how many have you made

[ss_11000]

alright guys.....just wandering how many things you have made on a mandrel ( key ring, pens, letter openers etc.)

[bdar]

Stirlo have lost count my friend, I think I average 150-200 per year been doing it for at least 20 years at that rate the quantity doesn't matter anymore it is the quality.
Darren

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Definitely too many to count. Whatever the figure, it'd probably double if I included the jigs & bushes I've made on a mandrel to use on the mandrel or in a chuck...

I look on the mandrel as an alternative mounting method to a chuck, along with faceplates, jam chucks and the like... it can do a helluva lot more than just handle pen-type items.

[ss_11000]

I look on the mandrel as an alternative mounting method to a chuck, along with faceplates, jam chucks and the like... it can do a helluva lot more than just handle pen-type items.

like what.....:confused:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Did you see the little bowl I made from a broken goblet?

To clean up the base I mounted it in a chuck to drill the centre out and then fitted it onto the mandrel (with a brass pen tube on each side to clamp it) and then I could turn both sides the way I wanted without having to muck about reverse chucking it, etc.

Any small, flattish disk can be turned this way, so long as you don't mind the hole in the cente. Pot-pourri lids are another example...

I've also made bushes to fit snuggly inside holes made by a forstner bit, about 1"ish in diameter. I can hollow a blank for a salt'n'pepper mill with forstner bits in the drill-press and then mount them on the mandrel to do the outside. It makes it very simple to get smooth flowing lines between the body and the cap.

The only "trick" is learning to make your own bushes... and if you're particularly eager, to make a longer, thicker shaft to swap over for the standard mandrel shaft. I just happen to have a 2' x 1/2" job lying handy to hand.

[bdar]

The mandrel is also handy for making knife handles and tool handles, closed end pens, you are only limited by your imagination. Something like that, hey Skew.
Darren

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

'Sactly so!

[Shedhand]

where's the what's a mandril choice? :confused:

[ss_11000]

where's the what's a mandril choice? :confused:

knew i missed an option:eek:


yeah i saw that box skew, it was good. i had no idea that that kind of thing can be done with a mandrel....

[silentC]

Isn't he a cartoon magician? :confused:

I've got a lathe but haven't used a mandrel. Might have to get one. But I need a better lathe first, mine sucks...

[CameronPotter]

A $20 mandrel is cheaper than a new lathe - and can be kept providing that the taper in the headstock is the same...

[silentC]

My headstock doesn't have a taper

[Shedhand]

Hey Cam, you need somewhere to store your lathe and other goodies when you go to the land of the free (not) and home of the brave (not)?

[ss_11000]

My headstock doesn't have a taper

gmc or similar?

[silentC]

GMC didn't exist when we bought this baby. Crompton Betts something or other...