pen turning mandrel problem

[rdewinter]

Thanks guys, here's what I ended up doing. Ordered the Penn Industries made for the ss mandrel. Won't ship for a week, which is very wierd. Seems Penn should be able to ship faster than that. Bummer. Also bought the Oneway live center kit from Rockler. So I should be set.
Thanks for all the suggestions and comments.

Bob
San Diego

[ryanbp01]

In the post previous to yours, Paul stated that you could do this. But, it is not a good long term solution because the drill chuck was not made to take the sideways pressure caused from lathe work. Yes, it will work for a while but eventually your chuck will break. So, why not just go ahead and buy a mandrel that will fit your Shopsmith and do it right? It will save you not having to buy a new drill chuck AND a mandrel later.

If you have sharp chisels to work with,you are not putting that much force on there. I have turned dozens of pens over the last few years with no side effects and no problems with either the chuck or the shaft. Please remember that you are only working with wood that is between 1/2" to 3/4" square by 5" long, at most, not something huge.

BPR

[Ed in Tampa]

If you have sharp chisels to work with,you are not putting that much force on there. I have turned dozens of pens over the last few years with no side effects and no problems with either the chuck or the shaft. Please remember that you are only working with wood that is between 1/2" to 3/4" square by 5" long, at most, not something huge.

BPR

Ryan
I more or less agree with you. I know SS doesn't recommend the Drill chuck be used for routing type operations but I don't really think using it to hold a pen mandrel is that big a thing. In fact SS once sold pen mandrels that were made to be chucked into the drill chuck. I own one bought at the SS store when it was here in Tampa.

That said I would think a mandrel made to fit directly to quill shaft would eliminate one more possible point of problem.
Ed