Pen Mandrel Kits

[Gizmo3k]

Morning,

I want to start turning pens, and am looking for a good (not too expensive) pen mandrel kit. One thing I am not sure about is drilling the blanks out - with the collet type mandrels, are you usually able to fit the drill bit into the mandrel, or do you need a seperate drill chuck? At present, I don't have a drill press (although once I get rid of my motorbike, I should be able to fit one in).

Any suggestions welcome!

Alan

[julcle]

Hi Alan  --  I started my pen turning with the Rotur Planet Pen Kit, it's about £50 but has everything you need to start Pen Turning including 5 x slimline pen kits. It comes in 2MT and 1MT form so you need to get the correct one for your lathe. When I changed lathes the new one had 2MT so had to get a new mandrel and ended up with the Axminster one (about £17) but found as it was a fixed long length it didn't quite run true so bought the Planet Collet mandrel from the Yandles Show in April and haven't looked back. It is quite expensive but in my view worth it for the ease of turning. With regard to drilling the blanks you can put a drill chuck in the tail stock and hold the blank in the chuck and centre drill that way, always leave a little extra length in each blank to tidy up the ends afterwards. When you get a pillar drill there are lots of jigs that can be made for nothing to hold the blanks straight and true in the press, I am sure a call on here will produce lots of replies.  Have Fun  --  Julian
Oh and no the drill bit doesn't fit into the mandrel collet.

[Gizmo3k]

Thanks Julcle, I was looking at the Rotur kit as well as the Charnwood one. I guess I will be looking for a drill chuck too!

[Philip Green]

The Rotur kit is hard to beat for starting pen turning. There are loads of videos on YouTube that show you how to use the kits.

I also suggest investing in a book. I bought the Pen Turners Workbook by Barry Gross available from Amazon for about nine quid but there are several others available.

A pen mandrel is designed for tail stock support. I used to use a live centre for this but there is a tendency for the shaft of the mandrel to bend slightly when the live centre exerts slight pressure on the end of the mandrel. I had a chat with the Rotur guys at the Yandles spring  show and they convinced me that I should buy a pen mandrel support that clamps down directly onto the mandrel bushes. Not exactly cheap at thirty quid but it is much better and quicker to use so well worth it.

Take your time with your first efforts. Your family will love the results. Worth posting some pics for some guidance on improving results.

[Gizmo3k]

I think I will pick up the Rotur kit. Will just need a drill chuck then.

Does anyone have any experience of Proops Brothers? They are selling a 13mm drill chuck on Amazon for a pretty reasonable price, just wondering if it is too reasonable 

[Graham]

I have not come across Proops but the Axi chuck and arbour for less than £12 is pretty good. I have had no problems with mine.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-13mm-keyed-chuck-arbors

[Gizmo3k]

I have not come across Proops but the Axi chuck and arbour for less than £12 is pretty good. I have had no problems with mine.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-13mm-keyed-chuck-arbors

I looked at that one, but the 2MT is out of stock 

[Graham]

So it is, they are saying 3 weeks wait. How much is the Proops one ?

[Gizmo3k]

£9 including delivery

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MHL8JU8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1FZ59R24J6ORA

I suppose for that kind of money it is hard to go wrong!

[Graham]

As toy say. They do seem to have a lot of customer reviews so they are obviously (?) an established company.

[julcle]

I have the Axi chuck and 2MT mandrel and have had no issues with it. They said it was out of stock when I got mine but it still arrived within a couple of days. Might be worth a phone call, it's not the mandrel so much as the quality of the chuck that matters. I bought a china made chuck originally then saw the error of my ways and went to Axi.  --  Julian

[David Buskell]

Nice to see a mention of Proops on here.

From my mis-spent youth in North London, I can tell you that Proops have been around since the early 1950's and were originally known as a supplier of army surplus etc. Anything you wanted was either in stock or would be in next week!!
Shops were in Edgware Road and Tottenham Court Road with electronics being one of the major lines. Even back then, they were doing a good line in tools of all kinds.

The original founders sold out and the company moved up to Leicester and now sell the range you see in the catalogue. The drill chucks are very  good and worth the money. Proops can be found at many of the woodworking shows and it's always a good idea to check out their stand for goodies.

David

[woodndesign]

Nice to see a mention of Proops on here.

Proops can be found at many of the woodworking shows and it's always a good idea to check out their stand for goodies.

David

They had a most impressive display at Woodworks@daventry and reasonable prices... sold out on some lines Saturday by end of the day.

[Eric Harvey]

I have the deluxe adjustable Axminster pen mandrel,its a mini collet chuck so you can use it for small turning as well as pens with a range of ER20 collets from 2-13 mm,I find it very usefull,only turned a couple of pens,but for small stuff its great,cheers,

Eric.

[edbanger]

I purchased one of these cheap chucks and mandrels and under the load of a 3" forstner bit the chuck started slipping and now does not hold on the mandrel to well.
The Rotur threaded mandrel and chuck give a much better hold. If you don't mine me promoting my own company that I've just set up you can find them at these links, and there's discounts for AWGB members,

Rotur chucks https://www.oliverswoodturning.co.uk/product-category/wood-lathe-accessories/drill-chuck/

Pen Turning kits https://www.oliverswoodturning.co.uk/product-category/woodturning-accessories/pen-turning/

Ed