Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Adjustable Pen Mandrel?
Diane Maluso in Ithaca, NY
>hey folks. do any of you use one of the adjustable pen mandrels?... the ones where you can push some of the rod length back into the headstock and tighten with set screw or something? woodturnerscatalog is out of stock and i'm wondering whether lee-valley's version is of good quality. any recommendations? my old pen mandrel is shot and i was thinking of giving this idea a try.
thanks.
diane
Re: Adjustable Pen Mandrel? *LINK*
YoYoSpin
>The Universal Pen Mandrel sold by Lee Valley is the one (and only) pen mandrel I've been using for the last year. The main selling feature is the set screw/Allen wrench adjustment...very easy to change the length of the mandrel to exactly what's needed...no extra bushings needed to shim it up. IMHO, it's the best on the market.
best regards,
Ed D.
Universal Pen Mandrel
Re: Adjustable Pen Mandrel?
walta100
>I will never use a pen mandrel with a set screw again! How can it run true the set screw forces it off center. Look for a tapered shaft fitted to a tapered hole it should come with a compreshion stop for shorter items
Re: Adjustable Pen Mandrel?
Charlie Romano
>I too use the Lee Valley adjustable pen mandrel. It is made in the UK and at the time I bought it, it was priced less than the fareast models made by others.
Re: Adjustable Pen Mandrel? *LINK*
Mike-in-Michigan(Richland, that is)
>I use the WoodCraft Professional -- nothing but good stuff to say about it, works great. I even bought some drill rod to make extras shafts out of, just bought a die & thread my own. Works great.
WoodCraft Pen Mandrel
Re: Adjustable Pen Mandrel?
Bill Howatt
>I also use the Lee Valley one and think it is great.
Bill
Re: Adjustable Pen Mandrel?
Greg W. in NC
>Ed,
I do wonder if the set screw pushes the rod off center at all? Also, can you mic the mandrel and tell me its OD? I prefer the Berea, partly because it's thicker than the others, even if it means reaming out my bushings from other manufacturers so they'll fit. However, I need to replace my Berea and was about to order another one. I'm curious if this one might be better? Thanks Ed!
By the way, for those that don't know - keep in mind not all bushings fit all mandrels.
Re: Adjustable Pen Mandrel?
YoYoSpin
>Greg,
The shaft on my mandrel measures 0.244" or 6.22mm. It's a snug fit, and after having turned over 500 blanks with it, I've had zero runout problems.
best regards,
Ed D.
Re: Adjustable Pen Mandrel?
Greg W. in NC
>Ed, thanks for the info. I'll have to check my Berea mandrel again, but I think that is approximately the same size, which is good. It's amazing what only a few thousandths of an inch means to the strength of the mandrel.
Thanks again!
Thanks, Folks
Diane Maluso in Ithaca, NY
>thanks, everyone. sounds like either the one from Lee Valley or from Woodcraft would work fine for me. The woodcraft mandrel can double as a 1/4" collett chuck so I think I'll go that way. Might as well spread my money around. I'm about to pull pennies together to buy the Lee Valley shoulder plane. Ah, tax returns!
Thanks again.
Diane
Re: Thanks, Folks
Scott Greaves, Blackfoot Idaho
>Hi Diane,
Just to be contrary, I will mention a different approach. The best method I have seen for holding a mandrel, and it is also adjustable for shaft length, is a Beall Collet Chuck! They use standard ER-32 collets, so you can fit any size of shaft from 1/8" up to 3/4". Of course a collet chuck can be used to hold all kinds of small round things for turning.
Now this is obviously the "Cadillac" approach to holding a mandrel, but it sure is nice!
Scott.