Pen Turning on a Shopsmith Lathe?

tweintraub · Post by **tweintraub** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:48 am

I want to thank everyone on this board for welcoming to the forum. I have turned many pens in an earlier life on a Delta Lathe. I need to know how the Shopsmith actually works with a Morse Taper #2 Mandrel. I think I read somewhere that the MT#2 fits in the tail stock and the other end is chucked. Is this right? Thanks T.I.

wa2crk · Post by **wa2crk** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:13 pm

TI
You can do either of two things. One is unscrew the morse taper from the mandrel shaft and hold the mandrel in the drill chuck or you can get the Shopsmith pen turning mandrel from Penn State Industries.Either will work OK
Welcome to the forum.
Bill

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:25 pm

What bill said.

The solid 5/8" shaft on the SS headstock precludes the use of a MT2 lathe tool being mounted on the headstock.

I have the PSI mandrel, I have also used the drill , and a collet chuck to hold the mandrel. The 1/4" router chuck, should also hold the mandrel nicely

tweintraub · Post by **tweintraub** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:08 pm

Bill\Terry...thanks. I ordered the PSI mandrel and will give that a whirl. Thanks again.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 6:23 pm

My son bought some pen/pencil supplies and had them mailed to me. I received the mandrel with a #2 on the chuck side and a #2 mandrel saver. Chucked the #2 into my chuck and the mandrel saver into the tail stock. Worked good! made my first 5 pens and a pencil.

wa2crk · Post by **wa2crk** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:14 pm

Charlese
Did you ever have the mandrel on the Penn State system loosen from the piece attached to the 5/8 quill when you are using the mandrel saver. I had it unthread from the headstock and thought it was the Power Pro causing it to loosen because of the speed regulator of the PP. My son said that his did the same thing and he uses a conventional headstock. If it does loosen it can be fixed with a drop of blue Loctite or a drop of CA glue.
Bill V

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:51 am

No! I didn't use the 5/8" quill. All I had was the Morse taper#2 hard head on the quill,(designed for standard lathes) so I put this into my 4 jaw chuck. Nothing came loose. The quarter inch shaft went through the mandrel saver that was in the tailstock. If I didn't already have the mandrel that my son bought I would have gotten one of those that fastens onto the quill.

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 11:44 am

+1 for Mandrel saver! A shortened tool rest helps a lot too.
I have one cut down to 4" for working on pens.

tenbears · Post by **tenbears** » Fri Mar 28, 2014 2:39 pm

Might want to check out Best Wood Tools. They carry lots of different tool rests, drive centers, MT adapters and oh by the way their "Shopsmith" precision spindle Adapter is rock solid. I've had mine for a month now along with my Easy Wood Tools "Easy Chuck" Absolutely air tight. One of the best parts... MADE IN America. Both of them. Yes they cost more but that's because we are not exploiting labor at a dollar a day. Both of these companies are small shops very pleasant to deal with.

tweintraub · Post by **tweintraub** » Fri Mar 28, 2014 2:58 pm

Thank you for the comments. I will certainly check them out.