pens out of round

Your pen mandrel is not centered, it may have become bent, was in correctly manufactured, or you have too much pressure from the tail stock.

With respect to the pen mandrel - as above, and: Are you holding it in a Jacobs chuck? The cheap drill chucks that most of us use with our lathes are notoriously inaccurate, and not suited for holding pen mandrels (Ask me how I know....)

If it is a morse-taper style mandrel, you may have a dirty taper on the lathe.

With respect to the drill press chuck - It sure sounds like the tapers are dirty. Clean the taper and socket with a clean, soft rag wrapped around a dowel before you put the chuck back in the drill press. Rather than a hammer, support the chuck with a block of wood and lower the quill, pressing the chuck into place. Once the chuck is seated, a final tap with a mallet should keep things tight.

Thanks a lot, Mike and Terry! Will try these first thing this evening. Bought new Mandrel today. It is a Morse Taper. THANKS Deb

In addition to the things Mike and Terry mentioned, I can think of one other: technique. If you're applying too much pressure with the tool, that can also cause the mandrel to flex and produce out-of-round turnings.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

For a copy of my TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter, send email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

ok, so Mike, how do you know. I love to learn the do's of wood turning, it seems the dont's just follow me... thanks again

you are absolutely right, i do push the turning tools into teh blank too hard. I mentioned that i purchased a new mandrel today, let me add now, I just found (and ordered on line of course) a new tail stock as well. my old one was so soft it was rounded in like a week, and really that was before i had even made a succesful pen! thanks for your input, it all helps so much. I am learning to love bottle stoppers more than pens. it is the art of turning i do not feel with pens. I like the pens though... just feel more restricted with precise dimensions etc...

DEB SOUNDS TO ME THAT YOU NEED A "LIVE" TAIL STOCK CENTER.IT HAS A BEARING .LESS FRICTION.

This is probably a sign that your tools are not sharp enough.

I'm no expert on sharpening, so I won't attempt to describe tecnhiques. Do a Google Groups search on this newsgroup, though, and you'll find plenty of advice. The one thing I'll say about sharpening is that if the tool edge is not sharp enough to shave hairs off the back of your hand, it's not sharp enough for woodturning.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

For a copy of my TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter, send email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

Two things:

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

For a copy of my TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter, send email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

Basically, I've never turned a perfectly round pen, and it MUST be the fault of the equipment..... :)

Seriously, there is a website out there somewhere (can't find the link right now) that I recently visited that explained the need for a quality mandrel to me, and explained the angular error in the cheap drill chucks. I'll be getting a better Morse Taper style mandrel before I turn too many more pens.

A tapermate taper cleaner is also something to consider.

Mike

Hi Mike, first let me say, i do not care if you write in caps. I like to see what i am reading any way Ha. To make a correction on previous message when discussing tail centers, my old tail stock did not have a "live center". The one i ordered yesterday is a Heavy duty "live tail center #1 M." I am new to the lingo. My apologies... I just recently ordered a Wolverine brand sharpening "jig"?. It should be here in a couple weeks. I now need a bigger grinder with the finer grained wheels i think. I did not get the other little piece to accompany my new apparatus (forgive me for being unable to recall the name right now) that the tool slides through and so forth. I do not have any gouges with the tube type blade (bowl?) so i am only getting the basics right now. As you have suggested, I am in hopes this will make a world of difference. I have so far managed to split every single color ply and Dyamondwood" blank I have attempted to turn. A friend of mine tells me this is due to tools being less than sharp as well. AS A SIDE NOTE: I have found terrific prices on pen kits and blanks from one source located near Indianapolis In. I pick my orders up, but they do an awesome mail service too. They vend a great deal of PSI product but I know I have seen other brands such as Berea. Check out woodturningz.com Be sure to mention deb sent you if you end up ordering. His web site (Ryan is the owner) leaves a lot to be desired right now, but I can tell you to get the catalogue, then any thing you want, what ever the price range is the actual cost will be the next price lower. seems pretty good to other places I have compared prices with. I am new to this entire posting thing, so forgive me if i have broken protcol by being so long winded. thanks again for your feed back. It is VERY helpful. have a great day

snipped-for-privacy@milmac.com (Doug Miller) wrote in message news:...

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (deb) wrote:

Thanks TW, a live center should be in the mail on its way to me.... thanks for your input

had the same problem... turned out it was showing a VERY sensitive situation developing.. the head bearings in the lathe were going bad.. they really went south later, so much so, that for the moment cant turn anything. Ordered a new set of Torrington bearings, and they lasted 90 minutes, while I turned some maple bowls..

awaiting ANOTHER set to be shipped. (been a month now)

--Shiva--

========================== Deb, If you think your post is long winded, hang around here for a while and check out some from Arch or Lyn M., or, sometimes, even me. If you stay here and read the posts for a while, you'll learn a tremendous amout about things you didn't even know you had questions about. Welcome to the group. Ken Moon Webberville, TX

Deb, if you have more questions about pen turning, I might suggest you check out penturners.org . A very friendly bunch of folks (not that we're unfriendly here!) that have a lot of pen wisdom to share.

rick

Rick and Ken, thanks for the welcome and the encournagement to go to other groups and resources. Do both of you gentlemen make pens, bowls, any specialties?

Deb, I am a novice turner but not new to the machine trades. You got a lot of answers from experienced woodturners. Here's mine.

Get yourself a magnetic base ("mag base") and a dial indicator calibrated in .001". Set the base and tip of the indicator against the mandrel and turn the lathe headstock by hand. Eccentricities will show up big time. Correct them until there is little to no movement in the needle on the dial indicator and you're in business. You should be able to get a cheap set for about $50 or even less at places such as Kitt Tools or Harbor Freight. You can also mount the indicator so that it reads the face of a bowl and adjust it in a chuck so that you are re-chucking to the same plane each time you need to re-chuck for whatever reason.

Bill

"Anonymous" wrote: Deb, I am a novice turner but not new to the machine trades.(clip) dial indicator (clip)Eccentricities will show up big time. Correct them until there is little to no movement in the needle on the dial indicator and you're in business. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Your mind is working like a machinist's. However, on a wood lathe, the process of correcting thre eccentricities is not as precise or straightforward as on a metal lathe. I did not see the original post, nor the other responses, but, in my experience, the runout is probably caused by excess pressure on the mandrel, causing it to bow. I suggest easing up on the tailstock pressure. Of course, if the mandrel is bent, this won't help.