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Stew

Apprentice Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2018
Posts
9
Location
Cheshire
First Name
Stewart
Hi all,
At last I have retired and can make the long awaited start in to wood turning,
I have purchased a lathe 1mt option,with variable speed option, lucky for me I have acquired tools, sharpening equipment, extraction and air purifier as well. Just in process of getting a Trend face mask. I am a little stumped on which Mandrel option to go for, So my first question i suppose is a request for a recommendation and a supplier of a mandrel,
Look forward to many conversations
Regards
Stew
 
fortress

fortress

Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Posts
5,178
Location
Astley
First Name
John
Hello Stewart and welcome to the forum, it's good to have you with us.
I have an Axminster Evolution mandrel, I also have a dead centre and a live centre for turning between centres, also from Axminster. Both are most adequate IMHO.
 
Phil Dart

Phil Dart

Moderator
Executive Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Posts
5,491
Location
Colebrooke, Devon
First Name
Phil
Hi Stew - welcome back. Sounds like you're going to have a busy retirement.

For myself, I still use an old fashioned mandrel with a screw thread and a nut on the end. It suits me just fine, but the trick of that sort of arrangement is firstly to get a rod that is straight, and secondly to get a collet to hold it that is true. The two don't necessarily have to come from the same place - my rod is from Turners Retreat, which is straight as a die, and my collet is from an old Axminster "Deluxe" mandrel. The rod on that had more run out than waving a flag at a jubilee pageant, but the collet is excellent.

The danger with the screw and nut system is that you can distort the rod either by over tightening the nut or by over tightening the tail stock, so the more popular way these days is to get a mandrel that uses a "mandrel saver" instead of a nut and tail stock. The saver exerts its pressure on the bushes and not the rod. Possibly the most popular one, and definitely the one everybody knows of is the one sold by Axminster.

An alternative to using a mandrel at all is just to mount your blank between centres - a dead centre in the headstock and a live centre in the tail stock will do the job. You can then determine your final sizes with callipers if you're a die hard, or there is a fairly well known make of kits whose bushes all have 60 degree cone indents in the ends of them, so you can use them either on a mandrel or between centres.

I'd better not say who that is, because I'm a moderator and people will say I'm slightly biased:whistling:
 
F

Frederick

Registered
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Posts
871
Location
Chatham
First Name
Frederick
Hello Stew
Welcome to the forum. You are definitely in the right place for advice, encouragement and help.
In my experience (not that it is extensive) all makes of mandrel suffer from bending especially if they are miss-used and over tightened. I bought my MT2 mandrel from Axminster
and it seems OK. I don't use it too often for turning now as I now TBC but do use it as a holder for polishing.
I think you will do OK with Axminster and again welcome.
Regards etc
Frederick
 
Penpal

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,342
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
I use a mandrel saver,come to think about it has become my way since I designed my own saver. I turn but one half at a time and am so used to that as well. My best friends are a few calipers that are set starting time to the kit needs at the tip ,centre and centre and clip area. Found this my best way.Your best supplier is the one that combines quality and true spinning. Have fun.

Peter.
 
S

Stew

Apprentice Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2018
Posts
9
Location
Cheshire
First Name
Stewart
Returning newbie

Gents
What a fantastic response,I had looked at the Axminster site and others but then confusion reins, whilst on Axminster I had settled on the compression system in my mind but as always good advice is liquid gold, that and a triming tool are next on the list to order, Again many thank gents, look forward to more conversations
Stew
:thumbs:
 
D

Dibbs

Full Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2018
Posts
47
Location
Leeds
First Name
Ian
Since I got some of Phil's between centres bushings I've given up on the mandrel. I was getting vibrations with it. It's probably a bit bent. Since I have a metalworking lathe as well as a wood lathe I've made my own similar bushings for non-Beaufort pens.

I use the metal lathe for trimming the ends too.
 
A

AllenN

Fellow
Joined
May 20, 2013
Posts
2,245
Location
Lancaster, UK
First Name
Allen
I use a Planet mandrel with a saver most of the time. No vibration so far and the collet is excellent. I do use Phil’s centres bushings sometimes as well. It rather depends on what I am working on. For end trimming I use a sanding disc with the drilled blanks held by transfer punches which I find very flexible and certainly more flexible than a barrel trimmer. There are posts on here that show the system.
 
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