Pen turning

[professorgt]

i reccomend the 5/8" bore to 1"x8tpi spindle adapter so that you can use most commonly available lathe accessories on your shopsmith. feel free to ask any specific questions you may have. i have turned about 250 pens on my shopsmith so you may know that the standard shopsmith toolrest works very well.

Bob,

Is this 5/8 spindle adapter you mention a SS part? Where can I get one?
Thanks,
GT

[damagi]

Bob,

Is this 5/8 spindle adapter you mention a SS part? Where can I get one?
Thanks,
GT

Penn state industries sells one, and you can also get a 5/8" smooth bore -> 1" 8 tpi adapter at woodcraft.

[beeg]

Nope it's knot a SS part. Here's what I THINK he's talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/PSI-Woodworking-L5818-Headstock-Shopsmith/dp/B000KIEC88

Also sold by PennState

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/L5818.html

[RobertTaylor]

beeg is correct. that adapter allows me to use any standard 1"x8tpi lathe accessory on my shopsmith.i have collet chucks, lathe chucks, threaded pen mandrels and even pennstates new drive center set all with the 1"x8tpi threads and use them on my shopsmith. all with good results. here are pictures of some of my latest projects.

[ddvann79]

I have a Shopsmith 510. I have not used the lathe yet. I am interested in turning some small things, pens, bottle stoppers, etc. Can I do it on my Shopsmith? I only have the spur drive center. Are there options for driving from a MT2 arbor? It also appears that the tool rest cannot be placed close enough for these small items???

Any insights to this type of turning would be appreciated.

Here's Shopsmith's online version of Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone pertaining to the lathe. It discusses the small stuff about 2/3s of the way down but doesn't address pen turning or a pen mandrel specifically.

[bigeddy]

I have a Shopsmith 510. I have not used the lathe yet. I am interested in turning some small things, pens, bottle stoppers, etc. Can I do it on my Shopsmith? I only have the spur drive center. Are there options for driving from a MT2 arbor? It also appears that the tool rest cannot be placed close enough for these small items???

Any insights to this type of turning would be appreciated.

I have 2 greenies and 1 of them came with a 1/4 router chuck. I went to rockler and bought a mandrel and lo and behold the mandrel fit in the 1/4 router chuck. Just my 2 cents as I am a newbie but it works great for me. And those you can get from SS. I hope you enjoy making pens as much as I do. Good Luck and Please be safe.

[terrydowning]

These were turned on the PSI Mandrel for shopsmith I think it works great.

The green and black are new materials to me called rigid urethanes. Where I work does rapid prototyping and urethane castings are part of the product offerings. The material came from the scrap that occurs when they pour the materials into larger molds it goes through 1/2" or 5/8" tubes and is just thrown away after the parts are removed from the molds. The Casting department manager is going to keep his eye out for these longer than 2 1/2" so I can do more. I gave him the black pen. I must say that these urethane materials really machine nicely. Finishing takes a bit more effort though as tool marks some effort to remove. Once the tooling marks are gone though, final sanding is pretty easy since every scratch shows, it's easy to see when to go to the next higher grit.

The top pen is segmented maple inside of mahogany drilled on a daigonal in designer style with Gunmetal hardware, sanded to0 800 grit with a CA finish which was then sanded to 2000 grit.

The middle pen is AFP 3600 a new material for our company tinted forest green. slimline style with gold hardware. sanded to 2000 grit for a nice satin finish.

The bottom pen is AFP 3100 tinted black designer style with gunmetal hardware. sanded to 2000 grit and then polished with McGuire's scratchX it left a very nice satin finish.

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[professorgt]

Well, being totally new to this wonderful "hobby" has my head swirling with ideas and so on, and I can't wait to jump into the fray!

So, questions, questions, questions!

I went to the woodworking show here in NJ last weekend in Somerset, and spent way too much money, but I'm not sure I have what I really need to do things right. I have a mandrel with a MT2 and the fellow I got it from said to just unscrew the mandrel from the taper and mount it up in my 3 jaw chuck on my SS.

Now I'm thinking that I really don't like that idea and would rather do something else, like use this dedicated chuck from Penn State Ind to mount the mandrel and use it to drill blanks also:

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/CSCPENCHK.html

Mounted with this:

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/L5818.html

This would eliminate having to flip things around to drill blanks, in which case I would mount my drill chuck into the tailstock support to drill, and then just use this "mandrel saver" to support the end of the mandrel when turning.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKMSTS2.html

I'm assuming this would eliminate the need for the dedicated SS mandrel which mounts directly to the quill, such as this:

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKM-CL.html


My other question: With a typical blank being only a few inches long, it seems as though the standard rest will be too long to get close enough to the blanks to turn them properly, so ...........

Will the short SS 4" lathe tool rest work, or should I get another stock rest and cut it down to the exact size I need?


Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Thanks!

[dasgud]

My other question: With a typical blank being only a few inches long, it seems as though the standard rest will be too long to get close enough to the blanks to turn them properly, so ...........

Will the short SS 4" lathe tool rest work, or should I get another stock rest and cut it down to the exact size I need?


Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Thanks!

Hi
I just use the standard tool rest and it snugs up very nicely to the pen turning blank.

[wa2crk]

Proffessor;
The last pic in your post is the correct mandrel for the SS. However you CAN remove the MT2 taper from the other mandrels and use the SS drill chuck. Just don'grab the mandrel shaft by the threads.
You can use the SS in drill press mode either vertical or horizontal to drill the blanks. A fixture similar to this one can be made from scrap material for drilling.

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Stop back often and post some pics of your projects.
Bill V