pen Mandrel confusion.....

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Yes it's me who is confused, not the pen mandrel........

I have a standard pen Mandrel, for 7mm pen kits, if I want to do the Cigar pens (boy do I!!) then do I need another mandrel, or just the bushings?

I know I need cigar pen bushings, and a 10mm drill bit, but what about the mandrel?

Thanks!

[Ken Salisbury]

Yes it's me who is confused, not the pen mandrel........

I have a standard pen Mandrel, for 7mm pen kits, if I want to do the Cigar pens (boy do I!!) then do I need another mandrel, or just the bushings?

I know I need cigar pen bushings, and a 10mm drill bit, but what about the mandrel?

Thanks!

There are 2 standard size mandrels, 7mm and 8mm. For cigar pens you need the larger mandrel and of course necessary bushings.

[Barry Stratton]

There are 2 standard size mandrels, 7mm and 8mm. For cigar pens you need the larger mandrel and of course necessary bushings.

Is this one of those differences between companies?????

I make cigar pens with a 7mm mandrel and appropriate bushings. All pieces from CSUSA.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Thanks for the replies guys, but now I'm more confused

I see the cigar pens and they say 10mm drill bit needed.......... I guess I'll have to quote chapter and verse to figure this out.

I have the Lee Valley 7mm mandrel, and bushings for the Mont Blanc style pens, I very much like this style, but I want to start making some other stuff too, like pencils, slimlines and FAT cigar pens (I figure the cigar pens should sell well in the L shop, as I sell FAT cigars too!

I'll have another look and see if I can get my cold med addled brain to work...................... no promises

[Dick Strauss]

Stu,
I think you are getting confused by inside vs outside diameters. If you want to put the brass tube into your blank, you need to drill a 10mm hole in the blank. If the tube is 1mm thick (or adds 2mm to the total diameter), then you use an 8mm mandrel set.

Let's reverse it...an 8mm mandrel + 2mm extra diameter for the brass insert gives a 10mm hole in the blank.

etc...

Dick

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Stu,
I think you are getting confused by inside vs outside diameters. If you want to put the brass tube into your blank, you need to drill a 10mm hole in the blank. If the tube is 1mm thick (or adds 2mm to the total diameter), then you use an 8mm mandrel set.

Let's reverse it...an 8mm mandrel + 2mm extra diameter for the brass insert gives a 10mm hole in the blank.

etc...

Dick

I'm blaming the cold meds!!!

Thanks Dick,that makes sense......

[Roger Fitzsimonds]

Hi Stu,
I only have a 7 mm mandrel and make a variety of pens the euro ( looks like a mont blanc) the sierra , the slim line and the cigar pen. I also made 1 el grandee which a large pen all on a 7 mm mandrel. the bushings have a 7 mm hole for the mandrel and are sized for the type of pen to just fit inside the brass tubes. I hope this helps.

Roger

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Thanks Roger, that does help, I'd like to NOT have to buy another mandrel.

Cheers!

[Scott Donley]

Stu, For PSI kits, you use the 7 mm mandrel with the correct bushings, for their 7,8,10 mm kits. Don't know about other venders.

[Ernie Nyvall]

There may be several companies who make 7& 8 mm mandrels, but I only know of one and that's Berea. Their kits specify which mandrel you have to use along with the bushing size. Craft supply however uses only the 7mm mandrel with many different bushing sizes so that all their pens, no matter what size, can be done on that mandrel.

The catalogs I have all state the size mandrel and bushings that are needed. I remember going through all of this until I finally got used to the way the different companies make their kits and word their specs for each pen.

If you need any one on one, send me a PM.

[Corey Hallagan]

Stu - Mandrells

Berea makes both a 7mm and 8mm mandrells- 7mm is the A mandrell and the B mandrell is the 8mm. All kits designated to use bushings for Berea pens designated with an A use the A mandrell such as Berea Cigar Pens use the 11A or 11B bushings thus use the A mandrell which is 7mm for the A bushings or use the B mandrell for the 11B bushings. Some of Bereas kits are like this, you have the option of 2 different bushing sets. Others will use only the A Mandrell or only the B mandrell. You just can't make a Berea "B" kit on a PSI or CSUSA mandrell.

CSUSA and Penn State both use 7mm mandrells for all of their kits and the bushings are drilled for 7mm rod and the bushings are made if needed to fit into the tubes. If you have a CSUSA adjustable mandrell or the Penn State Maxi Mandrell you can make their pens on these but you must buy their kits and bushings. Again, I pretty much stick with PSI Maxi mandrell for PSI kits. I have not made CSUSA kits.

Hope this doesn't confuse you more

Corey

[Frank Fusco]

Corey said it well. Berea is the confusion factor here. Berea has a few kits whose BUSHINGS require the "B" or 8 mm mandrel. A company called Arizona Silhouette sells Berea kits so watch what they require.
The drill sizes needed have nothing to do with the mandrel size. It is a requirement of how the bushings were made.
The world of penturning is a non-standard mish-mash. I'll send you a chart compiled by a member of a penturning group I belong to it will help but can never be complete as the kits, sizes, etc. offered by the companies morph constantly.

[Randy Meijer]

Corey said it well. Berea is the confusion factor here. Berea has a few kits whose BUSHINGS require the "B" or 8 mm mandrel. A company called Arizona Silhouette sells Berea kits so watch what they require......

To add a little more confusion to the mix, Hut, Woodcraft and Rockler also sell Berea kits. Hut sells an 8mm mandrel that they call the Ameroclassic mandrel. Woodcraft tried......they sell bushings for the kits that normally require an 8mm mandrel so those kits can be turned on a 7mm mandrel. Unfortunately, they also contribute to the confusion by selling a replacement mandrel that will fit "ONLY" their Morse taper arbors. Most mandrels are threaded with a 1/4" x 28 tpi thread. The Woodcraft mandrel has a 10 x24 thread,IIRC, or maybe a 10 x 32?? Add to the mix the fact that all of the 7mm mandrels are slightly different in size. The Berea mandrel is 0.247"± and the PSI mandrels are 0.243"±. CSUSA is somewhere in between. As a practical matter, all 7mm mandrels and bushings can be used interchangeably unless you get one that is at the extreme of the tolerances and then you may have either loose or tight bushings. You can use thin brass shim stock to fix a loose situation and polishing the inside of a tight bushing with a little 600 grit sandpaper will solve a tight bushing.