Shopsmith Forums

A while back someone mentioned a place to buy shopsmith mandrels, I know of steebar, woodcraft and pennstate but there was another site. Can someone help out here. Also is it worth getting the starter kits?
thanks

I bought mine from pen state however other places have them. I attached a link that shows one that will fit a SS from another site. As for starter kits, I purchased one when I started pen turning and I think it was worthwhile, however I prefer my chisels from Sorby that I use on spindle turning for pen turning as well. I use the gouge just to starting rounding the blank, and then I am more comfortable using a skew, which to me gets the blank smoother faster and requires minimal sanding.

http://woodenpost.com/products/turning_supplies.htm

Craft Supplies USA and Packard Woodworks both sell a pen mandrel that can be mounted in the SS drill chuck. Both offer good catalogs and Craft Supplies USA has a great selection of supplies for pens, yo-yo's, pepper mills, etc., etc.

I would think the starter set would depend on how many of the items in it you already own or could improvise. ie. CA glue, drill press vise, etc.

Many good turners still prefer the full size skew for turning pens. Just personal preference I guess.

Lots of Luck with the pens!!

Alan Cooke

I was looking at a pen mandrel on ebay and it say for a shopsmith, but it also say mount in drill chuck and live center. Is this the case with the kits from penn state and woodcraft?

The pen mandrels that mount in a drill chuck are known as a universal pen mandrel. These are good, but you are better off buying one that actual fits your particular lathe.

For the Shopsmith, PennState sells a pen mandrel that actual fits on the 5/8" quill of the Shopsmith without the need of the drill chuck. This is the better way to go if you can. I have one and it works great. If you can directly mount the mandrel, the better it is. If not, you have to attach the drill chuck, which in turn you have to attach the pen mandrel to that. To many connections can lead to more problems down the road (out of round pens, pen mandrel coming loose, etc.).

When you order it, make sure it is the one made exclusively for the Shopsmith. You will also need a live center for the tailstock for it to work properly. Do not use the dead center with any pen mandrel.

Hope this info helps.

I purchased my mandrel with the adaptor for SS from PennState. Attaching a couple of pictures what it looks like. This is a 7mm one for slimline pens. Excuse the rust on it, as I use it for both wood and acrylic and you use wet sanding pads for acrylic, thus the cause of the rust. I better clean it up before showing it in a photo again. Hope this info helps you.

Ok sounds like I need the mandrel made for shopsmith and a live center. As always this is the place to get your shopsmith answers.
Thanks for the info

A little late but, here is some additional information regarding pen mandrels for use directly on the SS.

The SS 1/4-inch Router Chuck can be used to hold the standard 7mm mandrel for pen turning. The SS part number for the chuck is 514632. They are currently on-sale for $15.97.

I used a Woodcraft 7mm replacement mandrel shaft (Woodcraft p/n 141502, $2.99) and a Brass Knurled Nut for Mandrel (Woodcraft p/n 141063, $1.50).

The 7mm mandrel fits perfectly in the 1/4" router chuck.

As for the live center, you need to get a 60-degree live center. The standard SS live center will not seat correctly in the mandrel and will result in out-of-round turnings and/or damaged mandrels. I got mine from Sears but don't remember the part number.

I'm also late on this post, but . . . Oh well.

If you are just getting started turning pens, I would suggest 3 things:
1. Buy a pen mandrel that fits the arbor on your lathe.
2. Buy a reamer that squares the end of the pen blank. I bought a kit that has different sizes for the different tube sizes.
3. Watch Nick's sawdust session on pen turning.

I see no need for special chisels. I use my roughing gouge and skew. If I'm feeling creative, sometimes I use a 1/4" gouge to add beads, but I could do it just as easily with the skew.

A pen press is a waste of money. Nick used the SS in horizonal boring position. I use my bench vise or just hand screws.

Buying the bushings along with the pen kits is probably a good idea to start, but with so many sizes available now, I've learned to turn my own from hardwood and paint them white so I can tell when I'm cutting into them.

One word of caution, pen turning is only the beginning. Most pen turners I know become bored with turning pens and move on to bottle stoppers, toy tops, bowls, boxes, candle sticks, mallets, etc. My office stays littered with turnings that I give away or save up for church craft sells.

My son and his family visited at Thanksgiving and left with two bowls, two toy tops, two kaleiscopes, nine christmas ornaments and a small round box so my inventory is low. I guess I need to sign off and get back to turning -- oh darn!:)

Seriously, once you've made the initial investment, you have a hobby that costs nothing in material and a finished product can be made in less than an hour (pens in 15 minutes or so.) There is no end to what you can turn with a lathe, four jaw chuck, mandrel and a few chisels.

Oh, I still turn serious stuff too, like furniture legs.

The Penn State SS 5/8th mandrel will also accept the "B" rod which is used for larger pens. All of the pens I have done were the larger series. There are some things that PS may not do best, but many other vendors are selling PS from their catalogue, including these mandrels, Craft Supply.