Sabaharr
Member
I have often wondered how much pressure is enough vs too much pressure to put on a mandrel saver. Not enough and the blank stops spinning. Too much and you are putting a lot of pressure on saver and headstock bearings. So here is what I did. I got a 1/4" split washer and 2 flat washers. I made a sandwich of them and slid them on the mandrel shaft. Then I loaded on the blanks with bushings and slid the tail stock in place, locking it down at contact with the last bushing. I then cranked out the tailstock until the split washer at the other end was flattened out in the sandwich. It didn't take much effort and the blanks haven't stopped on me once. I was putting much more pressure than this when I was just guessing. Just a tip I thought others might try.