Pen turning

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rkh2
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Posts: 602
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:56 am
Location: Lewisburg, TN

Post by rkh2 »

I use the mandrel from Pennstate and the short tool rest mounted to the universal tool rest system from Shopsmith. The standard longer tool rest from SS is a bit too long and you can not get it close enough as one would like it to be. I will turn down one part of the pen to my satisfaction then move the tool rest to the other section. With the UTR it is a quick move from one section to the other.

[ATTACH]12104[/ATTACH]

This is the longer tool rest below-just doesn't get close enough.


[ATTACH]12105[/ATTACH]
Attachments
Short Tool Rest.JPG
Short Tool Rest.JPG (163.8 KiB) Viewed 1276 times
long tool rest.JPG
long tool rest.JPG (155.02 KiB) Viewed 1273 times
Ron from Lewisburg, TN
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terrydowning
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Post by terrydowning »

See my recommendations below. Please keep in mind that these are opinions and not "Best Practices" It's your hobby and your money, do what works best for you.
professorgt wrote: http://www.pennstateind.com/store/CSCPENCHK.html
Nice to have but not really a requirement. A pen drilling jig with the drill press is a more natural change over for the shopsmith. The tool you link to tool is designed for turners that don't have other methods of drilling. It is for drilling only and NOT for turning. you still need a mandrel for turning.


Mounted with this:

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/L5818.html
Also nice to have so you can mount 4 jaw chucks, a bottle stopper chuck, or just about any standard lathe attachment that uses a 1 X 8 thread. and there are lots of them but not a requirement.

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.

you would still have a change over with the drill chuck to either a live center or mandrel saver. I use my drill press in horizontal mode with a jig and prep several blanks in one session.

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

I have one of these and it's great. I adjust the head stock so the end of the mandrel is a bit more than one pen blank away from the mandrel saver, then just advance the quill to snug everything down. It keeps the correct tension on the mandrel and supports it beautifully. Using the quill advance, makes it very handy when you notice that your blank just isn't as square as it should be and you need to take everything off the mandrel to square it up. Or once the tenon is cut and fit on a designer pen to get the center band off of the mandrel so you don't accidentally tear up a center band.

A word of caution though. When removing the mandrel saver from the tail stock, take the time to remove the tail stock eccentric and gently tap the mandrel saver free with a soft mallet while fully supporting the eccentric. The eccentric is soft aluminum and is easily damaged.


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
You would still need a mandrel, and this is the mandrel I use. I have heard of people having good success using the straight mandrel and a drill chuck. Which ever you choose, I do recommend getting more than one mandrel, as turning is quite addictive and once you start it's hard to stop. I hate having to wait on a finish to set before I can remove the parts from the mandrel. I plan on getting at least one more mandrel so I can remove the mandrel from the headstock and set it aside so I can and start another one.


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?

I have learned to live with having the tool rest a bit farther away when turning pens. I find that distance to be close enough when starting with a 5/8 or 3/4 blank. Pens turn down to size rather quickly and by the time you stop to adjust, you're ready to start finishing anyways. I turn the tool rest out of the way when sanding and finishing. I just don't like the idea of getting pinched. Pen turning is very forgiving and a great place to start turning. Pen blanks are light, small, and usually dry already so catches are minimal. I'm sure others will weigh in on this but this the way I do it.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Thanks!
As a side note, there are many pen turners out there that have stopped using mandrels all together and instead are turning between centers using a 60 degree live center and 60 degree drive center to hold the blank. Google pen making to see different techniques.

the 12 Cent pen is one of my favorites.

Last Observation: This is your hobby, so do what is the funnest for you!:)
--
Terry
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