Turning between centers in progress

[Woodchipper]

I have some pens for the juried museum showcase mentioned in another thread. Some of the pens are without bushings so I had to learn real fast. Had some spacers and turned them down put them on a mandrel with the Slimline bushing between them as a guide along with calipers plus fitting to the blank. So far, so good and have a good supply of whatever plastic on hand.

 

[leehljp]

When "Turning Between Centers" got its start, it referred to not using a mandrel. Your set up is "turning without bushings". Mandrels can be a source of problems for many, but for the experienced, it works OK! You are doing good with it!

 

[Woodchipper]

See another thread in a minute, addressing a mandrel problem.

 

[leehljp]

We all are good friends (or at least "friends" here). Sometimes our understanding of things and terminology usage is broad in meaning, and sometimes very specific.

Turning Between Centers has in its fundamental process - the exclusion of mandrel usage. If I had not seen your photo, and you had a question about a problem, I and dozens of others would have been answering from the prospective of "not using a mandrel", and there would probably been some confusion in the answers.

TBC came along looong before PSI came out with their "mandrel saver", which lets people use adjustable length mandrel spacing. It gives rise to the idea that it is similar to TBC. But TBC is without mandrel, and between the live center and drive/dead center. TBC can be used with bushings and without bushings, but TBC does not mean "without bushings" in and of itself.

I like your setup and it will help in keeping CA from sticking to bushings, since you didn't use bushings in that set up.

TBC = Turning Between Centers directly on the head stock dead drive and tail stock live center.
Bushings are optional.

 

[Woodchipper]

Hank, thanks for the clarification on terminology.

 

[mmayo]

Two words - Brian Nikitas. He can make your turning wishes into reality. Yes it costs money to get great repeatable results, but you will almost never turn with a mandrel again. I only use a mandrel to apply CA finish.

 

[howsitwork]

Worth putting a drop of oil between the tailstock centre and mandrel end, vert tiny drop ? Yes I can see it's a revolving mandrel but I can also see the marks on it and this helps stop that .

Just a polite suggestion , no criticism intended.

Ian

 

[leehljp]

Two words - Brian Nikitas. He can make your turning wishes into reality. Yes it costs money to get great repeatable results, but you will almost never turn with a mandrel again. I only use a mandrel to apply CA finish.

That is the reason I stopped using a mandrel - CA sticking to bushings and "lifting" on the ends of oily ebony woods as I broke the bushings off.

I am glad you posted that, as it shows me that I am seeing a "generational" difference in thought here. The original TBC on this forum was to prevent lifting and sticking bushings. Now, it seems that it (TBC) is seen primarily as curing the ails of mandrel Out Of Round (OOR) or not concentric.

 

[penicillin]

Two words - Brian Nikitas. He can make your turning wishes into reality. Yes it costs money to get great repeatable results, but you will almost never turn with a mandrel again. I only use a mandrel to apply CA finish.

Call me stupid, but a web search for "Brian Nikitas" turned up various people - The Northeast sales manager for Ford, a director of training and development somewhere, several "people finder" searches, but nothing related to pen turning.

 

[JimB]

Call me stupid, but a web search for "Brian Nikitas" turned up various people - The Northeast sales manager for Ford, a director of training and development somewhere, several "people finder" searches, but nothing related to pen turning.

I believe he owns TBCBushings.com

 

[mmayo]

Call me stupid, but a web search for "Brian Nikitas" turned up various people - The Northeast sales manager for Ford, a director of training and development somewhere, several "people finder" searches, but nothing related to pen turning.

Search THIS forum for Brian Nikitas and you will learn a lot. He is just a great guy with a metal lathe and great skill.

bsnikitas@cox.net

Each set of his bushings runs about $18 and is well worth that cost. My bushings that fit on a mandrel are very lonely and will stay that way.

My appreciation of TBC bushings has led me to turn my own Delrin TBC bushings for each pen style I make. I use them for sanding just after turning to size. My metal bushings thus stay the correct size longer and I avoid metal particles embedded in wood. I have also made bushings similar to factory "mandrel style" bushings with holes from Delrin which are used during buffing. Metal bushings ruin buffing wheels while Delrin keeps them clean.

 

[Woodchipper]

I use some type of DIY plastic bushings for final turning with diligent use of calipers. Then finish as the CA or other things don't stick to the plastic...whatever it is. Need to turn some additional plastic bushings for reserve.

 

[mmayo]

Here are the bushing types I use.

First I use Nikitas TBC bushings. Then sand with TBC delrin bushings I made. Lastly after CA is applied and sanded I use delrin regular bushings I turned on a stick to buff the pen bodies. I included a photo of stock "mandrel style" bushings too.

 

[Woodchipper]

Mark, those are nice bushings and a good idea. A bit more than the general bushing but should last a long time. Thanks for sharing.