You know, you make some good points. I normally turn only one body at a time, but I do always add an extra bushing at each end for a little extra clearance at the head and tail stock. In the case of the wood blanks, those were for an Apex pen, which requires the short piece for the plunger. I decided to put them all on the mandrel at once, since the one piece was so short. But even with single blanks, I still had problems with the mandrel saver.
I decided to try it again today, and it seemed to work better. Probably a combination of a lighter touch when roughing, and only a single bushing at the tailstock end. I also like your point about the extra clearance from the longer nose of the other style mandrel saver. They sell that type here at Wodturnerscatalog.com. The price has come down, so I've decided to order one. Regardless, I'm sure it's higher quality than the PSI version I have now.
