Thread: Adjustable Pen Mandrel

It looks the goods alright Barry. If I didnt have a collet chuck already I would look at buying one.

been looking at it over the week and I what I see I like and planning on ording one myself when I next order pen kits

barry have had one of those for about a year now ( from different supplier) and yeah their great for when doing a sierra as can shorten to suit the only thing that annoys me with it is having to have 2 great big dirty 18mm spanners for adjustment
hmm forgot i even had a collect chuck will also have to give that a go soon

Yep ! I saw the value of these when I first setup for penturning a few years ago, fortunatly my spindle locks for indexing so only need one spanner doesn't need to be super tight on the collet they grip well . it is also possible to use plain drill rod .246 as a replacement rod, no threads or centre needed if you use the special mandrel saver centre . cheers ~ John

Hey Barry,

I have two Different types of adjustable mandrels, and will be getting a Mandrel Saver live centre real soon, and then look out. you can't go wrong with the adjustable jigger.

HazzaB

Hi. I've been using one of these for the past 6 month now. Got mine from Timberbits. I did an Elegant Beauty + a Knight blank on the same mandrell, at the same time, only 30 minutes ago. They are really good. If I'm just doing a single pen, I do prefer the basic mandrell. Nice to have options eh !.

Looks good,

Barry,

I use one of these for many years now, for ten or fifteen years i use mandrels cut off the live centre has a brass fitted sleeve to the mandrel as per pic no colley wobbles for me. I love the two spanners to lock it in place never moved yet opens easy adjusts fractionally. The tail stock pressure holds the blank and I use packing washers.

Since I only use my VL100 to turn pens I cleaned lightly reamed the 2 morse taper in the head stock before hand the a threaded rod through the head stock locks the adjustable unit in place it is prethreaded 3/8 inch.

Pic 1 shows the live centre with the original sleeve removed and the brass sleeve before pressing in.

Pic 2 shows the one I use now and for years, normally has two spacers and I use packing 1/4 inch washers, my dust extraction is through the rails the deeper pen rest to get around the extra depth needed to clear the tube, the angle of 45 degrees very comfortable. Works for me.

Have success with whatever you do.

Kind regards Peter.

Thats a great looking setup Peter, gives me a few ways to improve my own setup, thanks.

Carroll's now have a livecentre for pen turning, that it similar in concept to paypal's. i just bought one, and wish I had it a couple of years ago.

I bought the adjustable mandrel off Timberbits (assume it's the same as GPW). It's much better than the normal mandrel - runs much truer (if that's a word ).

Very solid, and the collet system works well.

Love penpals setup too though.

Cheers,
Dave