Lathe mandrels

[srcarr52]

All mine are 6" long aluminum. Mostly 2-2.5" diameter. The bigger the diameter in the chuck the better they runout when chucking then back up. The shorter the mandrel, the more stable it is. I'll buy or make a special tool to reach into the skinny gap if needed.

 

[Deets066]

All mine are 6" long aluminum. Mostly 2-2.5" diameter. The bigger the diameter in the chuck the better they runout when chucking then back up. The shorter the mandrel, the more stable it is. I'll buy or make a special tool to reach into the skinny gap if needed.

What he said

 

[drf256]

It depends a bit on the size of your lathe. If I use too short a mandrel, it’s nearly impossible to get my tooling under the base to cut it without my slide hitting a fin or my chuck hitting my slide/tool post.

I’ve got a bunch of PVC mandrels, but it does seem that aluminum is easier to get a true indicator reading on than any type of plastic.

 

[beaglebriar]

I use hard nylon threaded on a 1" cold rolled shaft held in a collet .Picture of same is on one of my hard drives some place .Just replace the threaded nylon with what ever size you need ,runs true .

I'd really like to see pics of that setup.

 

[beaglebriar]

This is all great info. Glad I asked before buying.

 

[srcarr52]

It depends a bit on the size of your lathe. If I use too short a mandrel, it’s nearly impossible to get my tooling under the base to cut it without my slide hitting a fin or my chuck hitting my slide/tool post.

I’ve got a bunch of PVC mandrels, but it does seem that aluminum is easier to get a true indicator reading on than any type of plastic.

That can be a problem with a small lathe. Mine is a 13x40 so I have no problem swinging the cylinder over the carriage. For tooling I use a normal left hand rhomboid insert and stick it out really far.

 

[Stump Shot]

This is all great info. Glad I asked before buying.

All good points here for sure DJ, also, your lathe will help steer you in the direction you need to go as well. Chuck up the biggest old cylinder you have on hand backwards on the chuck, then you can see and get some rough measurements when you can envision it on a mandrel and the swing over the carriage as mentioned.
I would not have made the same mandrel from the first lathe for the second for example.

 

[Mastermind]

I started with a 7" x 12" lathe. Way too small, and not rigid enough. But, it worked well enough for me to be able to afford a bigger one. Now I use an Enco 9" x 20". It had several issues that had to be addressed right away, but for the money, it is a fantastic tool.

 

[Termitebuffet]

I started with a 7" x 12" lathe. Way too small, and not rigid enough. But, it worked well enough for me to be able to afford a bigger one. Now I use an Enco 9" x 20". It had several issues that had to be addressed right away, but for the money, it is a fantastic tool.

I really like mine too...

Sawhawgz, ruining the internet since 2012...

 

[beaglebriar]

I started with a 7" x 12" lathe. Way too small, and not rigid enough. But, it worked well enough for me to be able to afford a bigger one. Now I use an Enco 9" x 20". It had several issues that had to be addressed right away, but for the money, it is a fantastic tool.

I had ordered a 9x20 but there was a three month lead time and even then it was a maybe. Looked at a few others locally and had a deal for a nice older South bend fall through.

I ended up going with a grizzly 10x22. It's a decent machine for the money. Some of the casting ain't great.

A friend talked me into adding the DRO and I'm glad I did. The machines here at work have it and once you use it you don't wanna go back.

 

[Termitebuffet]

I had ordered a 9x20 but there was a three month lead time and even then it was a maybe. Looked at a few others locally and had a deal for a nice older South bend fall through.

I ended up going with a grizzly 10x22. It's a decent machine for the money. Some of the casting ain't great.

A friend talked me into adding the DRO and I'm glad I did. The machines here at work have it and once you use it you don't wanna go back.

I was very close to that machine before I found this one local

Sawhawgz, ruining the internet since 2012...

 

[stihl_head1982]

These mandrell's are more better.

 

[smokey7]

@beaglebriar what is a DRO that you added to the machine?

 

[Moparmyway]

Digital
Read
Out

 

[beaglebriar]

The price of buying it with the dro or adding it later was pretty much a wash.

From what I understand Grizzly doesn't offer it as an upgrade kit though. There's a few things that are machined differently for the dro lathes I guess.

There's plenty of options out there to add it to any machine but it's just one less headache to buy one already set up.

 

[Brewz]

Is steel no good?
I just got myself a 9" lathe and can get plenty of steel round stock.

 

[Moparmyway]

I'm thinking the steel can bugger the cylinder plating

At least the aluminum mandrels wont damage the plating

 

[Brewz]

yeah true

 

[Dub11]

I had ordered a 9x20 but there was a three month lead time and even then it was a maybe. Looked at a few others locally and had a deal for a nice older South bend fall through.

I ended up going with a grizzly 10x22. It's a decent machine for the money. Some of the casting ain't great.

A friend talked me into adding the DRO and I'm glad I did. The machines here at work have it and once you use it you don't wanna go back.

Speaking of castings, when we moved an old Sharp brand lathe out are shop it was dropped accidentally and a layer of bondo popped of part of the frame.

 

[srcarr52]

Speaking of castings, when we moved an old Sharp brand lathe out are shop it was dropped accidentally and a layer of bondo popped of part of the frame.

Pretty common for them to smooth out the castings with bondo before painting. Sometimes they lay it in pretty thick.