, Craft Storage Box Features Hinged Lid and Labels, Mini Boxes for Bracelets, Jewelry, Diamonds, Clay Beads, Screws, Seeds, Small Parts : Arts, Crafts & Sewing

Shop HOXILOB at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Free Shipping on eligible items. Save on everyday low prices.
www.amazon.com

View attachment 394309
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Like your idea your using. Would you mind posting a picture from the top looking down onto your organizer boxes? Nice idea
 
Bob Roehrig said:
Like your idea your using. Would you mind posting a picture from the top looking down onto your organizer boxes? Nice idea
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Sorry. Old picture. I have been passing off my kits for a while and giving the bushings away with kits.

Basically, they are just labels saying which vendor I bought the bushing from and the model number of the bushing. I also sometimes included the primary pen kit name that the bushing uses. I used the IAP bushings app to search by bushing model number to find other kits associated with a particular bushing.
 
Bob Roehrig said:
Thanks and appreciate your reply, but I'm not quite seeing what your saying. Any chance you can post a picture of your organized bobbin tray? Pictures worth a thousand words :)
Click to expand...
Here you go. The Bobbin Box is the pink thing and my wife told me it's a sewing notion for storing thread bobbins. You'll notice I've numbered the box and on the adjoining page you'll see PSI instructions and in the upper right corner you'll find the corresponding number for which box the bushings are in. Easy cross reference. Pretty simple and I've never dropped one box. I think I paid like $.50 for each box on sale at Joanns before they went bankrupt. I store these boxes in a drawer on one of my work benches. The boxes take up about a 1/2 square foot in the drawer.
Hope this helps- Tom

Bobbin box.jpg
 
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