Shopsmith Forums

Hello to all. I just recently came acquired a ss and want to use it mainly for turning, especially pens. I have looked on here for information and seems as if I am finding different info on the mandrels. can i use a #2 mt or do i have to use one for the ss, or are they the same? thanks in advance.

Hi Fitz;
You probably will not be able to use a mandrel witha #2 morse taper because the morse tapered ones are used on standard lathes and the taper goes in the drive of the lathe.
SS on the other hand uses their own lathe drive centers which mount on the headstock or the Jacobs drill chuck is used on the SS to hold the driven end of the work. The only place that SS uses the Morse 2 taper is in the lathe tailstock.
If you have a pen mandrel already that has the morse taper like the ones from Woodcraft you can remove the Morse taper end from the shaft by double nutting the threaded end that the knurled brass nut goes and removing the tapered end from the shaft. The shaft is only threaded into the tapered end. I have done this for my turnings.
A second alternative is to get the mandrel from Penn State Industries that is made to fit the SS spindle on the headstock.
There is a pen turning forum on Yahoo that you will be able to get a lot of info from also.
GL Bill

Welcome fitz03,
I hope that wa2crk gave you enough info. What part of the world do you hail from?

Thanks for clearing that up wa2crk.

I'm from kentucky a1

Welcome to the forum Fitz03!
It'll be quite some time before I'm using the lathe but I'll get there someday.
Sooner or later I'll need to turn some table legs.
Besides, I always liked using the lathe in HS shop class.

I do pens all the time. I just mount the mandrel without the taper into the drill chuck with no problem.

BPR

I do pens all the time. I just mount the mandrel without the taper into the drill chuck with no problem.

BPR

the 1/4" router chuck is also an excellent holder for a pen mandrel. Bob